The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is PIZZAZZ, and I will add my little contribution to the collection.
“Paint with PIZZAZZ,” the book instructor encouraged. “Be BOLD and BOHEMIAN! Don’t let yourself be bound by the need to render realistically.”
So I slashed, swirled and daubed bold colors on the canvas — and it was so much fun! I whipped up a sea of wild waves and whitecaps, then swizzled in a sky full of menacing clouds. Lastly I added a small sailing ship in the distance, plowing its way through this terrible fury.
I proudly showed my painting to my first art critic.
“Are those white things supposed to be fish?” he asked.
“Fish? Those are whitecaps.”
“They look like white fish trying to jump into the boat.”
Back at the easel, I tried to make the waves more realistic.
I proudly showed my stormy scene to the next art critic.
“Your ship is too level. The bow should be dipping into the trough of that wave.”
“Maybe,” I replied.
Concluding I don’t possess enough pizzazz, my next effort was a vase that looked like a vase and flowers that looked like flowers. Someday I’ll try doing the boat-on-stormy-sea again – with proper whitecaps – and dip its bow down into the trough of a big wave.
Curiously enough, that painting is one of my favorites. Maybe because it looks WILD — and was FUN. I may just do wild and fun again sometime. 🙂
Never listen to anyone. When most people look at a painting, they look for what they expect to see. A good painting changes how people see something. I’m not a subjectivist; I believe good art represents something, but it’s true that people bring their expectations to everything they read or see. Painting should be fun and challenging (half the fun).
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Well, maybe okay to listen. I know with writing and such, some critique sharpens me. But I’m definitely going to try more free styles like Expressionism.
Thanks for your comment. I think you’re right: people come with expectations.
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She sounds like the art teacher at my kids’ primary school: always criticising, always telling the kids to start again, do better. Like I tell my children, there are no rules to art. It’s subjective and supposed to be fun.
Keep at it, Christine. I bet your white caps are fabulous. Nice to read a post from you, too 🙂
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Thanks for your comment.
Actually these were lay-commenters, one not an artist at all, the other had a year of art classes. (And when I thought about it, they sorta did — or more like dolphins. 😉 ) I get lots of praise, too — some folks say my artwork is beautiful.
So, yes, I will persevere. Starting so late, I have so much to learn — including how to accept comments graciously. And I’m getting the idea that a lot of learning involves messing, experimenting with blending colors, different brushes and strokes, etc.
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Sounds like you’re enjoying youself which is all that matters 😊
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Sounds good to me, I’m all for impressionism! You should see some of the stuff I’ve got hanging on my walls!
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I’ll have to send you one of mine to add to your collection. A half orange, half purple, mosquito-dotted “Prairie Sunset” 😉
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Perhaps you should take a picture of one and submit it to Friday Fictioneers as a prompt? Or is that not legal?
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Don’t listen to art critics! Go with what pleases you… Did you ever see the movie Les Intouchables (The Intouchables) – a fantabulous French film that, of coures, the Americans felt the need to remake (The Upswing) – and I will admit, was not horrible but will never be as good as the original? In this movie, the aid is disgusted with the price his employer pays for art. He then decides to paint something which his boss sells for 15K Euros – proof that… art is art and the value attributed is aleatory!
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Thanks for your comments. I’m really trying to let loose and do more experimenting, expressionist, even abstract, but it’s hard because I’m such a perfectionist!
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Good for you!
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