Monday, July 4, 2011

Heart vs Fundamentals


Lupines at Dusk
Original oil painting 10x20"
by Susan Roux

Creating art can be a nagging series of conflicts. There exists a fine line between painting from the heart and adhering to the fundamentals. How much of one is too much? Painting from the heart is freeing and spontaneous. Letting go. The brush dips in color and impulse and the canvas dictate what color is next. You feel your creativity bubbling out of you and great joy is experienced in the process. If that's all you do, where do you end up?

Is there such a thing as having too much fun painting?

The fundamentals, those pesky rules, pull it all together. The values define shapes. Design and composition lead the eye. Sun and shadow patterns contribute to the illusion of reality. A wise man told me an artist is allowed only a small portion of fun to be visible per painting. Oh shucks, really?

Here is me painting from the heart. I was captivated by the lupines on Monhegan. I loved the way they danced in the sky. I photographed a lot of them, but the feeling of observing them could not be replicated in an image. I wanted to portray them at dusk. Those wonderful lupine shades were transformed during golden hour. How rich and warm the cool blue's, pink's and purple's became. I concentrated on capturing that. My photo references were poor suggestions, so imagination took over.

Once I finally captured the light I was after, I felt the painting was complete. Funny how if you toss in one crazy element you're unstable with, everything you're grounded on slips from memory. A well advised critique put it all back into perspective for me. Too much heart and not enough fundamentals. Form became sacrificed au lieu de couleur.

I returned to the painting, freed from focusing only on color and began to establish form. Somewhere between heart and fundamentals one can strike a balance that satisfies. Satisfies the viewer, satisfies the artist. After all, if the passage is not defined well enough, the viewer misses the message...


24 comments:

  1. That's a beautiful painting! I think you have just the right combination of heart and fundamentals here. I like how you expressed that. I always wanted to do a painting of that golden moment too, when the sun streams right across the earth and everything glows for just that brief instant. You did it perfectly!

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  2. I agree, just the right amount. I think I put more heart into mine these days because when schools back in session, I have to go right back to fundamentals!! Beautiful as always!

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  3. So soft and so beautiful, Sue. I think you've got a magical mix of fun and form.

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  4. For me only thing is visible very clearly, and that is, you are very good artist and a very good writer. What more can you ask?
    You have the gift of both.

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  5. This is absolutely lovely, i am there: what more can you ask? beautiful.

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  6. Je continuerai à dire que je veux être la petite mouche ou la petite abeille qui viendrait butiner sur ces charmants lupins...
    Tu as réussi là où tu craignais de te tromper...
    Gros bisous.

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  7. When fundamentals are part of your instinct, you don't need to think ... and can paint directly from your heart. Travel on!

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  8. A fascinating post. And I must confess.. I too often go for the fun... If only, as Jennifer said, the fundamentals would be part of my instinct.

    Do you have a "somebody" who you admire and who is willing to give you a critique every once in a while???

    That... I think is a REAL gift!!! a treasure beyond measure ... especially if you're like me and you so often are blind to what needs correcting.

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  9. Lovely lupines Susan, and no, the fun you have doing it should never be discounted!

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  10. Wonderful thought process. I think your lupines are beautiful. Hope I get back to Monhegan one day. You make me want to schedule a trip for the bloom of lupines. Have you ever seen our bluebonnets? They are a lupine, our state flower, blooming in March. Last year was tops in most places (2010).

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  11. These DO have a lovely look of being bathed in that evening light. Are you going to be in the next Art Walk?

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  12. Hi Stephanie, two of my girls got accepted at Gallery 5, so in essence I'll be part of the walk. They'll be hanging after July 17 through mid August. Hope you can get to see them from life. Their so much better than a photograph represents.

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  13. Yhis is a gorgeous painting Susan. My compliments.
    Our wild Blue Lupine is setting the forest and countryside alive with blue. Along with the yellows of Balsam Root the countryside here is just beautiful.

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  14. The light here is so gorgeous! Love the soft look of the blossoms and that stunning golden light bathing everything.

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  15. Wonderful post as always, Susan. This painting is definitely from your heart...so soft and beautiful.!!

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  16. very beautiful...I like the versions...the final one being my fav. great work!

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  17. You have summed it up very well - and painted a breathtaking piece in the process!

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  18. Your resolve in seeing this piece to a grand conclusion defines to some extent your process and commitment to it and your painting. Sometimes there easy, often there hard, but there is never going to be a time when you can have to much fun!
    =:-/

    Jeffrey

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  19. Beautiful Susan, the soft sky and violet color play off each other perfectly

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  20. Beautiful as always, Susan. You have such a lovely touch with flowers.

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  21. I agree with Jeffrey, your commitment to continue to work on it, to question and assess, to focus and re-focus on your goal and then your hard work to do it ... all adds up for a beautiful painting and a strong artist. You truly have captured the Golden Hour light on those violet blooms and invited us with you to that place at that time. What a treat!

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  22. Lovely work and blog. Thanks for visiting mine.

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  23. Quelle sensibilité, c'est vraiment magnifique! ta peinture est très riche de couleurs et de sensibilité bien sur!
    J'adore ton post.
    bon week-end .

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  24. Stunning painting and I love everything you wrote about painting from the heart!

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