"Choose Your Dream", 20" x 20", Acrylic with some collage on gallery wrapped canvas, 1 1/2" depth (Click on the image to enlarge)"A man's reach must exceed his grasp, or else what's a heaven for?" Robert Browning
Tony Saladino began our one day abstract acrylic class with these words to remind us that this is a journey and we should not expect to leave in the afternoon with a finished painting, but concentrate on the process and find our personal expression of marks and color. We had an advantage painting in a beautiful studio and grounds in North Richland Hills. Thanks Karen. I've included some photos at the end in a slide show which show the progression of his demo and he used a landscape photo for the initial reference.
Tony uses Purdy house painting brushes from Lowes in sizes 1", 1 1/2", and the 2" being his favorite and he scumbled his color keeping a fairly dry brush. In fact, he didn't wash his brush until about 20 minutes into his demo. A hint: He kept a blank canvas nearby to scumble leftover brush color before picking up new color. He says it's OK to look childlike in expression as it frees us from trying to please others. He urged us to bring all the areas of the painting together at the same time and not finish one area to completion. As his demo progressed he had many layers of color and areas of very thick paint with some of the layers showing through. He feels it lets your personality come through. He continually stressed to us "It's not about the subject but the division of space."
A painting he brought to show us above.
Tony didn't finish his demo as his ideas will change with future viewings. He feels it's finished when he thinks it's stimulating or stimulates a viewer. If you enjoy a good Argentine tango, search the dance floor as you might find Tony or Karen. In fact Karen's studio doubles as a tango dancing space. During the critique, Tony respected each individuals personal marks and inspired each of us to express those that reside deep within.
He was correct that we should not expect to leave the class with a finished painting as I finished the above painting in my studio and had good starts on two others before the day ended. What a great day of painting on June 10. His next critique class will be July 9.
Mouse over the photo for captions.
3 comments:
'Choose your Dream' is such a feminine piece of work, I can only assume its what you created at the acrylic workshop. Its beautiful and has a style all its own - feminine gentleness and not a bit like his slideshow masculine shaped and coloured demonstration. His teaching certainly brings out the 'inner you'. Love the colours.
Those are some beautiful images. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Joan and yes, it was the piece I worked on in the workshop. I began my attaching 3 shapes from an old painting and I like the texture of the slightly raised pieces.
CWise..thanks for the visit and the nice comment.
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