Ever since my visit with master painter Max Ginsburg last fall, the idea of "poetry" has weighed heavily on my mind. I don't mean poetry in the literal sense (although I'm a sucker for Tennyson and T.S. Eliot). No, I mean, the motion, essence, and energy of the form when painting a figure.
Looking at my past work, I notice that many of my paintings are static, and could have been more dynamic. Even when a subject is still, there should be a sense of life and movement in the piece, otherwise the viewer (heck, the artist too!) gets bored and moves on. One can accomplish this by carefully alternating hard and soft edges, and by intentionally giving variety to the size and direction of brushstrokes. Of course, color harmony, drawing, and overall design have a lot to do with …
Read more »
