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The Next One Might
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The Next One Might
oil on art board
14 x 18 inches.
This item is unframed
(click on the image to purchase)
“All artists live in the gap between what they imagine and what they produce; no finished painting ever looks as good as the one I see in my mind, but the next one might.” - BRIAN RUTENBERG
I've been listening to a lot of Brian Rutenberg's Studio Visits on YouTube.
Ok, ok, yes I have listened to them all before. But I am a slow turtle when it comes to absorbing some information, and listening repeatedly helps knock it into my skull. Well, sometimes. :)
Rutenberg doesn't consider himself an abstract painter, but a southern landscape artist. Yet he doesn't paint trees, but treeness. Oh!
The "abstracts" I paint are generally not abstract paintings - but are instead abstracted landscapes or abstractscapes. I suppose you could call them gorgeness or forestness or beachness. The essence of something, without the actual thing.
Ok, ok, yes I have listened to them all before. But I am a slow turtle when it comes to absorbing some information, and listening repeatedly helps knock it into my skull. Well, sometimes. :)
Rutenberg doesn't consider himself an abstract painter, but a southern landscape artist. Yet he doesn't paint trees, but treeness. Oh!
The "abstracts" I paint are generally not abstract paintings - but are instead abstracted landscapes or abstractscapes. I suppose you could call them gorgeness or forestness or beachness. The essence of something, without the actual thing.
But back to the quote at the beginning of this post - I absolutely live in the gap. What I imagine and what I paint are two different things. But I am relentlessly determined to have my skills catch up to my dreamscapes. Probably they never will. But there is always the next one. Which is a lot like hiking. What's over the next hill? Around the bend? Across the stream? Always curious about what's coming next. Always willing to go and look.
About the art: beginning with a piece of art board (donated by my artist husband while he organized his studio space) I roughed in a mottled sky using a palette knife and thinned oil paint. Using the side of the palette knife and some dark paint, I roughed in a landscape in a V shape with a couple of hills. Working quickly and abandoning preciousness, I build layers of paint until there was some texture to it. Grabbing a piece of butcher paper, I pressed it into the paint to lift some of the layers, then pressed the paint-laden paper in other sections, creating a rocky ground look. Carving back into the paint with a rubber wedge and creating some "treeness", then adding color to those verticals with the palette knife. Inspired by hikes in the waterfall section of the Columbia River Gorge.
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LOVE IT!
What you mentioned about "the desire to make a successful painting" - that hit me deeply. It DOES get in the way of exploration. Note to self: stop chasing success, chase ADVENTURE!
My gap is not what I imagine in my mind because I can't mentally picture the image, but the gap with what I have and what am I going to do with that?
Love the cascade of color, the rich tones and of course the neutrals! Very difficult to get "the feel" and not the actual!
And I can see how your art is much more intuitive and responsive in the moment. So yes, the gap between what you have and what you are going to do with it! Makes perfect sense.
Thank you for pointing out the neutrals in this piece. You remind me to spend more time in neutral territory, so to speak! Unlike Rutenberg - color, singing color, yelling color, SHOUTING COLOR EVERYWHERE which I love, but isn't a restful place for the eyes.
xoxoxo