Pardon my wonky photo, the horizon line on the actual painting is decidedly more horizontal! Do not, under any circumstances, suggest I put a boat in! I seem to have cropped off the high arc of the sky, it is indigo at the very top. Disclaimer - this painting is not finished, nor is it intended to be viewed as such - ever! I reserve the right to completely white wash this canvas.A while ago I started another painting, I think I mentioned it, around the same time I was churning out a short story every other day. Well, it's a good thing I primed that canvas because my short story splurge has come to a halt and I am trying to pace myself before I go to the South Island of New Zealand to research my latest novel because I know, once I return from that trip, I will be eat/sleep/drinking my project for the foreseeable future. So I've been adding a dob of paint here and there on the canvass and this is what I've got to show for it thus far.
Originally I intended to plonk lots and lots of brightly painted houses and trees on thick bright grass in the foreground, all but totally obscuring the sea (because I have yet to develop my sea painting skills - blame it on living far inland for the first twenty years of my life!), but now I am wondering whether to let it be a simple and uncluttered (quite unlike my other paintings) seascape.
My daughter had a go at it a few weeks ago, there was a lovely splurge of bright yellow slightly left of centre in the sea and again at the bottom of the frame, I kept a little of it, children know so much more about art than adults.
I look at the sea when every morning on the school run, and every morning it appears completely different. And then again each afternoon, and any other time I am passing! This painting began when it was a soft grey fuzzy morning sea with silver patches and an horizon line which looked like a Morris 1000 car had zoomed along it and left its paintwork there.
What do you think, beach in the foreground or brightly painted lapboard bungalows? I could even throw in a few Norfolk pines and I'd be able to sell it in a touristy gallery - NZ icons painting!
23 comments:
I could add a paw print? I like leaving paw prints in the sand on the beach. :-)
I'm not sure it would show up - that is if you could ensure it was in perspective to begin with. But thanks all the same! :)
I would go with a solitary observer. Rather than looking out to see I'd personally have him or her looking off-canvas - but I'm twisted like that.
Sand, sea and sky is very nice, but I'm also partial to little bungalows :) It's cool that you have painting as a creative thing to do when you're not writing. Do you see any link between the two different forms in your work? That's a question I always ask writers who are painters who are writers!
Would she be looking for her dog, Jim? You see, a figure couldn't just be randomly staring off...they would have to have some purpose, I would have to have them in character, they would have to have a reason for being there...like actors! Ha! And you thought you were strange! Thanks for the idea...I might copy the photo on "paint" and stick a figure in there to see what it looks like.
Hey, thanks Andrea, nice to know there's another bungalow fan out there!
I definitely see lots of parallels between writing and painting and I often work out ideas in paintings that I'm having trouble visualising in words. The only major difference between the two is that if I make a mistake in a painting I can't just click to go back to some earlier un-tainted edit of the work! Wish I could though, as I've ruined many a painting. Hey ho, at least I can get the white paint out and start again. As for a link between what I write and what I paint...I definitely go into more detail in my writing than in my paintings! Time is a major factor - I write so much faster than I paint, plus I am not a talented painter! I think there are definite tones of impressionism, surrealism and modernism, and a bunch of other 'isms' in both my paintings and writing, but sometimes I just paint what I know other people will like/buy! This one's for my son's bedroom!
I suppose I'm not the best judge...after I've posted more stuff you'll have to let me know what you think!
How big is it offline?
x
Why not? That way the viewer is involved in the creative process. Just what is it that's distracting them from this beautiful vista? Add a bit of mystery into the thing.
The sea, Rachel, is immense! Haha! The canvas is approx 5 feet x 2 feet - about the length of a standard settee!
Yes, Jim, I like that, thanks. Art should be inclusive...it should make you think...it should, um, what else should it do? This one should give my son something to dream about!
hello rachel - i laughed when i saw your mention of making your painting more commercially acceptable or saleable even. for a while i painted seascapes but then i "ruined them" by placing symbols hovering in the midground. i'd dream about the symbols and they'd get placed into the floating space.
leave your painting as is.
have a peaceful day.
steven
I vote beach. With a little white boat bobbing about in the bay;-)
But seriously, beach for me, and perhaps a lonely walker, especially as your painting reminds me of this:
http://www.lib-art.com/imgpainting/1/8/10281-monk-by-the-sea-caspar-david-friedrich.jpg
Steven - I love symbolism! I could paint a little symbol of something in there - something scattered on the sand or floating in the water...I might try to do another painting like this one and "ruin" that one! Thank you. I'd like to see your paintings.
I'll give you boats bobbing, Thomas!!!
That's a beautiful and very atmospheric painting you gave me the link for - much moodier than mine...I was far too happy when I started this painting! I love dark, stormy seas...I must practice my sea painting but the thing just won't stay still....now where are those storms!
Thanks :)
I agree with, Steven: leave as is.
Unless of course you can find a tiny patch of sand for Henry DeTamble!
Oh yes! The award for gratuitous mention this week goes to me!
Hello Rachel, Thanks for dropping by on my blog. I vote for sea as it is because that's how I like my visits to the coast, just the sand, sea and sky and the sounds of the surf and the seabirds. (Oh, dear all that alliteration was quite unintentional and a bit corny, sorry!)There is a great feeling of peace and solitude..
Penny
Yes, leave it as it is. How many seascapes manage to avoid including evidence of human presence? As if we have to make our mark upon implacable nature, like serious Canutes!
Donna - you beat me to him fair and square this time! But, when you least expect him - expect him! DeTamble is never far from my thoughts! Um, except for when he is...actually I think that little patch of spray in the right hand corner is where he just materialised then remembered he was dead (as I just did) and disappeared again!
Hullo Penny, you're welcome. I like your suggestion, it means less work for me! Your alliteration outburst is not a crime on this blog! I am quite partial to a little of it!
Hullo, what a lot of numbers! I bet no one can say your name in a hurry! I know what you mean...it's a shame so few places are untainted by human evidence...but we humans do insist on breeding and the world isn't getting any bigger! I have to say, I'm veering towards the leave it as it is brigade.
Thank you so much for your suggestions :)
Just realised it's you, Dick! Quite a character(s). Thank you.
No, don't change it. Let the sea by itself make its own effect.
But do paint the colorful houses on another canvas. I've just returned from a trip to Maine, and oh, the sea out there... and the colorful houses... beauty.
Welcome back, Lori, I shall paint another canvas full of colourful houses...don't know when, but I will! I'll have a look at Maine on google earth! Sounds like you had a wonderful trip. Thanks for popping in. I think I will leave the canvas as it is, for now at least.
I was going to say make it just Norfolk pines, but then reading the other comments I was struck by Jim's and not for the first time today, I agree with him. I like the idea of the solitary observer looking out to sea. It has a lot of possibilities, by the way, this pain ting. It is definitely not for the whitewashing!
Haha, thank you Dave - yes, if I threw in Norfolk pines at least everyone would recognise it as NZ!
It is just some random beach scene at the moment.
I'll hold off with the whire paint for a while longer then :) Thanks.
And the white paint!!
I so want to reply to this post! First, I love your disclaimer but please don't whitewash. I like your painting as is and agree with Steven, Donna, Penny, and the rest...
Thank you AW - I like your new picture btw - I will, then, bow to popular demand and leave as is...for now :) But I'm curious to know if a fellow NZer recognises the scene as NZ, or is it just a generic seascape to you? Now, be honest!
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