Daily Painting - Spring Onions
Spring Onions- Painting number 36
Daily Painting - Original Oil Painting on canvas panel 9x6.5 inches.
You may ask...What is the difference between an artist who is noted as a 'Contemporary Realist' and one who is noted as a 'Classical Realist', the difference is all in the views and opinions of the artist and what they set out to achieve.
I can't speak for all Classical Realists but I know why my art has been labelled as such. From a distance my paintings appear realist but upon close inspection they are quite definitely paintings. I would consider my art to have failed if it didn't engage people at a very basic level. I try to capture the border between the object and the surroundings and try to express that. How do you begin to describe where something starts and ends? How it feels? Where it sits and exists?
Perhaps once I would have been a keen Contemporary realist as I have an obsession with precise detail. But when trying to capture what is felt to look and feel 'real' you have to consider what people believe to be 'real', I have to consider what 'I' believe to be real. Once I would have been content if not increadably happy if my paintings looked as real as a photograph of a subject. But there have been a few instances in my life when I have seen views which I knew would not be captured by photograpy. I went Skiing in Utah in America and one day with beautiful clear blue skies I attempted to be brave and take the ski lift higher than I had been before. When I got off the lift I looked around and was shocked into absolute mind blowing awe. My mind couldn't quite accept what my eyes took in. My view of the world is panoramic, and up until that point I had never noticed...the view of snowy mountains wrapped around me. There was no telly programme nor photograph that could ever replicate what my eyes took in that day. It was simply gobsmackingly divine. Once I would have been content to create art which replicates the look of photography but now I'm afraid it simply isn't what I consider to be "real". Reality is absolutely exquisite. To replicate reality would be to create something which lives and breathes and glows and 'feels' real. Art which has a consciousness.
You may then look at my painting of 'Spring Onions' and think, what on earth is she going on about. Did she really truly try to paint conscious onions? Or is all this chat simply arty nonsense.
Perhaps I am feeling arty and nonsensical today, but I really did try to make the onions real.
I tried to make the onions look like they had been absent mindedly placed whilst the owner was prepping something else. Perhaps busy washing lettuce. The onions are waiting to be used, they're fresh. The larger onions below are steady but the top onion is smaller and lighter in weight and teetering on top. It's not about to fall, but may tumble or fall if a child ran into the kitchen and jumped up and down and disturbed the delicate heap.
I didn't want the onions to look perfect, they aren't pretty. They are practical and edible.
They are real.
I have a strange opinion of spring onions. They are not something I ever intentionally buy. But sometimes I spot them and am like "Ahhhh", "Cool", "It's been ages since I've had spring onions". Not sure why the sight of spring onions makes me smile and think of a salad being suddenly an exciting option for dinner. I don't really like eating salad.
You know...when I paint, I'm not really that happy doing it. I remember my Nan knitted me a jumper and said that every stitch was done with love. At the time I thought "I bet it is" I could quite easily imagine my Nan sitting there embedding love into every stitch.
I, on the other hand, am more likely to stitch or paint venom rather than any positive atributes into my work.
I find it utterly frustrating when I am unable to portray what's in my mind or what I can see. Today, I tried to make every brush stroke count, to prevent me from obsessively working over and over the same spot trying to make it perfect.
I am new to oil painting and it will take me many years to obtain enough skill to make my paintings breathe and sing. In the meantime I need to learn to have a bit more patience. I need to take a leaf out of my Nan's book and add meaning to each stroke.
Elena xxX
You may ask...What is the difference between an artist who is noted as a 'Contemporary Realist' and one who is noted as a 'Classical Realist', the difference is all in the views and opinions of the artist and what they set out to achieve.
I can't speak for all Classical Realists but I know why my art has been labelled as such. From a distance my paintings appear realist but upon close inspection they are quite definitely paintings. I would consider my art to have failed if it didn't engage people at a very basic level. I try to capture the border between the object and the surroundings and try to express that. How do you begin to describe where something starts and ends? How it feels? Where it sits and exists?
Perhaps once I would have been a keen Contemporary realist as I have an obsession with precise detail. But when trying to capture what is felt to look and feel 'real' you have to consider what people believe to be 'real', I have to consider what 'I' believe to be real. Once I would have been content if not increadably happy if my paintings looked as real as a photograph of a subject. But there have been a few instances in my life when I have seen views which I knew would not be captured by photograpy. I went Skiing in Utah in America and one day with beautiful clear blue skies I attempted to be brave and take the ski lift higher than I had been before. When I got off the lift I looked around and was shocked into absolute mind blowing awe. My mind couldn't quite accept what my eyes took in. My view of the world is panoramic, and up until that point I had never noticed...the view of snowy mountains wrapped around me. There was no telly programme nor photograph that could ever replicate what my eyes took in that day. It was simply gobsmackingly divine. Once I would have been content to create art which replicates the look of photography but now I'm afraid it simply isn't what I consider to be "real". Reality is absolutely exquisite. To replicate reality would be to create something which lives and breathes and glows and 'feels' real. Art which has a consciousness.
You may then look at my painting of 'Spring Onions' and think, what on earth is she going on about. Did she really truly try to paint conscious onions? Or is all this chat simply arty nonsense.
Perhaps I am feeling arty and nonsensical today, but I really did try to make the onions real.
I tried to make the onions look like they had been absent mindedly placed whilst the owner was prepping something else. Perhaps busy washing lettuce. The onions are waiting to be used, they're fresh. The larger onions below are steady but the top onion is smaller and lighter in weight and teetering on top. It's not about to fall, but may tumble or fall if a child ran into the kitchen and jumped up and down and disturbed the delicate heap.
I didn't want the onions to look perfect, they aren't pretty. They are practical and edible.
They are real.
I have a strange opinion of spring onions. They are not something I ever intentionally buy. But sometimes I spot them and am like "Ahhhh", "Cool", "It's been ages since I've had spring onions". Not sure why the sight of spring onions makes me smile and think of a salad being suddenly an exciting option for dinner. I don't really like eating salad.
You know...when I paint, I'm not really that happy doing it. I remember my Nan knitted me a jumper and said that every stitch was done with love. At the time I thought "I bet it is" I could quite easily imagine my Nan sitting there embedding love into every stitch.
I, on the other hand, am more likely to stitch or paint venom rather than any positive atributes into my work.
I find it utterly frustrating when I am unable to portray what's in my mind or what I can see. Today, I tried to make every brush stroke count, to prevent me from obsessively working over and over the same spot trying to make it perfect.
I am new to oil painting and it will take me many years to obtain enough skill to make my paintings breathe and sing. In the meantime I need to learn to have a bit more patience. I need to take a leaf out of my Nan's book and add meaning to each stroke.
Elena xxX
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