Friday, January 17, 2014

"Wintery Morn" ©


This week I traveled up to San Francisco to view the Anders Zorn exhibition at the Legion of Honor Museum.  Zorn is considered Sweden's Master Painter of all time and viewing the exhibition, it was easy to see why.  A friend asked me what I learned from the exhibit and I made a short list, sharing it with a few artists.  They seemed to appreciate the reminders and observations so I'll share it here for everyone.  

1.  Be really thoughtful about what you leave out of a painting or add to support the main idea.   
2.  Use diagonals to add drama, whether it be a stream of light or a shape etc.
3.  Don't be shy about painting the odd part of the scene, embrace it.
4.  Notan is the foundation to the composition
5.  Thickest paint on the lightest highlights
6.  Big painting, huge brushes
7.  Paint as if from 20 feet away from the canvas
8.  Be sure the painting has it's "own" light and isn't dependent on room lighting
9.  Paint fearlessly, confidently and with a main idea in mind
10.  Never loose sight of the main idea and emotion you want to depict, another way of putting it, never let the painting take charge of the outcome, stay in control till the end.
11.  Use every tool (paint, composition, brushes, color choices etc.) available to tell your story in paint and then know when to stop, earlier is better.  

The little painting above is oil on panel, 8" X 10" 

2 comments:

Marian Fortunati said...

Loved our time together.

Nice sky!!!

Judy Salinsky said...

HI Laura!
I found you! we are going up to see the exhibit Tuesday! Soooo Excited! Great "Short List" on observations!

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