Blog

Recently, I checked to see what people are looking at on my website. Among the readings of blogs, I  have seen several hits to the following blog that I wrote almost three years ago, to the day. I used to write five blogs a week, but  since then I have backed off. Although several people were so kind as to tell me how much my blogs meant to them, as my transition from my old job subsided, I found that I was painting more and writing blogs less.

Since the renewed interest in reading my older blogs showed up, I became intrigued to see what I wrote three years ago in this particular blog. I found that this blog was a good reminder to me today, as I hope it will be to you. Never stop telling your "story" in your artwork, for that is how people will see the passion of why you paint.

September 21, 2013

What is the story that you tell with your art?

A long time ago when I first started painting, someone suggested to keep in mind that a story should be told when creating art. If you look at the work of famous artists, most have a story, obvious or subtle. Well, ok… I admit that I don’t see the story in abstract art. Some of my abstract pieces don’t have a story and while the others have a story is probably only known to me… but that is a topic for another blog, not this one.

Being a self-taught artist means that I am used to feeding the drive inside to study the art of others and try to learn about color, design and the story that they are trying to tell. When I chose to paint still life paintings several years ago, I was really stepping out of my comfort zone. Wildlife and landscapes were my primary subjects to paint at that time. Carpal tunnel surgery on my painting hand made it hard to paint during recovery. Deciding that a challenge would help keep my mind off of my setback led me to the idea of trying to paint still life compositions. The irony was that I didn’t like a lot of still life paintings because they seemed haphazard, almost as if the items painted were arbitrarily chosen. I couldn’t connect the objects in any way that told me why they were chosen for the piece. Since food was going to be the subject in my adventure in creating still life pieces, I needed to come up with storylines.

The love of cooking gourmet cuisine and creating my own recipes started when I was a teenager. A very limited budget in the early years of our marriage made me have to come up with creative ways of cooking without buying expensive ingredients. Learning to conquer the fear of failure started at a young age, only it was with cooking, not art where I got my initiation. I figured that if we didn’t like it, no big deal, I just wouldn’t make it again. And if the presentation on the plate wasn’t perfect, no big deal, it wasn’t as if it was being photographed for Better Homes and Gardens. When my mom would create meals, she was very conscious of having a pleasant plating presentation. Contrasting textures and color were important to her. She never would have served pork chops with mashed potatoes and cauliflower! So when I decided to create still life paintings, my studies kept bringing me back to the images painted by the Old Dutch masters. Their works are truly a feast for the eyes with the colors and textures that they employed in their pieces. They lead your eyes around the painting in subtle ways. At a wildlife art workshop I attended in my early years of painting, the instructor had us lay tracing paper on top of the Old Masters’ works and draw lines on the light parts that came through. Lo and behold, the lines converged on the center of interest. To my untrained eyes at that time, this was a revelation. To capture interest and to hold it by directing the viewer’s eye around my piece would be my goal for all of my paintings after that.

Color usage and design had always been of interest to me, so using this newly discovered method years ago was a welcome addition to my repertoire. Before creating my first layout of composing elements to my first still life arrangement, I made it a goal to tell a tale, utilize the advice that my mom gave to me about color and contrast and try the techniques exemplified by the Old Masters.

When I look paintings online or in galleries I am surprised to see so many that I have no notion of the narrative that they are trying to tell. Of course that makes me wonder about my own work. Am I communicating to my viewers? Are they able to decipher my visual description? Have I been too obvious or too subtle? The main subject in my work always contains colors that are not found anywhere else in the piece. Other colors and shapes are used in the “Papa, Mama, and Baby” method: large, medium and small colors and shapes that triangulate around the main subject. Edges soften as they move away from the main subject. Lines, implied or direct lead the eye back to the main interest. But can people see the story that I am telling in my work? The goal for my still life pieces is to show food in a way that tells about the fun of creating a dish, remembering rich and robust flavors or to show a colorful cornucopia concoction. Can I make the viewers remember a wonderful meal full of pleasant conversation with friends or loved ones? Do they think of a prior special dessert with its delightful flavors when I highlight one in a colorful play of light? Will they pine for a future feast with the ingredients I illustrate? I can only hope. What is the story that you tell with your art and how do you tell it?

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