A FORUM OF DISCUSSION, CRITIQUE AND SHARING WITH CANADIAN ARTIST BRIAN SIMONS. THE ARTIST'S WORK CAN BE SEEN AT HIS OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.briansimons.com
Love the abstraction and color in this painting Elliot! I find the composition is a little to vast for the center of interest drawing to much attention to her.
Hi Elliot, nice little painting here but for me not terribly exciting like your cowboy boots painting.Seems to be some timidity here, whereas the cowboy boot painting was free and more courageous!I like the colors and the quality of light in this though. I'm anxious to see those fearless, bold and courageous paintings I know Elliot can do.
Thanks guys. I totally agree with both of you. My best paintings are definitely simple compositions of a single thing--an object, a figure, etc.
I don't know whether to just stick with that formula or to try and work through the issues to find success with other kinds of compositions. Any thoughts?
Elliot, I don't think the subject matter is really the issue here. I think you shouldn't limit yourself to one type of subject or another. Looking at your painting as I write here and the more I look , the more I like! anyway, a valuable exercise is to really study the conditions present when the painting works and what inner and outer conditions are present when it doesn't. By that I mean, what state of mind we're in, the physical conditions, our excitement about the subject, our motive for painting it, our need for result while painting, who are we painting this for....all these kinds of questions are really valuable.We can learn sooo much from our own experience if we just study it a bit, and once we identify the conditions present within and without, when the paintings really work, we can then choose those conditions more and more.....hope this makes sense! Brian
Thanks so much for taking time to share your thoughts and wisdom Brian. To the degree that I've done this already, I can say that it's my excitement about the subject that is by far the single biggest difference-maker. I'm most excited by simple compositions with large shapes and strong lights and darks. Often these are compositions with a single thing--an object, a figure, etc.
I try other things (like this one) to stretch a bit. Maybe I should just really let it rip... like with those bagpipers last summer. I wouldn't have picked that subject out as something that would work well for me, but with your encouragement, I let it rip, and it was fantastic.
Anyway, thanks again for all your help. Can't wait to see you in a few months.
This is an 18x24" acrylic. Comments welcome.
Love the abstraction and color in this painting Elliot!
ReplyDeleteI find the composition is a little to vast for the center of interest drawing to much attention to her.
Hi Elliot, nice little painting here but for me not terribly exciting like your cowboy boots painting.Seems to be some timidity here, whereas the cowboy boot painting was free and more courageous!I like the colors and the quality of light in this though. I'm anxious to see those fearless, bold and courageous paintings I know Elliot can do.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys. I totally agree with both of you. My best paintings are definitely simple compositions of a single thing--an object, a figure, etc.
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether to just stick with that formula or to try and work through the issues to find success with other kinds of compositions. Any thoughts?
Elliot, I don't think the subject matter is really the issue here. I think you shouldn't limit yourself to one type of subject or another. Looking at your painting as I write here and the more I look , the more I like! anyway, a valuable exercise is to really study the conditions present when the painting works and what inner and outer conditions are present when it doesn't. By that I mean, what state of mind we're in, the physical conditions, our excitement about the subject, our motive for painting it, our need for result while painting, who are we painting this for....all these kinds of questions are really valuable.We can learn sooo much from our own experience if we just study it a bit, and once we identify the conditions present within and without, when the paintings really work, we can then choose those conditions more and more.....hope this makes sense! Brian
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for taking time to share your thoughts and wisdom Brian. To the degree that I've done this already, I can say that it's my excitement about the subject that is by far the single biggest difference-maker. I'm most excited by simple compositions with large shapes and strong lights and darks. Often these are compositions with a single thing--an object, a figure, etc.
ReplyDeleteI try other things (like this one) to stretch a bit. Maybe I should just really let it rip... like with those bagpipers last summer. I wouldn't have picked that subject out as something that would work well for me, but with your encouragement, I let it rip, and it was fantastic.
Anyway, thanks again for all your help. Can't wait to see you in a few months.
Yeah Elliot, let er rip! You know you want to! Looking forward to seeing you again too!
ReplyDelete