Confidence and Illusion

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"Confidence and Illusion" - oil on crescent board, 14 x 19 inches.  This item is sold unframed. (click on the photo to purchase)

Ah, the expressive brush strokes of Van Gogh, and oh, Chagall’s dreamy scenes! Celebrated artists throughout history have produced some of the world’s most ravishing works, executed with an unparalleled mastery of light and color, line and space. But let’s face it: they also turned out their share of duds. We’re not talking about paintings intended to capture the grotesquerie of human life, but artworks that evidence clumsy mark-making, questionable choices, or a rudimentary hand. Even the most adept of painters, it seems, have their off days.  -ARTNEWS, Nov 2023

Confidence and Illusion

Masterpiece or hot mess? ​https://news.artnet.com/art-world-archives/bad-paintings-by-famous-artists-2397184

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Artists have a lot in common with Oz's wizard.

We're behind the curtain, making things appear to be enchanted, magical, effortless, charming and more.  But really, we are messy, clumsy, mistake-making, blundering adventurers who sometimes happen to land on a formula that works.

Well, I am, anyway.

But I suppose it is part of our mystique - our je ne said quoi -to keep the curtain closed, the fog machine rolling and the pile of mishaps shoved under the table.  Because there are many.

The ballgown bots are something I stumbled upon that delight me and seem to feel effortless under my hands.  But it is a rarity, this sense of ease in the paint.  As I gaze upon the pile of canvases and boards to be painted over (my share of duds​) I am decidedly grateful for a wizardly moment with the paint. 

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About the art:  this is a paint-over of a very old acrylic piece on crescent board.  Though I chose the underpainting because of its color and depth, ultimately none of it remains in this new painting.   The focus of this piece is that small section of skin against the dark background - a wee bit of humanity within the monstrous.  After a light pencil sketch, I began layering the darks, painting around the form until the shapes were just so.  Resisting the desire to overly define the skin shadows, letting shapes speak instead.  Layers and layers of pink and gold for the dress, wet into wet so the edges slightly blur into the dark background like gauzy silk.  Mixing the darkest darks for bodice and underskirt (while avoiding actual black) and then a slightly gray-brown dark for the background.  Playing one dark against the other.  Allowing a small shape within the headpiece to say "eye" and a dark shape to say "ear" and leaving the rest to the viewer's eyes.  This piece makes me smile.  She's a badass for sure.

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It's the final week to enter the August Reader Giveaway!  Leave a comment to be automatically entered to win a free piece of original art!  The winner will be announced in next week's post.