I'm never sure which would work better for me when I want to make a break from my usual method of painting: to attempt to paint unself-consciously (like automatic writing!) or to very consciously plan to approach a painting in a new way. They're both hard! Mostly I keep doing the same thing.
These are based on photographs of places Hopper painted from the Gail Levin book Hopper's Places (a very good book; though I should also recommend Virginia Mecklenburg's Edward Hopper: The Watercolors). The Hopper paintings, especially of Monhegan Lighthouse, are different ... I'd post them here but I'm sure that'd be some kind of copyright infringement; instead I'll look for them on the web and post links here if I find them.
In Near the Back Shore, that's an electric pole splitting the picture in two; Hopper seemed to always include the poles! There's a photograph of Hopper sitting in his studio in Truro where the pipe from the woodstove splits the picture in half ... I wonder if the photographer was aware of it?
3 comments:
These are two nice paintings. Simple like watercolors should be. Bleeding of colors adds a nice sense of freshness. I like your stuff.
Hi Terry, thanks. It's really unbelievable how many years it has taken me to be able to "allow" the paints to bleed, even though I've known all along that it's desirable! That early training in staying inside the lines has proven to be pernicious and tenacious! (And not just in painting.)
Love these, Laura. At first I thought this was a new direction for you, but after seeing your college drawings, I realize it's probably more of a resurfacing. Wonderful!
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