| Near and far—concepts that
should make us stand back. It is interesting what we see at different
distances. There are many different ideas about what constitute the
elements of design-and it seems to me that we are moving to a more
simplified version of what they are. However, with that simplicity comes a
danger. For example, you won't find SHAPE in any of the elements these
days, but you would have a couple of decades ago. I can understand why we don't see it mentioned--color, value, texture,
and line-they all go together to make shape, and consequently are more
elemental. But, I think therein lies the danger, because once we lose the
idea of shape, we kind of lose touch of what holds our paintings together.
It is shape that does that for us. It is not quite so basic, but it is so
darn important that we neglect it at a very great risk.
And that gets me back to near and far.
When I paint, I spend a great deal of time back away from my
painting, looking and analyzing. I don't just stand back, I squint my
eyes--trying to throw away the detail (yeah, like line, value, color, and
texture) and see the major shapes. Obviously, you have to get close to
paint--but you can't always see what is happening close up. What may look
good near, won't work at a distance. So, you have to spend time moving
back and forth. Near to paint, far to look at what you have done. Most of my paintings spend half of the time getting worked on, and half
of the time being looked at across the room. I want to see the shapes and
how they hold together--and I can't do that close up-they need to be
farther away. Sometimes it is hard to get away from them because I like to
be close up and personal - painting and doing my thing. But, I've learned
that it is better to get back away from them, to look and think about what
is going on. My paintings always turn out better when I give them some
space.
Near and far are important for an artist, and we do well to understand
the nature of what they mean. Do well when you are painting, but consider
what is happening from afar. Sometimes we see much better when we aren't
quite so engaged with our painting. |
Online
Magazine for watercolor and acrylic artists and all art lovers
