New still life. As mentioned in last newsletter, I was in process on a painting that was on the razor's edge of working or not. In fact, the day after sending that newsletter I was about to call it quits and move on. I had been going for a certain concept and it didn't work. After calming down I was able to analyze the painting to try and identify what exactly wasn't working. After all, painting is problem-solving. A series of decisions and corrections and adjustments. And it worked out.
The setup
How not to start
How not to start, Part 2
My intent was to make the red very focal, particularly on the vessel. Thus the complimentary environment color. The vertical red cloth was to be counterbalanced by the mass of shadow and vertical cloth forms on the right side.
My intent here was to create a "lens flare" effect to draw extra focus to the primary highlight. While pleased with the flare itself, at this point I felt the painting as a whole was not working at all. This is where I almost called it off, even though significant time and energy had already been invested. I realized that the reason it didn't work was that the focal red was much too large and heavy in proportion to the size of the entire canvas. Paradoxically, the larger my area of red, the less special it became. I talked about this exact issue in the article I wrote for Artists On Art magazine and in Episode 3 of Impasto Logs.
The turning point
After dramatically reducing the area of red, it all came together. It literally came into focus. You'll see below that a reference to this epiphany made itself into the title. Basically smooth sailing from here on out. Just a matter of refinement. The refining stage was significant but enjoyable.
The final approach
I pushed as far as I could. As long as an artist is committed to being totally present with each final touch, making sure that each adjustment is an improvement, I think it is very difficult to "overwork" a painting. What happens (for me at least) is an eventual arrival to the point of diminishing returns. When time spent is disproportionately large in relation to the amount of significant improvement. That is the time to stop painting.
And the finished painting, "Witness to Red Left Unseen" (16x20):
This is an example of a painting that gave me the most challenge (grief) but with which I am the most pleased. Another example of this phenomena was "Backed Into A Damn Corner", a painting I am still excited about. I feel that these recent examples represent my highest artistic achievement. Judging by the response to "Witness" (it sold within 60 minutes of being posted on my Facebook page), maybe some of you agree.
