Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Sax

The Sax
5x7 Oil on Hardboard

Finally found some time to get caught up a bit on the blog postings.  Nope.. I have not been slacking.. :-D  Just had a few things going on.  Like getting the studio finished and dealing with a couple of other things that cropped up.

   Sax was painted for an "All That Jazz" invitational art exhibit at the Market Street Art Spot in Minerva Ohio.  I probably would never have attempted this if not for the fact of the theme.  I found it to be a neat little painting to do and one that helped me stretch a bit in terms of doing reflective items.
   The trick is to think of the reflection as a shape, then put that shape in at the right color.  An artist gets into trouble representing when he thinks of the reflection as light or as an object.
For example, a glass is clear so what do you paint when you paint the glass?  The answer is that you simply paint the shapes of each color.   Easy answer, but its the execution which causes the mental struggle.  It is hard to get your mind to see beyond the object and put shapes to the color (squinting at it helps bring out the shapes.)  A real internal struggle goes on and quite honestly it tires me out doing these little 'thinking/squinting' projects.

4 comments:

  1. I like this painting very much! The subject is fascinating and you have been able to render the poetry which lives inside this instrument! Colors and shapes are soft and strong at the same time.... Exactly as the sound of the sax! Great work.

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  2. Fausto.. Why thank you so much for you kind words. Don't you think music is much like the visual arts? Every painting should have a sense of rhythm and movement. I hope to one day to sit in front of a canvas and paint without having to struggle to remember the tune... :-)

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  3. You're right Catherine! Both music and painting are creative processes and are delightful. It's a pity people can appreciate music easily while painting is a bit harder to understand!
    But your words have woken up an idea in my mind which I want to share with you! But not on here!

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  4. Oh... I feel a growth spurt coming on with you Fausto! Yes.. You must let me in on it.

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