UPDATED with Timelapse video of the "Sunset on Sunset Beach" painting. 8/19/16 Acrylic painting on canvas, measuring 18 x 24 inches based on images from our honeymoon in 2011, location: Sunset Beach, on the North Shore area of Oahu. UPDATED with Timelapse video of the "Boats at Port Magee, Ireland" painting. 8/19/16 Acrylic painting on canvas of Boats at Port Magee, Ireland, 12 x 24 inches. Acrylic painting of Cow, (also in Ireland). 9 x 12 inch wooden panel/board.
“Probably the purest exposition of what Impressionism is all about, in terms of the painter actually confronting his subject, is contained in Pissarro’s avice to a young painter, Le Bail, written about 1181: ‘Look for the kind of nature that suits your temperament. The motif should be observed more for shape an color than for drawing ... precise drawing is dry and hampers the impressions of the whole, it destroys all sensations. ‘Do not define too closely the outlines; it is the brushstroke of the right value and color which should produce the drawing ... Paint the essential character of things; try to convey it by any means whatever, without bothering about technique. When painting, make a choice of subject, see what is lying at the right and left, then work o everything simultaneously. Don’t work bit by bit, but paint everything at once by placing tones everywhere with brushstrokes of the right color and value, while noticing what is alongside. Use small strokes and try to put down your perceptions immediately. The eye should not be fixed on one point, but should take in everything, while observing the reflections which the colors produce on their surroundings. Work at the same time on sky, water, branches, ground, keeping everything going on an equal basis ad unceasingly rework until you have got it. Cover the canvas at the first go, then work at it until you have nothing more to add. ‘Observe the aerial perspective, from the foreground to the horizon, the reflections of the sky, of foliage. Don’t be afraid of putting on color, refine the work little by little. Don’t proceed according to the rules and principles, but paint what you observe ad feel. Paint generously and unhesitatingly, for it is best not to lose the first impression. Don’t be timid in front of nature; one must be bold, at the risk of being deceived and making mistakes. One must always have only one master-nature; she is the one always to be consulted.’ “ Painting Methods of the Impressionists, Bernard Dunstan, R.A., Watson-Guptill Publications, 1983 I write this reflection to narrow down what school of art I really fit into, what traditionally best describes both how I work and what results from my methods. Turns out, all along, I really have been an Impressionist all this time. I thought I was one, just one that likes to do alittle finer detail than the master Impressionists did. And sure I usually work from photos but occasionally I do work from life, but my approach is the same. I am impatient, and I work fast, and I go in sweeps across the canvas, working in stages that I deem are achieved each time I have added a new layer of paint or detail across the entirety of the art. This doesn't mean I have to make a new solid coat each time, but it does mean I have to give proper, even distribution of attention across the whole piece before I check off that stage as "done." Part of this is due to the type of formal instruction I've received over the years, but part of it comes from me. I've also long been in small-scale rebellion against art theory since high school, when I asserted to my art teachers that Impressionism was a form of Realism because, like a camera, it focuses on the image, as seen by the artist, as it is, unfiltered, and translated to page or canvas, literally "what is seen." How realistic can you be than to want to recreate something exactly as you see it? Of course the debate often went in circles, as teachers profess that traditional Realism by definition is about the details, details even that often don't make it into an Impressionistic work, but again, I refute that to being more about the artist's attention and intentions. If we can't recognize the reality of photographic type painting (I don't claim to be a photo-realist painter, because I simply don't have the patience, but some of my work comes close), then I think we have a problem defining Realism and defining what is really seen.
So long story short: If you're curious and want to be able to label me, and my work, as I did, I am more definitively what I have always been: an artist trying to depict what I see, with as much honesty as I can, and with as much patience as I can muster. The result is my merger of Realism and Impressionism. Sonia J. Summers Commission completed this week. Dog portrait in acrylic on canvas measuring 16 x 20 inches.
This is the resulting painting from my Demo-Day at Hollywood Feed in July. This painting is 16 x 20 inches on canvas and was painted live in the store while customers shopped. Bernadette is our 1-year old Saint Bernard Lab Mix. She is full of joy and energy.
If you visit regularly, you'll notice a lot of redesign of specific pages, mostly the portfolio pages that have the greatest amount of imagery. For several years I have been wanting a more clean, easily view-able thumbnail/album format for my portfolio. Although this NEW ART blog is mostly unchanged, you can now flip through Painting: Scapes, Portraiture, Silver and Black: Organic Mosaics, and my new Cosplay Art portfolio albums quickly, and you can efficiently click on thumbnails out of each entire album, or view them altogether at one glance as a body of work. Feel free to contact me with any questions or feedback! Enjoy!
Next in my Cosplay Art Series, I have completed an acrylic painting measuring 16 x 20 inches of the Joker from "The Dark Knight," as portrayed by cosplayer Zaratuth. This was a relatively quick painting, and though much of the facial features are obscured by the white make-up, I made sure to define all the distinguishable features of the person underneath. The setting for the photo used as source material was a University of Alabama Homecoming bonfire. This week has been building up to this latest painting and timelapse. Taking alittle longer, this newest artwork is of my brother-in-law: super-soldier Jacob Summers, a serviceman and recent award-winning body-builder, and also fellow cosplayer. Making Captain America his own, this painting required several pieces of imagery (both him in costume and other resources) to fully assemble. Of course the second half of this recent endeavor has been improving these time-lapses (which I owe special thanks to my husband), not only cleaning them up to a more professional standard, but also better documentation of the entire process, start to finish, the mistakes and the successes. More visible than in any previous videos, you see when I have to redo certain parts for the sake of accuracy and perfection, as best as I can achieve it with my skill. Thanks and enjoy watching me work! Finished painting: Acrylic paint on canvas measuring 16 x 20 inches
Acrylic painting of my cosplay of X-Men character Jubilee (DragonCon 2014). 18x24 inches. Continuing my adventures in Cosplay Art: Art based on ordinary people like myself dressing up as favorite comic, cinema, and/or literary characters, I completed a painting of Cosplayer MUSABLE, portraying Supergirl. Finally have another time lapse video up again, documenting the process. Enjoy! |
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May 2021
AuthorSonia Jackson Summers |