"...moments of rapt flow and contentment." Beautiful I used to paint and draw quite a bit, my favorite medium being watercolor because of the light that shows through it, and that it couldn't be manipulated easily. The lesson I sought to learn was to be content and deal with whatever came onto the paper, because the more you try to "fix" it the worse it became. The only thing I could do was to be mindful of the process and improve it the next time out. There were of course a few "happy accidents" along the way.
I'd agree that painting is often a "flow" experience and find quite often that the process of painting seems more important than the finished product-actually a sort of anti-climactic feel to it once finished. Painting can and does seem to be a natural "meditative" experience. earl
you guys are making me jealous, sounds like the kinda meditative experience I would rather indulge in, and probably severely need at this moment. we would necessarily have to talk about the impressionists and the likes of schiele [sp?] ?
Guess you'd say my style leans toward impressionism. Have no art history books in the art library, just technical "how to's. "The Painterly Approach" by Rohm is a decent one as to impressionistic landscape painting. Heck, if you're not a great realistic painter, impressionism is the way to go anyway. earl
yes, much as I admire realism and linear draughtmanship I am a colourist as I am more emotional than logical..japanese/asian art combines both line and colour beautifully.
I greatly admire painters who are good realist painters, but, perhaps oddly enough, those paintings often seem "lifeless" to me, except, perhaps, in the case of protraiture. Even there, I prefer impressionism. Impressionistic styles seem livelier and more evocative. So, even if I could pull off photorealism, I'd still prefer the impressionistic style. On the other hand, I want the objects in a painting to be recognizable. So, never could get into the abstract style. earl
haven't have a chance to post in a bit but i thought i'd link this for those that didn't see it. Pictured: Incredible watercolour paintings by boy aged just SIX | Mail Online he's simply extraordinary... enjoy! metta, ~v