‘Art is not what you see, but what you make others see’. Edgar Degas
This is one of my favourite quotes and what I am always trying to achieve with these narrative, figurative works. I am painting what I personally see, but I know and hope you, the viewer, will make up your own mind as to what is happening in the painting. I used to paint solely portrait commissions, but discovered I was more interested in painting a story with my own interpretation stamped on it.
I have finished the above piece with some alterations in the final week. I have simplified the area around the three glasses, painting out the purse and a glass to the left of the painting, both of which I felt added nothing to the overall composition. Best of all, for me, is adding what my tutor used to call ‘spirited touches’, my own additions of colour right at the end; so a touch of the orange here and there and splashes of the turquoise on the leather jacket, the table and in the hair etc, all of which pull the composition together.
Next week I shall be putting up a small piece I am entering into a competition in New York, involving painting the water in a swimming pool which I have LOVED doing, a first for me, and I want to do more! After that, I have a hankering to paint a ‘drip’ oil painting, which seems to be very popular at the moment and something I think I would have fun doing!
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