Between the Notes

"Les Grands Clements"
15 x 11, Oil on Linen
(c) Maggie Siner

I recently read a quotation from Mozart: "The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between." Oh, wow. My mind flew immediately to an analogy with painting. One might say that in painting, the art is not in the objects portrayed, but in the spaces between them. These spaces are often called "negative spaces"--but that term definitely does not do them justice!

"Traghetto"
Oil on Linen
(c) Maggie Siner

Just look at the top painting. The house is nice, yes; and also the tree. But what I really love are the negative spaces between the tree branches, where you glimpse the house between. Those spaces make the painting sing. And in the

next painting, the jots of paint that indicate the spaces between the boats are pure magic.

"Pines, Mistral"
Oil on Linen
(c) Maggie Siner

Maggie Siner is a master of negative spaces, and I am illustrating this post with several of her paintings. It takes a keen eye and a deft touch to make the negative spaces so wondrous to look at.  And, I might add, courage. Maggie lacks none of these things. By contrast, I am often too timid with negative spaces--as I write this, I am promising myself to step up and tackle them with more gusto.

"Maison Jeanne"
9 x 10, Oil on Linen
(c) Maggie Siner

I have also watched Peggi Kroll Roberts work, and I love the way she celebrates the negative spaces. Take a look at her painting below--the chairs and the trees both presented opportunities to let the negative spaces tell the story, and Peggi did not waste those opportunities! Beautiful paint, beautiful shapes.

"Waiting for a Conversation"
8 x 10, Oil
(c) Peggi Kroll Roberts

I have often heard the admonition to painters that we should not paint "the thing", but should paint "the air around the thing".  Easier said than done! But when it is done, the result is beautiful. When successfully painted, the air around the thing situates the thing in space, and creates a believable image on a 2D surface. It's a moment to treasure. I think we should come up with a better term than "negative spaces" to describe these wonderful moments in a painting. Suggestions, anyone??