196: Finding your style

This week I'm getting ready for for two shows–an abstract show that will be the largest exhibit of my work to date–and a one night landscape show that in the past has been the best show financially of the year (once I earned 25% of my income for that year in one night).

My studio is packed with paintings. As I look at them I realize what a varied career I've had. I've done illustration, woodcuts, comics, photorealist acrylics, and impressionist oils. I see elements of all styles in my current work.

The abstract phase of my career came as a complete surprise and evolved out of experimentation with extremely thick oil paint on small canvases. I decided if I wanted to paint with that much texture I needed to shift to acrylics using a variety of texturing and thickening mediums.

There are common themes running through the two shows. Both concern themselves with texture–the abstracts are an extreme case of texture obsession. But color is important too. Both have lots of fields effects that maximize the perception of color.

I'm surprised how much I've learned with the abstracts has cross-pollinated into the landscapes. I have no intention of abandoning either style. I've made peace with the fact that although it would be economically more rewarding to focus on one genre I'm incapable of making a sound business decision.

So what is style? It is a fusion of everything visual you love with the technique you are physically capable of producing.  Sometimes your gifts–or lack thereof–will trump your passions and radically modify your expression. Sometimes your discipline will triumph and you will be able to infuse a new method of expression into your creative gifts. If you are honest about the process a genuine mode of expression will emerge that will be 100% yours. It will be a treasure nothing can diminish. It will have its virtues yet be flawed–just like you. Above all it will be the expression of a unique mind.

Brad Teare–October 2014

195: The genius of Van Gogh, Part 1

Section of my painting with palette strokes and brush strokes.

DID Van Gogh load his brush? Most assume he didn't–but used the standard technique of picking up paint directly from the palette (watch how to load a brush here). I suspect he used ample amounts of paint to more easily get broken color on his brush and onto his canvas (small piles of paint lead to cramped, tight painting with monochromatic strokes).

Fellow painter Erik te Kamp went to the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands and took several close-up photos of Van Gogh's work. Erik noted that the paintings are over 125 years old and some passages look a little transparent. Because Van Gogh never varnished his paintings you can see an accumulation of dirt in the paint strokes (learn how new methods improve varnishing for modern painters here).

What follows is an analysis of Van Gogh's technique. I start with a close-up of a recent painting of mine for contrast (since I know which strokes are brush or palette knife marks with absolute certainty). You can clearly see both palette knife and brush marks in my painting. The principal example of a palette knife mark is the dark green stroke in the southwest quadrant. The most visible brush strokes are the purple-brown marks in the center lower half. Click images twice to see a larger view and use the back arrow to return.

The next image–courtesy of Eric te Kamp and the Kröller-Müller Museum–is a painting by Van Gogh entitled Green Field. (Incidentally, I love the maple frame. I compliment the museum on such an apropos presentation).

The next image is a close-up of the distant horizon. We see two flecks of red representing the tiled roofs of distant houses. There is evidence of brush marks and palette knife marks. Marks from the brush's bristles can clearly be seen in the green section. The light bluish-green vegetation in front of the houses appears to be made with a narrow, flat-ended palette knife–most notably in the stroke just right of center. This was completely unexpected, but further close-ups suggest he used both brushes and palette knives. The following image–an extreme close-up of the strokes of grass–confirms the claim. Note the hard edges on the upper sides of the central yellow strokes.

In the following image—where you see dabs of color representing flowers —some dabs have brush marks and some don't. This is an example of Van Gogh painting with paint rather than with the brush. Meaning that so much paint was on his brush that no bristle marks were impressed into the resulting strokes.

There is controversy about whether Van Gogh was right or left handed. I guess from this painting that he was right handed. Van Gogh was a bold painter, and the grass strokes would have been less consistent if he were holding the brush in his left hand. This is also corroborated by several self-portraits of Van Gogh holding the palette in the right hand. Which would have been reversed since he would have been looking into a mirror to paint his portrait. 

It is possible that he used his left hand for palette knife work but I see no evidence of that. Portraits of Vincent also show that he used generous amounts of paint on his palette. Which is good practice if you want to have lots of broken color in your paintings.

Many thanks to Erik te Kamp for the fascinating close-ups of Van Gogh's work. He sent me more images, and I will analyze them in future blog entries.

If anyone is close to a museum featuring paintings of J. M. W. Turner and would be willing to take similar photos, I would love to do a similar analysis of his work. Many thanks in advance for your help.

Brad Teare–October 2014

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194: Writing an Artist's Statement

Eventually every artist has to write an artist's statement. I have an abstract show in a few weeks–the first for me in that genre–and the gallery requested a statement.

I reviewed a lot of approaches. It's an abstract show so I could be philosophical, even didactic. But I abandoned that approach as too inaccessible. I could intertwine my statement with my history. But that seemed too complex and irrelevant. I decided I needed a statement that got to the heart of why I paint abstracts yet be entertaining and perhaps even playful.

After weeks of introspection I decided I paint abstracts to achieve a timeless frame of mind–a state where time stands still. The emotions of timelessness are then potentially transferred to the viewer as they contemplate the painting. I remembered a prose poem I wrote in my graphic novel Cypher entitled Moment in Time that plays with the the feeling that time is elastic and can be manipulated. I found a copy of the book and condensed the prose poem into a new version. I'm using it as my artist's statement:

I paint to stop time.

To lengthen time I fill it with nothing. I empty the moment, let the edges shrink, until it becomes nothing.

To shrink time I fill it with everything.

To suspend time I layer color on texture—each layer frozen in time.

When viewed the paint is dissembled in reverse moments of layer over texture over color—and time stands still.

No doubt some will still find this too philosophical or even pretentious. But it has several advantages over many statements—it is short, it has a sense of fun, and most importantly, it is actually true. Whether everyone will have a time-altering experience when they observe my paintings is another matter. I did when I painted them. I still do as an observer.

Brad Teare–October 2014

193 Abstract plein air

This afternoon I painted en plein air using acrylic paints. My intent was to abstract the scene to get a more patterned and design oriented composition.

If I had to do it over again I would have made a more comprehensive sketch. But the sky was in transition and I wanted to quickly record the movement of the high clouds before they changed. Plein air painting often includes the paradox of compromising process in order to get the best results.

I was surprised that painting outside with acrylics was as easy as it was. It was a nice day around 70°F and my paint remained wet on the palette throughout the entire painting process. I painted fast covering the entire 20" x 20" surface using palette knives.

I look forward to trying it again soon.

Brad Teare – October 2014

192 Abstract Evolution

Here is a short Gbox video about how I add layers of acrylic paint to create the painting shown here, Abstract Evolution, 48" x 36". It is not a step-by-step analysis but rather just a series of stills showing the layers as they were painted. Most of my acrylics are not painted alla prima but rather in discrete layers.

I used Golden Colors' acrylic Clear Tar Gel as a medium into which I applied textured layers (as if I were oiling up the canvas). I also scraped into the wet layers using a variety of knives and sculpting tools. Toward the end I added Golden's Clear Granular Gel. It is notable because while it adds a heavy texture it dries completely clear.

Brad Teare–October 2014