Paintings - self critique
Still Life
This is the first painting attempted in 35 years (more here). Getting started was not easy. I had to overcome a couple of obstacles. The first was the fear of mixing paints correctly. It had been so long and I wasn't sure I remembered how. The second was the fear of white canvas. Artist can experience a hesitancy to make that first mark or place that first brush stroke on a brand new and empty canvas. The style of the painting is realistic. The materials are acrylic paints and a technique of layering transparent layers similar to the old masters on illustration board. I was well pleased with the background gourd and the supporting stone. I am least pleased with how the Sea Shell turned out.
L’ Orange
This painting is Surrealistic done in acrylic on 8x10 illustration board. It is a play on a orange juice company logo. I was not comfortable with picking the subject for a painting like this because it doesn’t fit the real-world. This is a conflict which is a result of my Engineering career. I loved the feeling of painting it expressively however and added the mountain to emphasize the surrealism.
Santa Fe Church
The Santa Fe Church is in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the square. This is an adobe building and don't remember the age. The painting is Expressionistic done in acrylic on a 24"x36" pre-stretched canvas. It was hard for me to keep from making it realistic. I wanted brush strokes to be more prominent. I somewhat succeeded on the front of the church but overall don't I succeeded. The trees will go if I rework it or decide to attempt the painting again. I was not happy with the steeple in the upper right because it was too flat and lacks verticality. Attempted to get a feeling of bright sun and stark contrast on adobe buildings in that area.
SuperNova
The Style of this painting is Non-Objective / Abstract done in acrylic on 24x36 pre-stretched canvas with brush and pallet knife. This was a struggle as it was just not easy for me to come up with an idea. A black and white thumbnail sketch was selected from my sketchbook and once I decided on the composition the colors just came to me. I did a small study in color before attempting the full up painting. The composition changed slightly from sketch to study to final painting. Once I had the composition and color executing the painting went well and was finished in two hours at the easel. Overall I enjoyed the freedom and looseness of doing it. Using a brush I couldn’t seem to get the feeling I had enough paint on the canvas so used pallet knife to add some paint.
For more information on painting styles you visit look at "An Introduction to Different Types of Art Painting Styles"