Pallet Knife Painting...Would Like Some Opinions

[Pooch]

I posted this up in "Just Showing" but I thought I'd put it here, also. One thing bothers me about this and I want to see if anyone else sees the same thing. Thanks for looking.

[CarlOwen]

You got to learn how to do tree trunks.

[Pooch]

Hi Carl. I'm not sure what you mean. That I need to learn how to do tree trunks?
But the trees, though, were what was bothering me. I realized that too many were leaning over!? Was this forest falling down?
I've since fixed it. Taken out some leaning trees and replaced them with straighter ones.

[CarlOwen]

Good morning Joseph. It looks like you dragged the tip of the pallet knife down the canvas to make the trees. They are all hollow on the inside with paint buildup on both outer edges. They are all to uniform and there are to many of them. That causes a compositional conflict with the eye bouncing up and down between the trees and the water. I think your stream is beautiful and powerful and should be the main interest in this painting.

A tip about tree trunks. Take the edge of the knife loaded with an ever so small amount of paint on the edge and draw the knife horizontal about I/3rd to 1/2 of the way across the trunk on one side with dark paint and do the same thing on the other side with light paint. Play with it a bit. You will see what I mean.

I also see that your stream with the rocks have the same quality as your favorite artists. Nice job.

[Pooch]

Carl, as ever I look forward to your comments and observations. I'm going to practice that technique. Thanks for that. As usual.
And yes! I used one of Tibor Nagy's painting as my inspiration while trying not to copy the original work. I'm glad you went to check out his work. Fantastic, isn't it? That's the passion we were talking about in a previous post. It comes right out of the image.
And you know, I probably did spend too much time on the woods. I was much freer with the knife and paint while doing the rocks and stream and then started to tighten up a bit on the trees. It shows, I think.
But I'm not completely unhappy with this. It's all a learning process and I feel that I'm getting it back.

[CarlOwen]

Taking a break from upholstering two side chairs in our living room. I am not going to respond to the language in your post. I am responding to what I see as the spirit of your post. I think we are kindred spirits after a fashion. Yes you are getting it back. Not knowing what you had to begin with I cannot base that comment on visual input. I can however, base that comment on extrapolation and my acquired knowledge about brain development research.

When I finally acknowledged that I was really retired, as in acknowledging that I would never be employed again because of my attitude that I had of having had enough emotionally and intellectually that created a deep refusal to follow orders given to me by fearful, self serving, ignorant, and/or stupid younger persons who did not have the capacity to understand experience and knowledge. I returned to painting. While our personal histories are different, I think you are on the same track.

Learning is never completed, it is an adventure. I chose to develop an individualistic style by purposefully not copying or trying to practice the style of another artist. I do examine other paintings with the intent to understand how an image is created with the intent of how I could apply the knowledge to my own style of painting. I think you have chosen another path for your development. No path is better than another one as we all arrive at our own path's end. I also enjoy your comments.

[Pooch]

Reupholstering two chairs? I'm sure You'd rather be painting. I hate when life interferes with what we want to be doing. My wife had me visiting all of the Goodwill stores with her, today. On Mondays they give senior citizens discounts. I'm 65!! (Can't believe it, frankly). She says at least I'm good for something. I think she's kidding. I think. She resells the stuff on E-Bay. Does pretty well.
But...back to art. As far as copying Nagy's work, I do it as a learning experience and also just to see if I can do it. I admire that style. When I paint without worrying about style or brushstrokes it's the subject matter that becomes important. My train, the ship in the storm, the otter, are all paintings where I simply started to paint a subject that I was interested in doing. These paintings are more "my style" I suppose. If I have one. And they are probably the best of my work so far. Trouble is, I WANT to be able to paint like Nagy.
I watched a video, recently, of a lecture given by a well known painter. He said not to worry about things like brushstrokes because that isn't why people buy paintings. They buy it because they like horse paintings. Or flowers. Or because they are looking for a sailboat picture to hang in their living room. They aren't interested in style. Other artists are, though. They will be interested in the way you handled the brush. Trouble is, "artists don't usually buy art."
So, I should make the subject matter my driving force. It's like watching that beautiful Mercedes Benz go by and wishing it was mine. But I can't afford it. I'll just keep driving my Ford. It's just fine and gets me where I want to go.

[CarlOwen]

Good afternoon Joseph. I will be 72 on July 5. Not bad for being a guy told by a doctor in 1968 that I would never see 60. I agree that nothing is better than painting, but if we do not attend to life's tasks it shall become very expensive as we both know. Moving on. I do understand what you are saying about subject matter being most important. In fact a study was done on that. Lost my reference but I think it was done in London. Landscapes are the number one seller. Oil on canvas is the number one medium. Portraits and nudes were at the bottom of the list.

It is my opinion that painting styles seem to be generational. There is a post on this site that shows the progress of painting down through the ages. It is such an historical relevant post. Just love it. Hope it stays here. I agree with you that we paint what we like and want to. Now the but part. Sometimes a concept pops up we can't ignore and sometimes some of us pursue that concept by trying to express it in our painting. Impressionism, cubism, abstraction and neo-classic pop into mind.

My quest is to learn how and to present realism with an abstract quality that entices the viewer to look at the painting quality in the areas of textures, abstract representations of reality while at the same time causing an emotional involvement with the painting as being an object of beauty. I want the viewer to enjoy looking at a two dimensional painted surface and feel that it is a three dimensional view trapped within a frame. I don't want ultra realism nor do I want an abstraction. I want that perfect blend of both. Difficult. anyway, life impedes again as it is time to start dinner. Have a good evening my friend.