Oils on hardboard, 46x61cm: "Red Pepper"; The idea for this painting came out of a previous posting a few days ago when I was playing with watercolour in my own little moleskine sketchbook. I was musing with the notion that those small sketches would look terrific at a much larger scale, say 90cm by 1.4m. Now this is only a half step along that path but already I'm having misgivings. The problem I have is mostly related to sculpture when I see some sculptOrs thinking what a hoot it is to make some standard household object outsized and call it "art". Well that type of art always leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth and shaking my head in disbelief and sorrow. And here am I doing the same thing, Gotten Himmel! Well never again - this is the first and most definitely the last. In future it's back to the search for expressing emotions and Shasta Daisies. Roll on tomorrow I hear you say. And you will not be disappointed my sad friend!
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Big Red Pepper
Right, just to give my reader a break from bloomin' Shasta Daisies (don't worry, my friend, I'll be back on them tomorrow!) I took a slight diversion at Albuquerque and painted this half pepper in oils to a much larger scale:
Oils on hardboard, 46x61cm: "Red Pepper"; The idea for this painting came out of a previous posting a few days ago when I was playing with watercolour in my own little moleskine sketchbook. I was musing with the notion that those small sketches would look terrific at a much larger scale, say 90cm by 1.4m. Now this is only a half step along that path but already I'm having misgivings. The problem I have is mostly related to sculpture when I see some sculptOrs thinking what a hoot it is to make some standard household object outsized and call it "art". Well that type of art always leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth and shaking my head in disbelief and sorrow. And here am I doing the same thing, Gotten Himmel! Well never again - this is the first and most definitely the last. In future it's back to the search for expressing emotions and Shasta Daisies. Roll on tomorrow I hear you say. And you will not be disappointed my sad friend!
Oils on hardboard, 46x61cm: "Red Pepper"; The idea for this painting came out of a previous posting a few days ago when I was playing with watercolour in my own little moleskine sketchbook. I was musing with the notion that those small sketches would look terrific at a much larger scale, say 90cm by 1.4m. Now this is only a half step along that path but already I'm having misgivings. The problem I have is mostly related to sculpture when I see some sculptOrs thinking what a hoot it is to make some standard household object outsized and call it "art". Well that type of art always leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth and shaking my head in disbelief and sorrow. And here am I doing the same thing, Gotten Himmel! Well never again - this is the first and most definitely the last. In future it's back to the search for expressing emotions and Shasta Daisies. Roll on tomorrow I hear you say. And you will not be disappointed my sad friend!
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4 comments:
There is definitely a lightness and crispness in the watercolours that suits capsicums so well that is hard to achieve in oils. This is a really good painting, but sometimes some things are very hard to translate into oils and that's where you loose the 'feeling'. I have often had this problem. The slowness of oils instantly gives a gravitas to the subject that can make for a curious image rather than a bold one.
The President arrived yesterday, (I signed for it) safe and sound and it looks splendid! Such wonderful violets, the pastels really jump off the paper. Bravo!
Just discovered your blog from a comment you made at Kathryn Law's. As you say, "Gotten Himmel!" It's so gratifying to find such an eloquent and passionate artist online. I, too, love moleskine and caran d'ache because they travel so well. And, it gives one a break from the monster canvasses we might be struggling with. I sometimes wear gloves (not as much fun) when working with color and I use Qtips, dipped in water (when water is not available think Van Gogh) to vary line. If you love the pepper and want to paint the pepper large, you will--freeing yourself of any judgment. It is quite the challenge to take a smaller study to el gigante size, but not impossible! Maybe it is only like changing mediums. Different. And the result may be one you like even more. Your work is wonderful. Best regards!
Every painting I do, Andrea, is a bit of an experiment since I have never focused too long on any one style or medium. Undoubtably I am more comfortable with watercolours than oils although I often try to use oils thinly like w/colours. I think the real problem, however, is that this "experiment" was half-hearted because deep down I wasn't really convinced about painting representationally to this scale. Having done it I know now, in my mind, what I should have done - treat it much more abstractly. And that is just what I'll try to do. Sometime. Manyana.
Thanks also for your comments on 'The President'. I'm pleased you like it.
And I'm also really pleased that you have visited too, Melinda, and left another good comment (like Andreas). It's good to get the opportunity to think a bit deeper and discuss what we are doing with painting.
I do love the pepper, especially when it's on my plate, but as I have painted it fairly representationally here it is too obvious and ultimately dis-satisfying. I have other ideas for it which hopefully I will post another day.
It's also good to meet another Neocolour aficionado and I see from your own (new) blogsite (well done!) that you do monoprinting. You might like to look at Andrea's site as she also works well with this type of printmaking. I made my first attempts at monoprinting yesterday (not too sucessfully!) but I'll post my prints sometime anyway. You must tell me more about these Qtips - they sound very interesting.
Finally, thanks for your appreciation and I should probably also thank KL for her introduction!
Keep working and keep posting! :o)
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