A little drive south: Laguna; attempting to work much more quickly

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Laguna 

 

 

 

Sun, Laguna, oil on card, 20.7 x 24 cm - unavailable

 

 

 

 

Laguna, July 2022, oil on card, 28 x 25.5 cm SOLD

 

 

Laguna, July 2022 - detail

 

 

Laguna was beautiful, empty of tourists and full of silent charm. The way the town perches between lake and sea and hills is wonderful.

I will certainly return.

 

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Attempting to work much more quickly

 

My logic is this: that the paintings are "worked out" within the first fifteen minurtes, after which there is a period essentially of filling in which takes up to thirty minutes. 

From experience, I can say that almost nothing I do after these forty-five minutes will make much difference- except perhaps to weary the picture by overworking it. That means the colours becoming increasingly grey or brown or just dirty, and brushstrokes losing their sharpness as marks are "corrected".

 In addition, the longer I work the greater the possibility that the scene will change, usually because of the sun moving.

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Trees, Parque Estadual do Rio Vermelho, January

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Trees, Parque Estadual do Rio Vermelho, January

oil on card 27.5 x 29.5 cm

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Trees, Parque Estadual do Rio Vermelho, January - detail

 

 

Speed and pace

 

 Some might like quickly others take years to complete a picture. They might work steadily or in bursts. 

I prefer the steady mode, but I often want to catch some rapid sensations and it sometimes doesn't seem appropriate and I revolt and try to complete the picture in one rapid burst.

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Fast painting

I used to believe that the more slowly and deliberately a thing was done- specifically a work of art- the better. I thought that because I saw slowness as proof of deliberation, thoughtfulness, and care.

These concerns were fundamentally moral. They don't necessarily need to be present in the aesthetic sphere- a work of art can equally well be spontaneous, thoughtless and careless. It just depends on your terms.

There's no proving that one set of values is better than the other because in the end the artwork is just a thing: it has no moral life and - though part of me rages against this- it doesn't really matter very much in the scheme of things anyway.

Personally, I've always been a much better fast artist than a slow one. If the pace is too slow I get bored- I don't concentrate more. On the contrary, if I have too much time to make corrections then I over-edit. I fuss, changing things that don't need changing, blunting my original message with compromise.

This is partly why monotype is such an appealing medium for me, it's "time-limited", you have to get the image right in an hour or two or the ink dries. But I have attempted to discover the same midset in painting, here.