There are a lot of reasons artists don’t finish paintings. Death, for one, such as in Vincent van Gogh’s “Street in Auvers-sur-Oise” unfinished from the June in 1980 that he shot himself. Lovely painting, horrible death.
Correction: According to the research of Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith in their book published in 2011, the painter didn’t shoot himself, he was shot accidentally by thugs. I apologize for posting inaccurate information. Please read this following V. Note for slightly less inaccurate information about the topic.
Picasso, Woman in a Red Armchair, 1931
For most painters, starting a painting is infinitely easier than finishing one. With every brush stroke, the number of “right moves” diminishes – whereas at the beginning every move was a right move, half way through, problems begin to emerge, many times with solutions unknown. Completing a painting can be similar to solving a puzzle, and in a sense, though it is satisfying to solve a puzzle, the artist kills all the potentials it could have been, and the engaging relationship with with the work is over.
Personally, I prefer the unfinished paintings because I can see more of the making of it, the process. Not only can I see the artists’ thinking, but I can participate in it more. I also like the sustained, suspended daydream of what the painting could become, had things been a little different.
Hands do a lot of the talking for us. AJ Power reminded me of this when I dropped in on a recent Comics class. He was inviting students to illustrate the moods and interactions between characters by drawing their hands in gestures. That hit me as one of those obvious yet totally overlooked aspects of …
[image_with_animation image_url=”14063″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] There was so much interesting material produced in day one of this two day workshop “Portraiture After Photography” I wanted to share it. The morning slideshow focused on photography as a tool for abstraction, launching from an in depth look at multi exposure photographs taken by John Deakin and …
“…What more attractive and challenging surface than the skin around a soul?” – Richard Corliss (1944-2015) Below is an overview of some of the most innovative and influential painters from figurative art history to the mid-twentieth century. Starting in Ancient Greece, through the Renaissance into Romanticism, then Modernism, these artists articulated our view of the human form. Up Next: …
I am interested in showcasing pictures that illustrate the very strange 6′ social distancing rule. Open to any media (photography, drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, etc). Must be a League member to submit. Please email your works to ruthiev(at)seattleartistleague.com. Include your name, the artwork’s title, size and materials, and your website/social media page. Send your images …
Unfinished Paintings
[image_with_animation image_url=”9566″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”]
Alice Neel, James Hunter Black Draftee
There are a lot of reasons artists don’t finish paintings. Death, for one, such as in Vincent van Gogh’s “Street in Auvers-sur-Oise” unfinished from the June in 1980 that he shot himself. Lovely painting, horrible death.
Correction: According to the research of Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith in their book published in 2011, the painter didn’t shoot himself, he was shot accidentally by thugs. I apologize for posting inaccurate information. Please read this following V. Note for slightly less inaccurate information about the topic.
Picasso, Woman in a Red Armchair, 1931
For most painters, starting a painting is infinitely easier than finishing one. With every brush stroke, the number of “right moves” diminishes – whereas at the beginning every move was a right move, half way through, problems begin to emerge, many times with solutions unknown. Completing a painting can be similar to solving a puzzle, and in a sense, though it is satisfying to solve a puzzle, the artist kills all the potentials it could have been, and the engaging relationship with with the work is over.
Personally, I prefer the unfinished paintings because I can see more of the making of it, the process. Not only can I see the artists’ thinking, but I can participate in it more. I also like the sustained, suspended daydream of what the painting could become, had things been a little different.
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Hands do a lot of the talking for us. AJ Power reminded me of this when I dropped in on a recent Comics class. He was inviting students to illustrate the moods and interactions between characters by drawing their hands in gestures. That hit me as one of those obvious yet totally overlooked aspects of …
Sketches from Portraiture after Photography
[image_with_animation image_url=”14063″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] There was so much interesting material produced in day one of this two day workshop “Portraiture After Photography” I wanted to share it. The morning slideshow focused on photography as a tool for abstraction, launching from an in depth look at multi exposure photographs taken by John Deakin and …
Figurative Art History
“…What more attractive and challenging surface than the skin around a soul?” – Richard Corliss (1944-2015) Below is an overview of some of the most innovative and influential painters from figurative art history to the mid-twentieth century. Starting in Ancient Greece, through the Renaissance into Romanticism, then Modernism, these artists articulated our view of the human form. Up Next: …
Call for Art: 6′ of Space
I am interested in showcasing pictures that illustrate the very strange 6′ social distancing rule. Open to any media (photography, drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, etc). Must be a League member to submit. Please email your works to ruthiev(at)seattleartistleague.com. Include your name, the artwork’s title, size and materials, and your website/social media page. Send your images …