The Art Triangle - Guidelines to Developing Artistic Vision and Painting Style : Composition and Design

A Few Guidelines to The Art Triangle

You Who you are, what you know and how you see the world are obviously important. You are the creative force behind your art---and the quality of your thoughts, the depth of your understanding, the honesty of your intentions and the expanse of your dreams are just a few aspects of your development---personal and professional. Your originality may be connected to your culture, or you may transcend that for more universal themes. Some artists paint to make a statement or create impact, and some do it for aesthetic reasons. Art is a passion that needs direction and discipline. Your style will also be influenced by the ART SCHOOL or DESIGN SCHOOL that you choose...so choose wisely!

Vision Only you can feel the potential power of your insight. You have a pool of ideas and emotions, memories and profound experiences that you can draw upon for your next painting. Your taste and personal idiosyncrasies will play a part in what you create. Your inspiration may come from nature, from art history, from spiritual and aesthetic states, or from experiments with your art tools and media. In any of these, it's those who dare to innovate and improvise, those who think outside the box, and those who see the world with imaginative eyes---that truly deserve the title "artist"--- for they enrich our lives. Visionary artists are not merely conceptual artists. Too many so called 'artists' have polluted the art world with FLUFF. Too many charlatans playing artist. I hope to bring back some of the lost art (and lost innocence) to the next generation of artists who must wade through the glut of B.S. out there. Visionaries will win the day.

COMPOSITION: Songs that are well written and composed touch us and stay with us for years. So good that they may even be translated into other languages, and people sing along. That to me is universal art. Likewise, you can compose your artwork to appeal to as many people as possible for as long as possible. This is the litmus test for great art. The tricky part is finding your voice and the originality to stand out and being genuine about it.

There is a fine line to draw when it comes to composition. If you like in-your-face rock music, you'll probably roll with the paint over your canvas. Modern art is about being frank about your expression. So be it. In this case, composition will be less relevant. But the best of rock music are still those that were crafted with inspired composition. Avoid boring, predictable and meaningless art. Improvisation is the order of the day. Where do you draw the line? Only you know what fulfils you. I myself had to wrestle with this. My solution sounds simplistic but risky in many ways... and that is to "always keep them guessing". (This also applies to your lovelife!). So there are two sides to my art. Two wings to cruise and fly to. Constantly changing and evolving. To be dynamic and unpredictable. And that's the way of the Artangel. To transcend the obvious cliche --- edgy! This is my way of reinventing myself.

Figures Regardless of your inclinations, (objective art or non objective art) you'll have to show some meaningful markings on your canvas. These solid forms will stand out against the blank or colored field of canvas and they will register your emotional state, your confidence or uncertainty, ambiguity and inspiration, etc. Learn the art of calligraphy to give yourself an eye for linework and spatial relationships in terms of tones, color and pattern. If you take the time to do it right from the start, you will develop good habits that will allow you to speak with a visual language, and explore deliberate and more advanced configurations. You may copy a favorite master or work from nature in the beginning just to get the feel for the paint, the brush and the canvas. As you learn (assuming your drawing skills are competent), you'll understand more and more. Let your imagination blaze the trail of your progress. It's what the masters work with all the time. With it you can wave your wand and create magic. For young artists and beginners, there's nothing wrong with COLORING PAGES or 'painting by numbers'. Fill those coloring books with more and more of your own improvisation until you wean off these training wheels. LEARN TO DRAW and train your eye to recognize quality art.

If you're keen to learn the esoteric principles of academic painting (also known as traditional or classical principles), if you're not easily discouraged and are unafraid to paint narrative paintings or living portraits, and if you think photographic paintings are too common and unimaginative---even witless, drop your brush and make this your agenda: Study tonal values and relationships by painting in black and white and about seven shades of gray. Master this by painting from life (still life). Go for the big truths (big masses of light and dark) and don't get bogged down with details. When you 'get' this, move on to painting in color. Then you will understand and speak the same language as Rembrandt, Rubens, Velazquez, Titian, Sargent, Sorolla, Michelangelo, Zorn, Repin, Levitan, Lukits, Alma Tadema. Lord Leighton, John W. Waterhouse and other great masters. You will be able to paint from a flat photograph and transform it into a painterly work of art. In time, you may be able to create insightful, original and witty compositions out of your imagination in any medium. Powerful results just from working with nine tonal values in monochrome or in full color.

Space If your sensibilities point towards non-objective (or non representational) art, this is a clear option to start with. Take away the figure or object and you're looking at a fluid area that's ready for exploration. Minimalism comes to mind. Ethereal and atmospheric---even cosmic possibilities emerge. They may be simple color fields of vaporous layers suggesting movement, rhythm and organic abstractions, or more elaborate patterns that border on 3-dimensional forms. So this could be seen as a continuum.

This option can be taken to another level and that is by combining the figures and the space (or background). Depending on your intent or message, you may simply suggest the details and essential features, or get your feet wet and articulate them with incidental details. The more you articulate, the more information and specific it becomes. The risk goes up a notch every time you model a section. A chain of events takes place: You start to see or feel the need for this color here, or a little darker shade there, and maybe tone something down so it's not too hot over here...and so on. What you're intuitively doing here is balancing and creating harmony in your picture. You're like a conductor orchestrating different musical instruments. More and more your piece takes a life of its own and becomes organic with scintillating nuances.. The best artists know when a work starts to look pedantic --- and like a good gambler, know when to stop.

The simple minimalist and inorganic/non-objective painting (such as a work by Piet Mondrian) may be enough stimulation for some people. I'm with the opinion that such art is easily more universal because there is no "personal" or subjective figure to relate to. Many decorative pieces (i.e., VINTAGE ART PRINTS) are lesser versions of this. It is clearly more challenging to paint realistically and to satisfy all the other elements that go into the making of the picture. Sad but true, lots of modernists cannot draw convincingly! The key is to infuse every aspect of the painting with life or organic energy. This is an extremely humanizing experience that when successfully executed, the audience momentarily 'forgets' the pictorial elements and simply stands in awe. A truly great work of art has a life of its own. It mesmerizes. It appeals to our higher consciousness. What you can call FINE ART. When it becomes bigger than the artist himself, it becomes spiritual and universal. Rembrandt comes to mind.

NOTE: This simplistic triangulation approach is just the tip of the iceberg. The idea here is to describe and visualize the essentials. They work in conjunction with the sample images that are displayed on my pages. I've given technical tips and practical information thru out the site for you to consider. Some of them reflect on my vision and sources of inspiration. I realize ART is personal as much as our own TASTES and VALUES are personal. I hope to spark something in you so, shine on!