I recently began two small mastercopies from Bouguereau as a warm up. I started one of them a few days ago and fell into the trap of beginning too timidly. I had the sinking feeling of not wanting to work. I cannot think of a more discouraging feeling. I knew it wasn't going well so I began another small sketch that I began with lots of spontaneity and brushwork. But, more importantly, I was having fun with it. The feeling in the second piece has much more of the quality that I want in my work. it's sort of a backwards logic that I always have to remind myself of. Begin loosely and with lots of vitality. There's always time to refine, but there's only one opportunity to enliven your picture. Spontaneity and Messiness- Two of the most important factors that I keep in mind at the beginning.
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http://ericsantoli.deviantart.com/ Sometimes it's cringe-inducing to look backwards at old work, but it's also very satisfying to see where I am now. Among these amateur paintings and poorly executed drawings (I'm allowed to say that because I created them), I see work that I still remember creating. I remember doing that portrait of my mom on a saturday morning at the Ridgewood Art institute. I remember doing that landscape in a cemetery in Philadelphia on a hot summer day. These older works transport me back to very specific places, times and with senses. That is a lot of why I love painting; it is a physical and mental activity every time I make a painting. The frustrations bring themselves forward in my mind when I see the painting again. Even paintings that I have long since forgotten about come back immediately when I see it again. And each one has a story, even if the painting is terrible. Can you imagine how interest it would be to talk to Rembrandt, Vermeer, Bouguereau or Rockwell. Rockwell wrote an autobiography that I am quite fond of, which hits on a lot of these points also. I'm sure I'll look back with this same sense as I get older. |
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