Praia Moçambique; hackneyed subjects

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Praia Moçambique, sea, late afternoon, February 23, 

oil on card, 28 x 29.7 cm

 

 

 

 

Praia Moçambique, sea, late afternoon, February 23 - detail

 

 I believe the sunset would be more striking seen from near Santo Antonio, and I shall go there shortly.

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My old art teacher from Hazlehead Academy, Alexander Hamilton, would say, and I generally agree, that some subjects should be avoided because they have already been so often visited by other painters that an original response is impossible and one`s painting will, inevitably, be hackneyed. Usually sunsets would be included among such prohibited subjects.

But while agreeing, I admit that the pleasure of watching and capturing in paint a sunset is immense.

 Ergo, I continue...

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Itaiópolis: a road trip

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Church near the junction for Rio Negrinho, oil on card, 12 x14.5 cm   SOLD

I feel that my trip was a sucess, I painted six pictures, five of which are presentable, not a bad catch.

Itaiópolis itself is quite interesting, a city in two distinct parts, the old town with some good architecture from the turn of the century and the Polish church (the interior most beautifully painted), and the newer part which is less interesting but where most of the services are.

Driving around is very nice: I was delighted with the quality of the roads, and how pleasant the views are: the landscape undulates very beautifully between the sea and Itaiópolis, the little houses sitting so very gracefully among trees and hills.

 

A view north from Itaiópolis, oil on card, 12 x 9.8 cm  - available

Shanty town near Rio Negrinho, oil on card, 9.8 x 13.9 cm  discarded

A section of BR101, oil on card, 8.6 x 12 cm

There is a certain sky effect which I have started using and which I must be careful not to let become a cliche.

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Sunset, Praia Mole; Chile; Rio

Sunset, Praia Mole, oil on card, 9.6 x 12 cm  SOLD

Very Turnerish picture: does the obvious beauty of such a subject and the fact that it is such a staple of populist art make it a no go area for painters? One might respond: no, it depends on your capacity for interpretation.

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Today I shall try to get a guide book on Chile and make more pochade carriers for Rio, where I'll go at the end of September to paint and court galleries.

Riverbank, reflections; Florianopolis; cliche

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Riverbank, reflections, oil on card, 10 x 9 cm - available

A beautiful day: the tide doesn't enter here 'till later, so no fishermen today. I stood on the bridge in the sunshine.

At weekends, Florianopolis doesn't get moving until midday at earliest: even a relatively late riser such as I can wander about in relative tranquility in the morning. It's an odd city, provincial in mood, slow moving, with a limited cultural infrastructure.

It is as if it hasn't awoken to the fact that its population has risen now to over 400, 000. At weekends the centre feels very dead, the nocturnal sectors of the population drive in search of fun to Lagoa, or to large, bland shopping centres.

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This subject of today's picture is not new, but is it a cliche? Or is it simply the sort of scene that will always appeal to landscapists? To me, a cliche is a catchphrase: it has an glib cleverness about it: I don't think the mere fact of a subject being unoriginal makes it a cliche.

It's often better, in any case not to worry about things being cliches or not, at least until after the picture has been made. That is because, I think, as artists we sometimes have to work ideas through our systems, however uncomfortable that makes us feel, or how grotesque the results: we have follow them through to their conclusions, good or bad.

Ergo, we should try to hold off criticising our work until some time after it has been made, or we will never succeed in working our more dubious ideas out of ourselves, and will fail also to liberate the better ones.

Pylon, rain

Plylon, rain, oil on card, 11.6 x 9.6 cm

Painted from the car in the heavy rain in Santa Monica.

This picture has a sweetness that I'm wary of. It just came out that way. There is also something about the composition which I find too easily picturesque; hackneyed.

The Unavoidability of Cliche

These sort of images of weathered surfaces- walls, doors, faces even- are perhaps a photographic cliche. Nonetheless, they are extremely enjoyable. This is partly because they reveal something that cameras are especially good at, which is the surface detail. This detail is particularly evident when the photos are black and white.

At what point should a subject in art be avoided because it has been done before? When does it become exhausted? What is the difference between a cliche and a tradition?

With so many images available so easily online it is now very evident how unoriginal most of them are- and I include my own work in this generalisation.

Maybe the only way to continue making art is to accept the limits of originality with humour?