It's been a little while since I've stopped to truly ponder some art thoughts. Life and then more life always seems to get in the way these days.
I've still been painting. And listening to music. And I've thought about what I wanted to ponder over. And that's how important the details are. Details are abundant in life and in nature. So as a landscape painter they can be a little overwhelming sometimes.
There are times when I am working on a painting and it feels like I have no idea what I'm doing. I can just have finished a painting and been completely pleased and content with the outcome. And then I start the next painting and I have absolutely no idea where to begin. Most of the times when I walk away or take a break from a painting its because I don't know where I'm supposed to go next. But an unfinished painting always calls you back. And until a painting is finished it feels like a puzzle that needs to be solved.
So what does my being constantly confused about what I'm doing have to do with details? And why is it that details matter so much?
One of my colleagues once described my work as having "implied detail" that added to the illusion of realism. It clicked with me because I feel like that's pretty much how I see things. I know that I am never going to achieve that smooth and ultra real finish that is found in photo-realism or even that sense of trompe l'oeil found among the dutch masters. And it's not something I truly try for, but what I am always trying for is an overall sense of depth and completion. The feeling that the image correctly conveys a sense of place. That I myself find my eye following a path through the image. That the image pulls me to different places throughout and I land my focus on different details in various levels of the painting to correct a sense of space.
The subjects of my paintings are moments that I truly am just walking through. I take pictures all the time and when I go back over my images there is something about the time in which the photo was taken, the angle that is captured, the particular light....all those details that add up to be something I think I should take the time and interpret and transform that image into paint.
Even in reference photos the different details make a difference. There are places I keep photographing and can't get a reference that captures the right feeling. The light didn't come out right in the photo, the angle is wrong, too dark, blurry.... There are so many ways a reference photo can fail in capturing the moment. And sometimes that's fine.
Sometimes the sense of place is pervasive. Some places I paint are places I go over and over again. Some places are a place I have been to once. By painting these places I force my mind to go back to a different time in a sense. The photos can only hold so much detail. Sometimes adjustments have to be made for composition or perspective. Sometimes adjustments have to be made because I cannot possibly paint every single blade of grass or every brick I see. Some people can. Some people will take the time to get all the details right. I personally know I will always see something more that I could paint to add more detail. But what is more important to me is that I don't do too much and make the painting lose that sense of movement. Even a still landscape needs air.
When I start a painting, the fun is in the sketch. The knowledge that nothing that you first put down will be at all visible in the final image. The underpainting will be completely covered under multiple layers of paint. It is fraught with errors and mistakes. But without the underpainting there is no direction for which to apply the paint. Using that initial framework its easy to block in color and shift angles and create a sense of light. Its only as the layers need less bold corrections and you begin to focus on the edges and minutiae that the details truly start to emerge, If you look up close the surface is still a mess. But the surface is a very careful combination of colors that create depth and a sense of a real space. That's my hope at least. It's what I'm going for.
I paint until it reads right to me. I paint until I get to the point where going further would be a mistake. If you get too close you might experience some of the paintings somewhat dissolving from a whole to a collection of parts, but there is a proper distance at which the illusion works completely.
A proper amount of detail is perceived by the eye and when read together the image should take you into a particular moment in time. But its really all just paint. And sometimes the tiniest little mark completes the piece. Sometimes that final detail is correcting a line. No matter what it is, the painting isn't done and doesn't read right until every detail is in place. Sometimes its a smooth process, sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. But when the painting is finished, I know. Something just clicks once that final little detail is in place. Once it's done, its done. When every last detail is in place, there is nothing left to do and I can see the image and I can also walk away.
And when you step back.....
all
the
details
come
together.
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