Saturday, June 8, 2013

Vast Vista

Acrylic, 6x12 linen on hardboard
Available through DPW auction/gallery

This is my first submission for this months VPO that is exploring the Azores. You can see the original Google image by clicking here. I loved the wide view of this scene and wanted to try & capture it. I also took some artistic license by adding more color to the scene than the original has. 

I almost did not post this and thought to put it aside. I didn't think it was "good enough." I have more scenes I want to do and thought I would try a different one. But I just followed a link that fellow artist Sea Dean pointed out - and read an article by Robert Genn about "Thinking in context." You can read it as well, by clicking here. It's a quick read & not terribly long. But it points out how taking something out of context loses the power that originally drew the artist in.

I was struck by his sentence "That vista is vast. Consider a longer, horizontal format." -- which was what I did here! I had done exactly what he was saying to do by choosing the 6x12 canvas to paint this on. I could not squeeze this image into a square or portrait shaped canvas because it wouldn't be the same image -- what drew me to the image in the first place was the wide view and also, that string of trees along the horizon. If I started cropping things off, I would be reducing a movie to fit my television screen rather than seeing it in the letter-box format that it required. 

I am happier now with this painting than I was originally. Because I did stay true to what caught my eye with this scene and I did my best to render & capture that inner view. And I got a pretty good name for the painting from this article as well! 


2 comments:

Sea Dean - Paint a Masterpiece said...

Thanks Nan. I often find that I´m thinking of painting a certain subject or I blog about something and another Artist has the same idea. When you´re in the zone it seems there is a place of connection where we all go to collectively process. This may be the case with your work above.

Lavina said...

Saw this on Virtual Paintout and it really stood out. Good choice, the wide view. Lovely painting. Your clouds are stunning. / Lavina Blossom

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