The Painter's Tongue - Latest Comments

Re: Three Men & The Mountain

MTMcClanahan — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:31:38 -0000

Thanks Crowdadday, and thanks for reading.

Re: Three Men & The Mountain

Crowdadday1 — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:21:41 -0000

I like your work alot, and thank you for sharing that talk about color. The blues and golds in the seagull were wonderful. I enjoyed seeing your work after having some discussion with you and the other people.

Re: When Is A Painting Ready For The Trash

MTMcClanahan — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:38:58 -0000

I can leave a piece for weeks also and, by the time I come back to it, I either like it more than before or I just can't get back into the same "mood" with which it all started (this later is usually the case--I paint fast and am moved quickly to paint something but can lose interest fast).

I actually think it is good to put the "blood, sweat & tears" into our work because I think we come out more refined on the other side--John Ruskin said (I collect quotes), "The best answer to questions is perseverance...", but at some point, we have to make a decision I think. Matisse said, "draw a great deal, and do not reflect too much." This "do not reflect too much" always pops into my mind when I've spent days on reworking something.

And, if I may, Robert Genn says, "You should have the courage to do your own weeding...anybody who takes a chance tends to hang their ego on their efforts, hoping--just hoping--that the quality is there." I sometimes catch myself trying to force the quality into a work by pure will--like if I look at it long enough I will see that it is worthy--usually, in this case, it is not.

Re: When Is A Painting Ready For The Trash

Sarie Kuipers — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:43:09 -0000

My one art teacher always said you throw nothing away you can fix everything me I don't know sometime it looks finished sometime I paint over it and sometimes I leave it for weeks and then I get to a point to finish it Thank you for you word it really gives me time to think about a painting and wonder if it is worth it to put in so lots of time in it Make no mistake me I am just a Amateur but I enjoy to put the paint on a canvas

Re: Death Of A Painting & The 5 Stages Of Grief

MTMcClanahan — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 23:32:26 -0000

I can relate to your feeling of relief at finally accepting what feels like the inevitable. Your use of the cut pieces is interesting - I've noticed that when I do cut a painting into several pieces, the cropped images are quite attractive, much more so than the whole painting ever was. I enjoyed looking at your site and will read more on you working method.

Re: Death Of A Painting & The 5 Stages Of Grief

Viv — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 06:00:19 -0000

For me, the crucial moment is realising that whatever I do, the painting is not going to work! I'm a bit obstinate and always think I can fix it - but I can't and it's a relief when I accept that. Because, then I can see the failed painting as a great collage resource!

I cut out all the bits I like, often keeping the shapes around the images that work together. I have boxes of canvas bits and boxes of paper bits, depending on the medium I worked in. So when I'm doing a collage, I've got lots of resources to build up. Also works to use the paper bits as chine colle in prints.

So I get this warm feeling of not wasting anything and I can often make several pieces of work from one that failed. Examples of some of these are on www.martinstudios.co.uk. Also some stuff about my process in the studio log and blog there.

Viv Martin