Art by Bob Abrahams

DANCERS 1C

Jeremy

Acrylic on canvas 10"x11". I see it as study at this stage 

The departure point was this photograph from the NY times. I did not copy the photo, just the concept.

   

Hi Bob

Looks good.  The dark blue background makes the colours really sing.  I like the colours and loose brushwork in the dancers dresses.  I think that the placement of the group on the paper offset to the bottom left works well.

Some of the dancer's faces (especially the one in the middle) look less than elegant. 

With your style of impressionistic brush strokes its very difficult to suggest detail in a single blob of paint.  I always think of the initial study version of Constable's 'Haywain' painting (I am not sure if the image below is the right version but it looks like a sketch).  Its difficult to see in the image  but dog in the foreground I remember is done with few simple brush strokes but still looks like a dog.

I am not sure how he did this, maybe he was just lucky, or took great care in making the marks or possibly he just kept trying with different blobs scraping back and starting again until it worked.

Anyway the point I was trying to make was that you could rework the dancers faces to make them suggest femininity in a few simple strokes, without overworking or getting too detailed.  Not an easy task I know but an important especially in this work.

Its interesting that the work has a good sense of movement in the dancers arms, and I guess that this is what the original photo and your interpretation is all about, yet you have interrupted this swaying vertical flow (from the legs up through the dresses to the arms) by accidentally? joining up the shadows from the frills in the dresses into three curved horizontal lines the first of which is the hemlines.

I have mixed feelings about this.  While it interrupts the movement from legs to arms it also creates a strong harmonious set of curves which add to the sense of movement.  I suspect that this is one of those subconscious effects that adds to the work but was done without your explicit knowledge?

However I think it would benefit the painting if you increased the curved vertical movement of the dancer's bodies while still retaining those horizontal lines from the frills and hems.  I think that its just a question of delineating the dancer's dresses a bit more clearly.

The legs.  It looks as though you gave up when you got to the legs as they look very wooden and do not match the bodies.  Its this conflict between alla prima freshness and the need for the work to hang together properly.  You can get away with distortions in landscapes but its much more difficult when painting human figures (Freud and Bacon notwithstanding).

To retain the freshness you either need to rework areas that have not worked out (such as the number and shape of the legs) or think very carefully before you apply each brush stroke.  Myself I rework but using a crude brush and often pure colour which prevents it becoming muddy and overworked.

I hope that his helps.  I recommend that you do another study version.  Do ten if you need to.  In each version you will learn something else about the painting and each will have its own intrinsic value.  Look at the number of sunflower paintings that Van Gogh did!

I think that the design and colours are easily good enough to be worthwhile carring it through to a finished work.  The trick will be to retain the fresheness of course.

Jeremy

OIL PAINTING ON PAPER 1b

Jeremy

I notice that some of the painting on yor web gallery are oil on paper.

Could you please recommend a suitable paper type and weight suitable for oil. How do you prepare the paper for oil paint

Cheers

Bob

Hi Bob

I use Arches 300gsm Satine cotton rag paper.  I dont seal it.  There is an urban myth that you should not use oil paints on paper as it is non archival the oil eating into the paper.  As far as I know this is untrue.  I had a discussion on this issue with one of the conservators at the Tate Gallery in London a few years ago who said that they had many paintings in oil directly on paper hundreds of years old and no evidence of any deterioration.  He pointed out that cotton rag paper is exactly the same as cotton canvas and many artists have painted directly on canvas without any gesso.

Also I paint with alkyd paints and I believe that the alkyd resin is less reactive than linseed oil.

If you want to seal it you can use an acrylic gesso, rabbit glue or aquadhere etc

Amongst the artists who paint with oil on paper locally is Wim Boissevain who uses oil washes to great effect.

Jeremy

WHITE BEACH, DALKEITH (1a)

Hi Jeremy
I really enjoyed your exhibition. It was inspirational for me. Hope it was successful

I am currently painting in acrylic on wc paper after allergy problem. Not sure it was caused by oil paints. Now that I am OK will probably try to use oils again sometime soon.

Using acrylic on paper seems to have provided a break through for me. Paintings are loose and colourful.

You may care to browse through my Painting Blog to see what I have been doing. Please look in here

I am painting 3-4 days week at least twice plein air, but aim to do some larger studio work as well.

The following painting, "White Beach" was completed in the studio following a plein air session. It is acrylic on wc paper apprx 9"x12"

I have been selling the odd painting here and there, just enough to pay Murray Gill for my art materials.

Have been framing acrylic on paper under glass. What is your view on this?

Cheers
Bob

Recent frames for my paintings by Leonardo (exChallen & Rafferty). Double mat size 3.5" wide(4"at bottom) and 2.5" frame width.

 

Hi Bob

I wrote this reply before I went to Lao cut but couldn't get it posted due to the problems I get with the internet.  Now I am posting I see that you have edited your original post to me so my reply is a bit out of synch.  Never mind I am sure you will understand what I am saying.

Jeremy

I haven’t come across ‘Wet canvas’ before.  I have joined and when I get back from my trip to Lao I will spend some more time looking at it, thanks.

Yes your acrylic painting looks bolder and has more tonal contrast than some of your other works.

The framing looks great.  It makes such a difference to paintings.  Yes definitely put the acrylic paintings under glass.  When I was preparing for my current exhibition I did some smaller paintings on canvas which I wasn’t going to frame.  I don’t normally put works on canvas under glass and I wasn’t going to frame these particular paintings as I was not 100% happy with them.  When Charles, my framer, saw them he told me I had to frame them as they were so good.  I wasn’t keen to spend any more money on framing having spent $6,000 already but he insisted even saying that he would give me a special cut price on the framing because it was so important.  So he framed it and to my surprise put it under glass.  It was the first painting to sell in the exhibition.

So sometimes even oil paintings on canvas look better under glass.  Generally I put any works on paper under glass although sometimes I frame well varnished works without glass. Glass is never a problem except on very large paintings where weight becomes an issue.  It’s not a good idea to dispense with the glass if the surface of the work (on paper) is vulnerable to physical damage or cannot be cleaned.  Acrylics on paper would be OK without glass provided that you have good coverage of the underlying paper so it’s just a question of what looks best.

Coming back to the painting of the tree.  It has some nice tonal contrasts and the colours are more interesting as you have departed from realism.  However, as we have discussed before, there are design weaknesses both in the composition and the colours.

This is very much a matter of taste but to me the area of river to the right it uninteresting and I would have cut it back more. If you crop it out with your hand so that the painting is in portrait format there is an immediate improvement.

For years I wrote on the top of my sketch books “Draw negative shapes” and I used to design a painting starting with a thumbnail sketch consisting of negative shapes.  If you can create interesting negative shapes the whole work tend to hang together better.

So here you have a strong positive shape formed by the tree a vertical rectangle to its left filled with some attractive pattern, large empty sky  and river shapes to the right, an interesting shape of trees filled with pattern immediately to the right of the tree and a couple of foreground rectangular shapes.

Incidentally, the white beach foreground shape is tending to jump forward on its left hand end due to a combination of the strong tonal contrast and the simplicity of the shape. It would recede better if you toned it down on the left or fingered it into the trees.

The most exciting of the shapes is the one in the middle which is also the natural focal point of the painting.  Here you have the potential for a lovely filigree effect as the middle ground trees are silhouetted against the distant shore.  I would darken those trees to enhance this effect and bring them further to the right to reduce the uninteresting area of river.

At the same time you have the opportunity to create a greater feeling of romance.  As you know with landscapes its always that feeling of that beautiful place beyond that is so powerful.  I know it’s cheating but I would make the distant shore closer and put a bit more pattern into it, widening the white beach.  Then I would open up the trees in the centre of the painting to allow glimpses of that distant beach.

It would also be good to extend the foreground beach to the left so that you can see it in areas behind the central trees.  This would both lead the eye into the painting and enhance that sense of an interesting distant view.

I would also consider putting a smudgy boat in on the river to create interest.

These are all possibilities and it would be instructive to go back into the painting to see if you can enhance it.  To move forward you need to be able to take the risk of creating your own reality, which I guess is part of an answer to your post script about wanting to move on.

A few words on the colours.  If you do a colour wheel sketch of the painting (which I do most of the time as part of the preliminary thumbnail sketch) you will see that the painting is in the area of the wheel ranging from green to violet and centred on blue. That’s great as these colours harmonise well, but there is a useful rule that says that you should work mainly in one area of the colour wheel but then enliven with some of the complimentary colour.  This is a long winded way of suggesting that you should put some orange colours in the work.

Jeremy.

Garratt Rd Bridge 18 April

Garratt Rd Bridge 18 April

I decide not to remove the tree instead, my aim was to stop the painting jumping, to take bridge back in space and to focus the eye under and through the bridge.
Not sure if it was a wise move

 

Hi Bob

   

 

   

Sorry I have been off the air for so long but the last few weeks have been difficult for me.

   

 

   

I am not sure what to say about the painting. I can tell you that the friend I am staying with looked over my shoulder just now to look at your painting and said “That’s lovely!”

   

 

   

I think that you are right not to remove the tree as it adds interest to the work as well as creating a sense of depth. In general the painting a bit lacking in interest especially on the left hand side. As always with your work it has interesting brush strokes, tonal variations and muted colours, but the pattern of shapes is not very exciting.

   

 

   

Basically you have a series of large parallel horizontal rectangles broken up into smaller vertical rectangles with the circular tree on the right hand side. It would be nice to have more variation in the shapes.

   

 

   

Working through it, I think the tree does cause a problem as it’s so different from the rest of the painting both in colour and shape, but if you took it out the work would be too empty. I am not sure how you can address this problem.

   

 

   

I think you need to do something about the colour of the tree so that you have more consistency in colour across the board. I would bring more pinks and blues into the foliage and possible bring some more yellows and greens into the rest of the painting say in the sky, the water or around the base of the piers.

   

 

   

The long horizontal pink rectangle formed by the side of the bridge needs breaking up on the left hand side but I am not sure how to do it, maybe some tonal variation making it darker on the left? Maybe just colour variation.

   

 

   

I love the piers but I want to be able to see more of the distant views under the bridge so on the left I would open them up more to allow the eye to see the distant shore. I think that you are right to make the focal point of the painting the distant shore because that’s what makes it interesting.

   

 

   

I think the railings on top of the bridge have the same problem as the pink rectangle below in that they are too regular and lacking in interest. They need breaking up in some way. It’s also a bit difficult to work out what they are. Sometimes they look like distant buildings to me.

   

 

   

The curve of the boundary between land and river doesn’t quite look convincing especially on the left. Again I am not quite sure why I feel this, maybe its just too regular.

   

 

   

It’s a pleasant painting as it is Bob and I don’t like to appear to be too critical but I can only assist by making suggestions that might take it to a higher level.

   

 

   

Jeremy

Garratt Rd Bridge Hi Jeremy

Garratt Rd Bridge

Hi Jeremy
This is a 9"x 12" oil on canvas covered MDF panel, painted on location over 2 hours with some adjusting in the studio.  I am uncertain with two aspects.
1) I am inclined to remove the tree to simplify th compsition.
2) The yellow sunlight on ground and tree seem to be too bright and I am thinking of repainting these areas in a darker yellow. This will allow the eyr to focus on the water and the view through the bridge.

Cheers
Bob

Riverside Rd East Fremantle "Morning Light"

Morning Riverside Rd East Feamantle oil 9"x12" finished???

Riverside Drive East Fremantle Morning Light

Riverside Drive East Fremantle Morning Light

Riverside East Fremantle WIP 3 April

Jeremy

Thanks for the comments.
I will certainly enhance the tonal contrast and try to identify the focal point in the next session.

Actually, there were boats in the foreground at the time, but I decided to leave them out because I did not wish the white hulls to compete with the early morning sunlight on yellow green grassed area.

I purposely refrained from using much white in this first stage, except for the sky and distant background, not sure if that was very effective.

What is your view on continuing in the studio vs going back to the site to maintain plein air integrity

Cheers
Bob

Riverside Drive East Fremantle Hi

Riverside Drive East Fremantle

Hi Jeremy
Oil Painting 9"x12" canvas covered MDF board. Completed to this stage in 2 hrs, on the cold and windy beach opposite old Oyster Beds Resturant. I think now called the Red Herring

I have uploaded a number of other paintings in progress or being reworked. to my Blog Gallery.
http://bobsgallery.blogspot.com/

The above is the most recent

Hi Bob

This is one of those Klimt-like paintings with pattern rising up the board. I have done many paintings in the same style. I like the brush strokes and the pattern of colours, with the yellow streak zig zagging leading you into the work.

My immediate impression is that it could do with more tonal contrast to make it livelier (it could just be the photograph). Perhaps make the lovely dark patches even darker and lighten up some of the lights.

Maybe it could do with a focal point. I often put boats in the foreground of these river scenes often a sailing boat with white sails. It’s a bit trite but it always lifts the work.

I think the background is the weakest part of the painting where the beautiful greens and oranges or the rest of the painting become uninteresting browns. You have reduced the tonal contrasts in the background which works to make it recede and cut out most of the greens, which is fine.

I am not sure how to improve the background but myself I would probably introduce some white and some blue marks reflecting the sky and make some of those browns a bit more orange.

The background at the top right is working better so part of the problem may be lack of definition in the background, especially in the middle and centre left. Its getting a bit lost.

Jeremy

LITTLE GEMS EXHIBITION

Thanks for the encouraging comments Jeremy

The exhibition closed Sunday after running Thursday to Sunday for two weeks.

This was my first solo exhibition, planned to be rather low key, not too much risk or outlay on frames and exhibitipon costs. I received much support with hanging from the "Friend of Ellis House", particularly from David. I could not have managed the hanging on my own. David also lent me about 20 frames on the basis of sale or return which was a great help.

I have recovered all of the exhibition costs with a some left over to cover some of my previous investment in frames. During the last fifteen months and with the two exhibitions I have probably recovered all of my selling costs, investment in frames and art material over that period. However in my view that is long way from being professional.

Anyway I do not have expectations about making a living from my painting sales. Probably left my run a little too late (74yo). Never the less I see this exhibition as part of my learning process.

For a number of reasons, I decided to have an OPEN DAY rather than an OPENING EVENT. On reflection, I think a formal opening could have sold a few more.

I attended the exhibition with easel up and paints out on the palette as a sort of artist in residence every day the exhibition was open. I managed to paint a little in between talking. I enjoyed the opportunity to relate with visitors. Not sure how it affected Derna Johnson who was actually finalising all of the sales for small commission for Ellis House.

I invested $200 in small coloured image of "Lemons" in a Subi Post advertisement. I also manage to get almost one third page free promotion article in the Western Communities paper with a coloured image of me and the "Toodyay Homestead" plus one other smaller version of the same article in Bayswater Local paper. I thinks I did well with promotions. I received many comments about the article. I would have has at least 150 people attending overal and many, were my friends associates and ex business colleagues. I knew everyone who purchased paintings. Same as the previous three man exhibition a year ago at the "Old George" where I sold fourteen paintings, mainly to people I knew. I expect it is a big step to reach the point where buyers are members of the public.

The exhibition provided an opportunty to see and review my nearly all of ny recent work at the same time, and to plan my painting direction for the next year. It will probably take a few more days for me to to come down from the high and start planning and painting again.

Cheers
Bob

Hi Bob

In my experience the opening of an exhibition is critical as most of the sales occur then. I like to have a preview although not all galleries support that. The advantage of a preview is that serious collectors can come in and spend time looking at the paintings before the rush and crowds of the opening. The disadvantage is that many of the sales have taken place so there are less buyers and more hangers-on at the opening.

It takes a long time to establish yourself as an artist. The more paintings you have on peoples walls the more people that see them and come along to exhibitions. I have had huge amounts of publicity in the past as the papers are usually keen to promote art, although they tend to give each artist and each gallery a turn. Good promotion is essential. I try to give out media releases with a story in them that the journos and use as copy with lots of images of course.

Despite all this publicity over the years I am sure that most people in Perth wouldn't recognise my name, so it has to be something really dramatic for it to stick.

I was in my early 50's when I started to take the whole art thing seriously, but I always take heart from Lloyd Rees. Reading about him I saw the paintings he did when he first visited Italy and I thought how wonderful to have worked as an artist as a young man and painted in Italy. Then I worked out his age at the time and he was in his sixties (from memory). Many artists paint into their 80's and even 90's and we live a lot longer now. I think painting is good exercise all that walking backwards and forwards to the easel. My father is 96 and my mother 92 both fit as ever, so I have high hopes, but you never know, tomorrow any of us might experience that final exhilarating last breath. That's what makes life interesting.

Jeremy

From: "Jeremy Holton" <jeremyholton@gmail.com>
To: "Bob Abrahams" <boab@iinet.net.au>
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 6:47 PM
Subject: Re: Little Gems Exhibition
> Looks great Bob, I especially like Pink Vase, Claremont Beach, Blue> Flowers, Finnerty Street, Twilight Sailing and Winter Water. You are> getting reasonable sales I see.> > Good luck with it. Nerve racking isn't it!> > Jeremy> > > On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 17:38:22 +0800, Bob Abrahams <boab@iinet.net.au> wrote:>> Hi Jeremy>> Here is a summary of my exhibition >> Bob >> >> http://bobexhibition.blogspot.com/>> >> > > > -- > Jeremy Holton> http://www.jeremyholton.com/