This week I want to talk about how artists are interpreters and how we
take a subject matter/scene and we turn what we see into a painting. Some artists like to interpret the scene to look very realistic to where it almost looks like a photograph and then there are those that interpret the scene into their own unique style. Some don't make it look like the actual scene but make it into something that represents what they saw in the scene. Some even take it to an extreme and make the scene into an abstract where it may look nothing like the actual scene the
artist saw.
Having artists interpret scenes into paintings is the great thing about art. We as artists may look at the same scene but when it comes to painting that scene, we will most likely see and paint it differently. This is what is so wonderful about art, we may use the same materials and even use that material in the same way but when it comes to how we paint we interpret what we see into our own personal style. We may paint similar to our teachers when we are students but as an
artist grows they will start to develop their own style.
I bring up style and interpretation of a painting to my students because I want them to understand that when we all paint from the same photograph or the same plein-air scene, we will all be painting it differently, even if you do exactly as I do and you use the same colors, you will always have your own style show through in the painting.
Take the scenes I have posted below of artists that look at a scene and then show their interpretation of the scene in a painting. There is not a right or wrong way to interpret a scene... there may be flaws in the drawing or composition but how you interpret the scene is about your style.
The first painting below is by artist Joseph Zbukvic and as you can see from the photo that the painting doesn't look exactly like the scene in the photo. This is Joseph's interpretation of the scene and he works plein-air so a lot of the things you see in the photo don't match the painting, but how he interprets the image is up to Joseph and he puts it into a scene to look even better then what it originally looks like.
There are many artist that will copy a scene and make it look exactly like the photo or the live scene, this too is a style that many artists work in. There are many styles out there and if you work hard as a beginner in time you too will create your own style.
Don't worry if your painting doesn't look like others artists work, it is actually a good thing if your painting doesn't look like everyone elses, it shows that you may be creating your own style.
The second painting is one I did in France and you can see I change things around when I am painting. I like to change things to make the composition look better then what is showing.
Learn to interpret the painting in any way you feel will work best for you, you are the creator so you are aloud to paint the painting in any way you feel would best for you.
This holds true to the color too. Paint whatever colors work best for you and your painting. You don;'t have to paint the colors exactly like the reference, again you are the artist and you can do whatever you feel like, it's your painting.
