|
What makes me stand still and then walks me across the room is an extended, but not necessarily even, value range, because therein lies the illusion of depth, both physically and psychologically.
With time and the tools, you can learn to draw and you can learn to paint, loosely, tightly, this palette or that, and that's all very interesting for a limited time, but there's too often not any lingering story there for you to step into, no "Magic Eye" images-within-the-image promise that keeps pulling you back in, placing you in the scene. Color has a shot at it, but values get it done, for me.
Having an appreciation for the interplay of values -- particularly in strong contrast near the focal point of the work -- is what distinguishes the gallery wallpaper from the piece I want to take home, what makes me think, "I want to be there," or "I want to know her." I am at this instant visualizing two paintings at two different galleries nearby, each of which has this quality. I want them both. My accountant won't let me have them. I may have to get a different numbers guy. Or more numbers.
Just from seeing what "wins" at some events, you can't discount the flash of intense color, the startling composition, this year's Pet Rock, or the outrageous motif.
Unfortunately, the best examples at hand of what I'm thinking of are landscapes and interiors, rather than portraits or figures. I'll leave the door ajar and see what wanders in. All these heavy art books I've been moving across oceans for ten years must have some useful images in them.
|