The most helpful tool on Facebook and Instagram comments is the Delete button. I used it today to rid my feed of a troll who crept in overnight and thought he’d weigh in - in helpful earnestness - on this oil sketch.
It made me laugh, delete his comment, and block him, and then consider what a good newsletter topic it would be.
First, here’s what my critic shared:
It’s true: no blended colour in his work (that’s a straight-from-the-tube, ultramarine piece of floss up her shelf-like bum) and the frontal-view eye in the profile portrait is one that any ancient Egyptian master painter would admire.
But despite these charms, it still doesn’t stir my appreciation. In fact, I would disagree with his closing statement.
So what are we seeing and not seeing when we look at each other’s paintings?
Clearly, we both think our works are worth posting in public which means that we see merit in them. The fact that we don’t admire each other’s work means only that we’re human.
The toughest thing I had to come to terms with as a painter was public opinion (that, and colour theory:) I hope that people will understand what I am trying to do with my work, but know that this will be unlikely in many instances. What I’m trying to do might not have any relevance for that particular viewer. He’s busy being interested in some other aspect of the visual experience.
In no particular order, here are some painters who tackled humans doing a thing that we love to do: wading in bodies of water. The subject is the same, but the effects and the artists’ priorities are very different.
Rembrandt conveys mystery, solidity, and innocent sexuality.
Alex Kanevsky’s homage adds dynamic movement, ambiguity, and light. Sexuality is absent. The woman is very much engaged in her own life and is not an object to be coveted.
Peggy Kroll Roberts focuses on palette, shape, value and gesture in this iconic snapshot.
Potthast depicts purity, atmosphere, and carefree play.
John Peploe mines the same vein with this piece but adds a focus on gesture, line, colour and abstraction.
Cezanne’s painting is more carnal, earthy, and sensuous. He’s also taken with the formal concerns of swirling composition and the effect of colour temperature.
Daniel Schwartz gives us mystery, ambiguity, rhythm and light, along with a sense of solitude in a crowd.
And Nick Bodimeade gives us a complex, seesawing arrangement of angles and shapes and their relationships to each other. He also makes us feel the exhilaration of cold water and the brave ones who wade in despite the chill.
I could go on - Pinterest has me firmly in its clutches today - but you get the picture. We can’t judge the work of others because every artist is trying to convey something that is important uniquely to themselves.
So how do I judge art as good or bad? Because, of course I do judge.
I look at paint quality, colour, variety in mark making, composition and other technical elements.
I also look at whether the artist is trying to do more than copy a subject. I’m hoping to see the world through that artist’s unique sensibility: to step out of my aesthetic experience and appreciate theirs.
When I spend time with Rembrandts, my view of the world becomes tonal, solid, and mysterious.
When I look at Cezannes, I notice the possibility for pure, blue shadows, rhythmic marks to convey solid forms, and the potential to paint the world in austere schemes of warm and cool.
When I look at my critic, I get no sense of his unique view of the world. It’s a mere depiction of a sexualized woman posing for a photo. She’s probably from an ad for diving gear or swimsuits. Copying her tells me only that the painter has a fixation with blondes and bums and perhaps that is a look at the world through his eyes, but it’s not art.
What I was trying to say with that sketch was about colour, gesture, the interplay of warm and cool grey, boredom, and juicy, swirling oil paint. I hope some of that comes across.
Happy painting!
I love your paintings, Ingrid!
Oh what a wonderful post! What I love about your work is how your use of the brush, with lots of juicy color, describes not just the subject but imparts a sense of spontaneity and joy. Like many of the examples. Maybe someday that “painter” critic will see that too.