Perceptual Painting

"Drawbridge"
14 x 18
(c) Frank Hobbs 2013

Today I am tackling a topic that has been on my mind very much of late. It's the moniker "perceptual painting". Most of the painters whose work I admire would be categorized as perceptual painters--and I would be honored if I myself were categorized as a perceptual painter. And yet the term is not a familiar one to most people. So what in the world does it mean?

"Joucas Blue Door"
7 x 15, oil on linen
(c) Maggie Siner 2014

Perceptual painting is an approach to painting that involves working directly from the natural world, and painting what you are seeing. The perceptual painter works from observation (rather than from memory, from photographs, or from imagination). He stands in the presence of the motif, and experiences looking at it. I think a perceptual painter would say that working directly from the subject gives rise to a response that is categorically different than working from a photograph. After all, the human eyes work quite differently than the lens of a camera.

"Hat and Roses"
oil on linen, 26 x 32
(c) Maggie Siner 2012

In the words of Maggie Siner, perceptual painting "assumes a truth about the long education in seeing that is necessary to achieve mastery in painting." It also assumes a serious study of vision, and of how our visual perception works. 

I have written a number of posts about "SEEING". It's an important topic, because seeing is the foundation of successful painting, and it is hard to do!

"Favorite Words"
26 x 32
(c) Phillip Geiger

Perceptual painting is not the same thing as "plein air" painting. Plein air painting, by definition, occurs outdoors, typically with the landscape as the subject. But perceptual painting can happen in the studio (as well as outdoors, of course). And perceptual painting can apply to any subject matter. 

"Abandoned Factory"
(c) Frank Hobbs

I have illustrated this post with paintings by some of my favorite perceptual painters. For those who want to know more, I highly recommend the website Painting Perceptions. I'd be curious to know from my readers--is "perceptual painting" a term that you were very familiar with before reading this post?

Glory in the Ordinary

Cold winter weather is the ideal time for still life work in my studio. Sure, I love to travel and to paint on location. But sometimes, as Dorothy would say, "There's no place like home." This month, I decided to use some very ordinary--even ugly!--things from my daily life, and try to make a beautiful painting of them. As I was taking down the greenery that I had used for Christmas decoration in my house, I was fascinated by the dead magnolia leaves. Yes, dead leaves. They had such a marvelous curviness, and the browned backs of the leaves made a great contrast with the fronts. I guess it takes a girl from the South to love magnolia leaves like this!

I grabbed an orange from the kitchen, and voila! I had a simple, and in my opinion beautiful, still life composition. Even the photo (sorry it's blurry) was pleasing. You can see my drawing above. I gave my brush free rein to explore the shapes of the leaves and the dance they seemed to do. The finished painting is below.

"January"
9 x 12, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2015

In reflecting on this painting, I was reminded of Frank Hobbs' comment that "Your life's work lies in the courtyard just outside your house." Indeed, that is exactly where I found these leaves. I will share a quotation from Henry James that Hobbs mentioned in his interview. Great words to live by.

Take what there is, 

and use it,

without waiting forever in vain

for the preconceived...

Strokes of Paint

"Falk House"
8 x 9, oil on linen
(c) Maggie Siner 2014

At least in my book, one of the key things that makes a painting come to life is being able to see the painter's hand at work in the finished product. Don't we all love it when we can see the painter making his mark? That said, I must rush to add the following: Bravura strokes alone do not make a great painting. But as a friend of mine once said, "I like to see

Orphans

"Counting Change"
Oil on Panel
(c) Lesley Powell 2011

Frank Hobbs wrote recently in his wonderful blog about all of those paintings that have been for sale, but have never been purchased. He likened an artist's paintings to his or her "children"--don't we all feel that way? That our labors have given birth to them, and that they bear our distinct DNA? We like to send our paintings

The Macchiaioli

"Profile of Donna"
Silvestro Lega

Several different paths have converged over the past few weeks to bring me to the same destination: the Italian school of painters called "The Macchiaioli".  They painted in Tuscany in the second half of the 19th century. Like the French Impressionists, they broke with tradition