I’ve been finishing up some oil pieces and I think this one came our particularly well.
Often I’m frustrated with the presentation of art. There are some fabulous paintings out there- which simply cannot be presented as a simple image on a screen of piece of paper. A good painterly oil piece is part image part sculpture- that you touch with your sight. Just as you would run the soft tips of your fingers over your lover’s lips, or the needles of a cactus.
One of the most poignant examples that is always in the back of my head is Hans Hofmann’s “Into Outer Space”. This painting resides at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk. This is an ugly painting on the screen, no, hideous. But to see it up close, inspires awe.
So I want to show people a little bit of what an artist sees when they look at a painting. What I often tell my friends is, I go into a museum or gallery, and I don’t look at the art- I step right up to it, my nose inches away. And if I like what I see- I step back and take in the wholet thing. Otherwise it’s a waste of my time.
So here are some detail shots.. of what we’re looking at when we paint, or when we are taking in a piece that may suggest we should step back..