Art Blog - What Makes A Painting Work

Going through a person________s things after a death can bring up powerful universal emotions: loss, love, nostalgia, remembered hurts and joys, guilt, and occasionally bewilderment. Why was this important to her? Why did he save this? Who were these people? There will be things to keep, things to send to other family members or friends of the deceased, things to toss out, things to donate, and in time you might find inspiration to the artist within you. For those things which bring out powerful emotions most often are those from which art emerges. The mixed media painting developed from my thoughts in looking through unidentified photos going back at least to the early 1920s which had been among my mother-in-laws possessions… Continue reading… 1 comment

Landscapes can range from realistic to symbolic or abstract. Color treatment is a factor in the level of realism. There are landscapes which reflect local color, which show an understanding of light in a particular region and season. These paintings can ___take you there___, bringing to mind the smells and sounds of a familiar locale through the visual signals. The dancing light of the most impressionist of Impressionists such as Monet, asks the viewer to look beyond the obvious and generalized color instead of seeing the color of an object as a solid unchanging block. Fauve painters added a pulsing color beat to their works, intensifying and often entirely changing the natural colors. They invite a passionate response to their scenes… Continue reading… 3 comments