What makes painting good

In a way, both of these images are about the political nature of death. The work that tends to be simultaneously the most familiar and horrifying is my idea of the greatest. Auping, too, points out that what makes Warhol so great is that his notion of tragedy continues to have currency. When you think of lavender, you think of a certain sweetness and gentleness, and to combine it with the image of an electric chair is profoundly disturbing and profoundly moving.

Maybe that shows the importance of Warhol. In six months, whatever the new controversy would be, I bet I could find a Warhol painting that would describe its sublime and tragic aspects. He entered history with such a bang in the s that people have neglected his later work. Ri chter, by contrast, emerged on the German Pop scene in the s with paintings based on enlarged copies of slightly out-of-focus black-and-white photographs.

He used amateur snapshots and images taken from newspapers and magazines, projected them onto canvas, determined their blurriness, outlined their form, and then painted without further projection.

With this process he attempted to empty painting of its historic baggage and such conventional considerations as composition and content. His later work has become very important. Connecting with the piece most often than not is a deeply personal matter. Throughout history there have been plenty of pieces of art that have shocked, appalled, and created quite a negative reaction, yet they are great works of art.

And there are pieces of art, that are quite popular but are not great works of art. I think most of us know instinctively, intuitively what is good.

Again, it doesn't have to appeal to our personal tastes for us to know it is good. Paintings are like poetry in that they evoke certain feelings, certain emotions that function within our psyches on a more primitive level. They have something to them, something you can't define, something just outside of the light of our campfire to paraphrase Gary Snyder.

An emotional, visceral response. This takes place before your intellect recognizes the content of the work and starts to work out meanings and messages. You just know. I think artists need the structure they give to be able to successfully communicate an idea. I've used the example of music.

There are a few notes that become embellished and they are arranged within some sort of structure. If there is no structure, the result is noise. The same applies to painting, in my humble opinion.

Saying something meaningful, powerful or original is hard! We only succeed in bits and pieces, here and there, now and then. In planning an artwork, you often need to conduct related exercises, explorations and experiments. Planning an entire meal involves more than just knowing cooking techniques. That means learning to plan your own paintings, but how? Wild and garish? Sure, but I can always paint over it or parts of it later. For now, it has the same effect on me as opening a brand-new box of 64 Crayolas.

Considering why you are painting, in general or this particular painting, can help you create work with more impact and get more enjoyment and satisfaction out of the process.

Make your inner critic work for you, instead of against you, by challenging lazy thinking and asking the right questions. This article is the fifth in a series about creating paintings with more emotion, power and personal meaning. Here are links to the first four: Is My Painting Done? Search for:. What Makes a Good Painting? That pesky inner critic! Uniqueness in art can come from an original approach or idea that departs from traditional or previously established forms.

It sprouts from a new idea or approach. It can be found on the subject-matter, style, size, materials, presentation, and many other elements of art. Unfortunately, the public sometimes has a hard time accepting or understanding original works that break with established and accepted traditional forms. So when something that departs from tradition is presented, at first it might not get the appreciation that it may gain later, once people have had time to adjust and absorb what is really being placed before them.

Every painting presents different challenges and many times those challenges can become amazing opportunities for experimenting and self-improving. That is a nice way to say that with each work comes the opportunity for failure. It may not be in the current painting that you see the results, but the next ones will definitely benefit from the struggle and the problem solving that you went through today.

Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art. Question: I like to do watercolor portrait paintings, mostly from a photo and the majority of the subjects are artists, a few politicians, and family members. Can you, the writer of this article, suggest any fresh ideas for me to paint, to improve and better myself and be happier at the end of the painting process?

Answer: For portraits, you have an extra layer of difficulty compared to any other subject: the likeness to the real person. To make sure you get that right, keep measuring and never get tired of comparing.

Compare sizes, angles, colors, and especially tone and intensity. Having the correct darks and lights, and correctly positioning bright and dull colors, create the portrait.

Start by establishing the main shapes, make sure the proportions and the forms are correct, then move to the details. Hi Nelvia, yes, crazy how some things sound easy until you try to do them, lol. But at least let's hope that knowing the theory of what should work will help us during the decision making process of painting.

Thanks for your comment. Excellent advice, it seems to easy to achieve, but we know it is not. Good design and balance can cover a lot of weaker issues. To really use and paint our voice we have to trust our gut as you say.

Thanks Glimmer Twin Fun, I did not plan it to be a thought-provoking article, but if that's the case I am very happy. I try to write hubs about concepts that I learn in my art journey, in the hope that it may help someone discover them a little faster than I did.