Diebenkorn – (Pulls, Pauses and Integration)

by don-admin

Richard Diebenkorn - Woman with Newspaper - 122 x 86 cm - oil on canvas

This painting by Diebenkorn has an excellent example of what I like to term a pull, which is a shape, value or colour pulling the viewer from the focus of the composition. Master artists are very aware of the viewer’s perusal, and how to guide the eye away from the focus without competing. This is not easily accomplished and it takes time before you find what works for you.

Diebenkorn masterfully takes us from the focus of the girl’s head to the black coffee, which is beautifully supported with the similar values below. I hope you can feel the pull as it should not be obvious. If it’s too strong we would have competition which in Diebenkorn’s hands, has been superbly avoided.

This is orchestration and good artists resist formula. The continuity, or style, comes from knowledge combined with intuition and of course experience.

Now there is a great pause(which is not as strong as a pull) on the newspaper in the shape of a “U”, gently taking you from the coffee. Can you see the path? He guides us from her hair, to the cup, to the “U”, (where you pause), and then back to her head. There are other avenues to guide us as well, which I hope you enjoy discovering and appreciating.

I must also mention how the figure is beautifully integrated with the background at her left shoulder. Do you see how the white shape curls up to connect to her hair? And I love that black line leading in and forming her knuckles. Great integration. What a painter!

Influences – (Cezanne and Matisse on Diebenkorn)

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Richard Diebenkorn - Nude on Blue Ground - 1966 - 206 x 150 cm - oil on canvas

This painting is a great example of a great painter permitting another to influence his work. In the Matisse painting below (posted on Oct. 19, 2011), we see how he brought the background, or a spatial plane, in front of the figure’s right shoulder.

Diebenkorn used shadows to achieve the same result. The shadow below her chin seems to be part of the background as well, and I feel the sharp right angle is the key. You can also feel the sense of a spatial plane below her left breast and another beautifully considered right angle on her right arm which relates to the angle under her chin. (Blurring your vision may help)

This sophisticated consideration provides the feeling the figures occupying space.

I must also point out Diebenkorn’s superb integration of the figure’s right arm with the line leading to the bottom of the painting and how this supports her. I also love how her face comes forward, very impressive.

Being aware of these influences can be very beneficial for developing artist’s. Joining with this great tradition is a great way to develop as long as you understand the difference between being influenced and copying. You need to connect to the thought process and knowledge of the artists you choose.

Hofmann – (Parallels)

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Hans Hofmann - The Artist Version - 1942 - 42 x 39 in - oil on canvas

This painting is a great example of flattening combined with a sense of perspective. The depth is provided by the oblique lines which do not lead to a vanishing point. This is very important because the vanishing point freezes the viewer and Hofmann avoids this with the parallel lines of the table top and the rung in the chair. We see parallels in the blue area connecting the chair and a line in the rectangle shape in front of the table. The blue area can read as another table, or a carpet? What wonderful play! He has painted a sense of space in which we can wonder.

I love the transparency of things like reading the chair leg through the top of the container and the table through the package or paintings in front. We also see this in the vase and cups. His sophisticated colours are wonderful and I hope you can feel how their flatness emphasizes the shapes. He knows the viewer will mentaly supply the space or depth.

Hopper – (Rhythmic Pull, Integration and Shapes)

by don-admin

Edward Hopper - American Landscape - 1920 - 7.5 x 12.5 in - etching

This wonderful etching is a superb example of how important the knowledge of composition is in all forms of expression.

Hopper’s exquisite use of rhythm is one of the best examples I know of. The three cows rhythmically lead us into the landscape to a wonderful light patch, just above the cow crossing the tracks. This beautiful consideration takes us beyond the cows to the powerful shape of the trees and beyond.

There is also a superb integration of the centre cow with a small triangle structure just beyond the tracks. Can you see how the back of the cow’s neck connects to the triangle and then how you harmoniously read the other triangle at the right of the house? Another sensitive relationship is between the cow on the tracks and the sunlit side of the house. They harmonize in value and size beautifully.

The foundation of three horizontal rectangles in this composition is a great example of reducing to a few shapes. The power of shape motifs is very important and master artists are very aware of how superfluous detail can weaken a composition.

Great composition does not need to rely on size or detail.

Mondrian – (Integration and Rhythmic Shape Motifs)

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Piet Mondrian - Farm at Duivendrcht - 1907 - 87 x 109 cm - oil on canvas

This beautifully rendered painting by Mondrian is a superb example of sophisticated integration. We see this in how he poetically harmonized the trees with the house. Let’s begin with the tree at the left and the subtle parallel of the lower branch with the roof line. The relationship provided is a form of integration and can also be considered harmony and structure as well. Now to the next tree and how it blends with the roof line. The third tree from the left also parallels the roof line, then connects to the chimney. The fourth tree follows the roof at the right and then continues up to form a triangle shape with the large tree leaning in from the right. This triangle form echoes the triangle shapes of the house, providing a beautiful rhythm, or triangle motif. We then continue with the rhytms of the earlier trees with the large branch going to the right in this large tree. The group of trees at the right form a large shape which provides a counter movement paralleling the right sides of the triangle shapes in the house. There are more waiting to be discovered.

I would like to mention the birds, which Mondrian used as a refinement to the composition. Note how they extend, or integrate with, the large shape of the trees, guiding you down to the left tree. And how two of the birds integrate with the large branch of the large tree at the right, and how that little bird at the right of the trees connects to the tree below. If the bird was further from the trees the connection would dissipate. The location of the bird would also integrate work elsewhere, the key is the distance between the chosen branch and the bird.

A master painter is very aware of the importance of every mark and how it relates to the composition.

I would like to take you to the water at the bottom right of the painting and why he choose not to show the reflection of the sky. The reason being it would compete with the focus of the painting by drawing us down to the bottom. This is an excellent example of composition before information!

Another note:

It’s good to be aware that the movement towards abstraction came through figurative painters, as we see in Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, Nicholson and many others in this period of great change in painting.

Ben Nicholson – (Flattening, Integration and Movement in Space)

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Ben Nicholson - Still Life with Jug, Mugs, Cup and Goblet - 1925 - 60 x 60 cm - oil and pencil on canvas

Ben Nicholson is a superb example of a painter who explored the great considerations of conveying depth and space by raising the subject matter to the picture plane. His dedication to this major shift in art is very impressive.

This early still life shows us his awareness of the importance of limiting perspective, conveying space through placement, as well as shifting the viewers sense of place. You can see this shift in the mug at the right. We are simultaneously level with the mug and above the others. This provides the feeling of space or movement!

Nicholson was also exploring another shift when he flattened the decoration on what we read as the curved surfaces of the mugs. This subtle dynamic is very sophisticated and is not meant to be obvious. Great artists are very aware of how we interpret subconsciously.

I should also point out some lovely integration. The shape entering the painting at the bottom taking us to the white cup and then the left of the cup integrates with the edge of the mug above. Also the top of the mug connects to the handle of the pitcher. Can you feel the integrations?

Nicholson was a great twentieth century master.

My Work – (Painting a Consideration)

by don-admin

Don Farrell - Direction V (Moving Square) - 2008 - 137 x 137 cm - mixed media

In this painting I was exploring how to provide movement with a square within a square which was an interesting challenge. I reworked this painting many times before I had the feeling of achieving my initial intent, which finally appeared with the two parallel lines and the sense of an arrow at the right of the painting. I hope you can feel the integration of the lines in the square with the two parallels and how they pull you towards the arrow and then beyond.

Movement is the subject, or in other words, this painting is about something rather than of something and the viewer provides the movement!

This is truly a wonderful open challenge for artists to explore.

Wyeth – (Integration and Parallels)

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Andrew Wyeth - The Mill - 1959 - 35 x 57 cm - watercolour

Wyeth’s work is far beyond figurative considerations, engaging with us on so many levels, and in this post I will focus on his composition, which is remarkable. His integration and the wonderful movement he provides with parallels is very impressive.

First to the very sensitive rhythm of parallels he created with a diagonal board in the fence, the eave of the roof just above and the roof line of the building behind (see detail). These guide us to the focus of the painting which is the dark window and to the flight of the birds.

Now to his poetic integration of the birds with the tree and the fence post as well as the top curve of the pickets, is a superb example of how graceful and sensitive compositional structure can be. You either take the path of the post to the strong rectangular shape of the foreground which will return you to the parallels. The other path is absolutely fantastic! Follow the birds to the tree and then along the top of the pickets. We are then guided to the roof line returning us to the flight of the birds. I hope you can sense the wonderful shape, or loop, which also gently returns us to the focus. It is brilliant.

I must also mention the triangle shape projecting up from the large dark foreground shape pointing into the building at the right. Can you feel how it parallels harmonizes with the triangles all the buildings?

This is visual poetry! And there is more for you to discover. Enjoy!

Max Beckmann – (Integration and Structure)

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Max Beckmann - Quappi with White Fur - 1937 - 109 x 64 cm - oil on canvas

Max Beckman’s paintings are very strong in many ways and in this painting we will look at his superbly considered compositional structure.

I am first drawn to the two wonderful half ovals. The table, which has been raised to the picture plane, and the other behind the figure at the left of the painting. I love how they support the figure and am very impressed with his integration of the black line entering the composition at the bottom left, with the table and how we are guided to the little Pekingese, which in turn integrates with the bottom edge of the larger half oval.

Now to his wonderful integration of the figure, her bouquet and the flowers above her left shoulder. Can you feel your eye moving up from her right leg to her bouquet and then to the the left edge of the flowers and how this unites the figure and the background? There is another sophisticated one leading from the dog to the bottom of the bouquet to a line taking you to the flowers above her shoulder. It really is superb and it also supports her embrace of the dog.

There are other connections to find and enjoy especially how he supported her head with the two vertical lines above. Note how they curl towards her, supprting the curve of her cheek. They are a very important compositional consideration because she is now beautifully connected to the top of the painting!

My Work – Shape Motifs, Parallels and Rhythm

by don-admin

Don Farrell - Blue Stripes IV - 2004 - 21 x 29 in - mixed water soluble media

This is a composition which I will continue to revisit as I feel it has endless possibilities for refinement. I think it is very important to establish a personal and recognizable feel for my paintings. I have learned this from painters such as Morandi, Mondrian, Matisse and many others.

I am intrigued with the possibilities presented through reduction, and I usually find myself focusing on spatial considerations. This requires removing the superfluous and bringing the composition to the forefront.

Using shape motifs is a great way to establish the foundation of a composition. In this painting I provided a rectangle motif supported by an oval sub motif. And I rearranged their sizes and spacing a number of times before I was satisfied. The white oval above the table appeared late in the painting and I felt it provided both balance, and a little competition, for the shapes and colour on the table.

The three small white lines just above the left edge of the table provide rhythmic movement and keep you in the composition. There is a vertical at the right directs your eye movement, connecting to a subtle line which loops over the white oval, returning you to the three white lines and then to the shapes on the table.

I must mention the line in the white oval which parallels the blue stripes. This provides a very important rhythmic integration.

In composition all of the above should be “sensed” rather than seen.