Flower Power

"Lilacs in a Window"
Mary Cassatt, 1879

Up now at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond: "Van Gogh, Manet,and Matisse: The Art of the Flower". I recently saw the exhibit, and was impressed with its breadth. There were masterworks from museums such as the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It's definitely worth a detour to catch this one. One might ask, "How many pictures of flowers can a person look at in one show??". No problem for me--the subject matter is not so important, because

You're Invited!

Please join me for this annual event!

DILWORTH ARTISAN STATION SPRING OPEN HOUSE Friday, May 1st, 2015 6 pm to 9 pm Lesley Powell Art Find me on the Third Floor--Studio #35 118 E. Kingston Avenue, in Charlotte's SouthEnd Please join us! I am co-hosting the Spring Open House at the Dilworth Artisan Station. More than twenty five artists will open our studios for this special event. It's a great opportunity to meet the artists, peek behind the scenes, and see all the latest work coming off our easels. New paintings available for sale. Live music. Beverages and nibbles. What's not to love?? Bring a friend and make a night of it!

Where to Park? The lot beside our building; spaces on the street; and in the overflow parking deck behind Carrabba's restaurant. If you can't make it Friday night, I will also be open on Saturday, May 2, from 10 am until 12:30 pm. Would love to see you! See more paintings on my website, Lesley Powell Art

Copyright © 2015 Lesley Powell Art, All rights reserved.

Being your Own Best Critic

"Ile de la Cite"
10 x 17, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2104
(SOLD)

Like many people in the creative world, I spend the vast majority of my time alone, working away. Sometimes I am lucky enough to benefit from the input of a small "critique group" of fellow painters. Or better yet, I may get advice from a trusted mentor. But more often than not, I am left to my own devices to work through the problems of painting.

On occasion, I finish a painting  and immediately know that it's a success. That was the case with the top painting in this post. Far more often, I "finish" a painting and I am not sure whether it is good or bad. Sometimes I am dissatisfied with it in some way. Maybe it looks chalky. Or it is just not convincing. That's when the Inner Critic must emerge. I try to bring my best judgment into play, and ask myself

Taking In vs. Looking Out

"Villars"
8 x 12, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2013

Last week I watched a lecture given by the talented painter Connie Hayes. Like many painters whose work I admire, Connie is a perceptual painter. I was floored by the simple and powerful way she summed up the entire approach to perceptual painting. She remembered hearing these words from her mentor, and having the gestalt experience of the putting them to practice the first time:

The key is to receive the sensation of what you are seeing--not to paint what you are looking at. SEEING is receiving. LOOKING is outward.

Hearing this distinction was an "Ah-ha" moment for me. I have long been told, and tried to implement the practice, that you should "paint what you see, not what you know is there". I've also been told to avoid being too "object oriented". But this inward/outward formulation expressed by Connie Hayes somehow made it all come together. She elaborated by saying that "You look AT something when you name it. But you RECEIVE sensations when you SEE it." Yes, Yes!

"Tulip #32"
12 x 12
(c) Connie Hayes

I have been taught by Maggie Siner to use my peripheral vision as an aid to seeing. It helps keep me from naming the objects I am painting. Instead, it moves me closer to receiving the sensations of what I am seeing. The top painting is one that I have kept for myself, because it was a moment in which I felt that I was truly seeing, and receiving the sensation of what I was seeing. It was not a mountain in the distance, but a beautiful, subtle-colored shape. It was not a vineyard in the foreground, but a bright green angular shape. It was not a hilltop village in the middle distance, but a cluster of colored shapes. I use this painting to help me remember how to see and to receive those sensations.

"Summer Blue"
12 x 12, oil on canvas
(c) Connie Hayes

I am including some paintings by Connie Hayes, so you can see her beautiful work. I should have included the last Connie Hayes painting (below) in my post "Painting by Lamplight". It's a wonderful painting that succeeds marvelously with two different light sources. By the way, Connie, too, says that she saves her "breakthrough" paintings to continue to learn from them. No matter what a painter's level of accomplishment may be, there is always an urge to learn more!

"Inner and Outer Glow"
(c) Connie Hayes

Backsides

"Artisan Station, Backside"
12 x 9, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell, 2014

Time for a little levity. My painting of the Dilworth Artisan Station (above) was just juried into the "Carolina's Got Art!" salon show. I am thrilled and honored to have a painting accepted into the show. But I know all too well that with thousands of entries to parse through, the juror's decisions can be somewhat random, so I remind myself that it could just have easily gone the other way.

One of the richest comments on my painting came from a colleague with a great sense of humor. (I hesitate to disclose his name, but his initials are Paul Hastings). He said, "Congratulations! You not only got in to the Show---you got in with a painting

The Slasher

I've been doing some spring cleaning at the studio, and that has meant that I've been slashing some old, unsuccessful canvases. Seems a good time to re-visit an earlier post on that topic--I could not say it better now.

I once heard somebody explain the difference between professional photographers and the rest of us -- the professionals only show 1% of the photos they shoot. 

I don't think that the "reject rate" for professional painters is as high as 99%, but I do know that all painters create some bad paintings from time to time. Jane Barton has written a wonderful post on this topic, entitled "Is there a Heaven for Paintings?" She talked about what becomes of unsuccessful paintings. She offered many suggestions, including

Happy Easter!

"Peter Cottontail"
(c) Lesley Powell, 2013
(SOLD)

Wishing you a wonderful Easter weekend!