100% AR3, no Filters, a fun exercise. Constructed to be viewed full screen and from a distance - it will be a more satisfying view. Gallery discussion thread at http://www2.ambientdesign.com/forums...957#post345957
Appreciation fosters well-being. Be well. Thread with bunches of my AR paintings-conversations.Here
Having posted the following in response to a question in a different thread, I received a few PM's suggesting I post it here, being relevant to this whole thread. So, here goes:
Originally Posted by gzairborne hello kindred spirit. Do you do these at a rather fast pace? I visualize you making these thousand decisions rather rapidly. I seem to look at your work and sometimes ask the question why is this here? Oh, why is this one a bit differently placed? very entertaining art.
Hi Albert. Thanks for the great question, one that gets asked now and then in one way or another. The answer is different for different paintings. However, in general there are some principles that guide my work which result in certain processes and behaviors.
In the early stages of the painting things generally go rapidly as an idea is sketched out. The idea becomes a skeleton upon which to build. As the painting progresses things slow down. The introduction of nuance, the rearrangement of elements, the introduction of new elements, and the precise placement of elements become thoughtful and methodical. The last 20% of the work takes 80% of the time. The 80/20 rule holds consistent sway over my efforts.
Generally most “artists” have some goals in their paintings whether or not they are well articulated. I have a few that act as guides for my output. My intents as a lyrical abstractionist (that seems to be the class most of my paintings seem to fit into though I never set out to be a lyrical abstractionist) are :
To illustrate order and integration in what at first appears randomness and chaos
To achieve visual harmony in a world of apparent visual dissonance
To achieve a whole that is many times greater than the sum of its parts
To actively engage the viewer in a coherent visual journey with many points of interest and surprise
To engage the viewer with visual introspections that provide intellectual and emotional pleasure
To leave an interested and thoughtful viewer with an experience that the time taken in the journey was well spent
Of course not all the paintings will achieve these goals. Certainly most fall short. But these are generalities that are my guiding principles.
In a way I think of myself as a landscape painter, except that my paintings are mindscapes. A landscape painter takes dozens, even hundreds of random artifacts in the environment and organizes them into a coherent whole. The best landscapes immediately hit you with a total and powerful visual harmony. But as you look close the many elements that make it up become interesting in their own right – various trees, buildings, streams, mountains, meadows, stone walls, caves, caverns, shadows, birds, animals, people, sunlight, even individual pebbles, sticks, flowers, or maybe even an individual limb or leaf on a tree might in its own right spark some interest as it is discovered. Each element in its seeming random existence will somehow be a perfection contributing to a thoroughly satisfying whole.
So, finally I get to your question and why the last 20% of the painting takes 80% of the time. Again, I think of my paintings as mindscapes. The mindscapes are composed of seemingly random symbols, usually in the form of simple shapes (line, circle, square, triangle, tube, grid, etc.), contrasting textures, and usually pure and contrasting colors, organized in a way that somehow results in a coherent whole that is harmonized through a plethora interesting visual points which, while distinctly separate, somehow work together successfully. Perhaps that is my metaphor for life (?).
While the first 80% of the painting, laying out the general landscape (mindscape), goes pretty fast, the last 20% is an exercise taking a lot of time looking and deciding what elemental details seem to be required where. I try a lot of things to balance objects, textures and colors all over the painting to develop visual tensions, harmonies, and integrations that seem to make it all come together successfully. Sometimes I’ll agonize over a single dot or nuance in color or degree and form of texture in just a certain place, relating that place to some other on the distant side of the canvas.
Lots of stuff just doesn’t work. A single misguided choice can destroy the integrity of the whole. It’s easy to go down a failed path. Too often I do. But now and then it all comes together. Most of the time, with the passage of time, it becomes suddenly apparent which paintings have fallen short. Those provide a world of input for now and future efforts, realizing that gems are few and far between.
So the short answer is that the beginning of paintings go fast and the end of paintings go slow, sometimes very slow. Towards the end of paintings things are placed with specific intentions for creating integration and harmony in an holistic, visual, abstract expression. I’ve provided the long answer so the short answer has context that helps it make sense.
I don’t think my process is uncommon or special. It mimics the way I think a lot of artists work in all kinds of fields from music to dance to film to writing. It’s of course not the only process, but I think it is a common one.
This is probably too long and I hope not too pretentious. But for those few here who seem to express more than a casual interest in my painting, this attempts to explain what guides my artistic choices and reflects my general sensibilities. I find my efforts only mildly successful. But the engagement is a thoroughly satisfying enterprise.
****************** Edit: a subsequent thought, contextually, a different way of saying the same thing: The human body is an example of an integrated whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts. Each organ, and each cell come together to make a successful totality. You could not discern or predict a human being by only looking at a heart. However, when the heart is seen in context with all the other organs it becomes a perfection in its own right that is even more magnificent to behold.
Each organ in the human body is a total universe of interest which is critical to the perfection that makes a whole human being. You can spend a lifetime studying the heart. It is so rich and uniquely complex. But as you move on from the heart to observe a different organ which itself is fascinating and full of interest, you come to see how all the organs together conspire to make a deeply moving, overwhelming perfection that is the human being.
It seems a good metaphor for building a painting, taking pains to ensure every element of the painting is meaningful in its own right, and which contributes to a thoroughly satisfying whole that could not be predicted by observing any one element in isolation.
That doesn’t mean all paintings have to be labored or complex. It is simply a point of view which, as a guiding principle, can help the artist make visual choices at all moments in his creative process, and which elevates, by the artists own choice, the meaning and value of his artistic efforts.
Last edited by byroncallas; 10-20-2011 at 07:11 PM.
Reason: spellnig
Appreciation fosters well-being. Be well. Thread with bunches of my AR paintings-conversations.Here
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