The Artist's Reality

Good day my fellow art enthusiasts,

Today let's have a little discussion about an artist's reality. I have always thought that an artist at the early student stage aught to work hard at painting what they see. I tend to think it is essential to getting a good color sense and the ability to mix colors. Once the artist can accomplish mixing effortlessly, then the time is right to start the life long exploration stage. I always felt the same about the drawing of the work; learn to get it dead on and when truely accomplished, move on. I think of this as being certain you have a full arsenal before going to war. The war is the real stuff, the art, the point of the learning. To me, being an artist is about moving the emotions of others. It's about getting someone to think or see things in a certain way. Making good art requires doing what you think is best to create that mood.

The "latch" painting at the top was painted on location, outside. I liked the look of the latch and the shadows of the saw marks in the wood. I liked the weathered shingles. Did I paint it as I saw it. Nope. I moved the round ring up from where it was. I couldn't have gotten it in the painting otherwise. The shingles didn't have and edge where I wanted it. I changed the placement. I liked the reddish color of some of the shingles but it wasn't showing. I put it where I needed it. Most of the rest I left alone. I liked how there was an old handle on the door and someone removed it to put the latch on. You can see the unpainted part that was under the old handle. This painting is currently up on eBay for auction. Just search up "Cole Burton" on eBay and you'll see it.

Now the blue door painting on this post is one I made up. I was influenced by a similar door on a similar building that I had passed in Portsmouth, NH. I ate lunch there with a fellow painter friend and we walked along noticing all the beautiful architecture. The house that influenced me didn't have a blue door. It didn't have the boot scraper outside. It didn't have any flowers popping up it didn't have wooden steps and it didn't have a window. It had a brown door on a brown building with one granite step and no window. I was influenced by it but my reality came from inside me. It took into consideration all that I have experienced in life. I painted the boot scraper because I've seen that at other old houses. I painted the window because it made it more interesting. I let my buddy decide what color to make the door. I was leaning towards red but what the heck; I let him choose. The picture that came out was an amalgam of my memory, experience and the days reality. What I painted was my reality.