Art.....

[canpakes]

Also, extending that further - how do you feel about texture within paintings where it is intended to transmit movement or depth?

Texture, I need to ponder on those questions (good ones). Can you paste a painting as an example, that would help for sure.

Check out ‘impasto’, as a technique. Much of Van Gogh’s portfolio show good examples of this. But texture also has more subtle engagement without such a dimensional manifestation, like as seen with Monet’s The Magpie, and Caillebotte’s Paris Street, Rainy Day.

I should have been more explicit in my use of the word, given the possible contexts. The Magpie, as example, does a good job of transmitting a feel for the chill of the setting, a sense of time of day, and the newness of its snow, all through the way the paint is applied. I’ll find a pic in a bit.

ETA: here it is -

[Gadianton]

Imagine how it would look if it was a photograph, then paint it.

This is how I understand students in China approach art. They practice by copying photographs of the masters' works. The weird effect is the student who produces the most accurate copy of the Van Gogh has produced something potentially worth a lot of money, while the student who produces the next closest to the photograph makes a little less, while the original Van Gogh is worthless, because it isn't photo-like.

I heard of one strange case where a student submitted a self-portrait and originally got an F. But when the professor learned how it was created, the grade was changed to an A. Care to guess how he did it? This student really wanted to be an impressionist, but we know impressionism isn't art because it isn't photo-realistic. Unless that is, it's a copy of a picture of an impressionistic piece of pseudo-art! So he painted his self-portrait the best he could in the style of Van Gogh with lots of detail -- tiny brush strokes etc., and then took a picture of it. Then, he copied the photograph using a sophisticated paint-by-numbers scheme that resulted in a near duplicate of his original work. When the teacher saw how close the copy was to the photo of the original, he was really impressed.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

Morley, what are your thoughts about Utah’s most popular artist, Thimas Kincade? I can’t go to any home in my neighborhood without seeing one of his paintings. I know many in the art world think he was a total sellout:

[Morley]

Morley, what are your thoughts about Utah’s most popular artist, Thimas Kincade? I can’t go to any home in my neighborhood without seeing one of his paintings. I know many in the art world think he was a total sellout

Though I think that's an excellent question, Professor, I'm going to step aside and let Markk lead out on this one.

Markk, given your appreciation for Grandma Moses, Pieter Bruegel, Hieronymus Bosch, and even Piet Mondrian, what are your impressions of Thomas Kinkade? Like everyone else in America, you're probably well acquainted with his work.

[Markk]

.
Markk, this one by Caravaggio is a bit of a different subject matter, but I’m going to add it here because you may appreciate the style. Bonus points if you can find the thread where I’ve posted this before. Marcus may remember. : )

I love the dark to light and the way he blends it, yet also jumps from extreme dark to bright light abruptly. Look at Judith's neck. The light is directly on her, yet he shadows the neck for great contrast.

I think in regard to the conversation between Shades and Huck, this painting would in my opinion back up what Huck was saying. In order to get this in a photo it would either be a once and a lifetime money shot, or a lot of work with lighting and shades....yet as Huck wrote, "Painting can employ a variety of ways of molding values to describe volumes. Volumes can be very full or perhaps quite flat. Changes in value can be gently blended like a photo or can be much more abrupt. The material of paint and brush stroke can be made to stand out unlike a photo."

Thanks for the pick, it is a bit graphic for my taste, and I am not sure how I feel about his blood stream, it is almost as if it does not fit the rest of the painting, almost as a last minute afterthought added on with a sharpie or red pen. It seems to jump from 3d to 2d there. But those are the types of things that in my opinion draw you into what he may have been seeing.

[canpakes]

… I am not sure how I feel about his blood stream, it is almost as if it does not fit the rest of the painting, almost as a last minute afterthought added on with a sharpie or red pen. It seems to jump from 3d to 2d there.

This is the one part of the painting that also seems odd to me. Not for it being bluntly graphic, but because the blood does not seem to be obeying physics. It looks more like a red multi stranded polypropylene rope coming unwound instead of carrying the type of arced motion one would expect of a liquid backed by some force. It’s a minor quibble, though, given the absolutely gorgeous interplay between lighted areas and those in shadow, and the attention to details, and facial expressions, including Judith’s furred brow and look of nonchalant concentration on the task as if she were merely dispatching a bird for the evening meal.

[huckelberry]

Morley, what are your thoughts about Utah’s most popular artist, Thimas Kincade? I can’t go to any home in my neighborhood without seeing one of his paintings. I know many in the art world think he was a total sellout

Though I think that's an excellent question, Professor, I'm going to step aside and let Markk lead out on this one.

Markk, given your appreciation for Grandma Moses, Pieter Bruegel, Hieronymus Bosch, and even Piet Mondrian, what are your impressions of Thomas Kinkade? Like everyone else in America, you're probably well acquainted with his work.

Pardon me please as I step in with an odd aside. I do not see Kincade as a sell out as I see no indication that he had anything to present but what he does, take or leave it. It is sweet and the lights glow.

I have a puzzle about Kinkade. I have a distinct memory of seeing paintings of sweet cottages with glowey lights in a little gallery Cannon Beach Oregon in 1970. I was struck with the thought, gee the lights glow. What I remember was so like Kinkade that I have long assumed I saw early Kinkades before he became famous. I looked Kinkade up in Wikipedia and found he was too young to have made the paintings I saw. I am inclined to think what Kinkade created or helped create(or was used by?) was the marketing system that allowed him to spread his not very original work to wide audiences.

[Markk]

Morley, what are your thoughts about Utah’s most popular artist, Thimas Kincade? I can’t go to any home in my neighborhood without seeing one of his paintings. I know many in the art world think he was a total sellout

Though I think that's an excellent question, Professor, I'm going to step aside and let Markk lead out on this one.

Markk, given your appreciation for Grandma Moses, Pieter Bruegel, Hieronymus Bosch, and even Piet Mondrian, what are your impressions of Thomas Kinkade? Like everyone else in America, you're probably well acquainted with his work.

My first thoughts are.... from a butthead critic's perspective.

For me he is like an early 70's AM radio top ten hit, by a one hit wonder. The song is overplayed, and I'm not going to buy the album, even if I liked the song. And looking at his paintings, honestly, remind me of going into a Hallmark store to buy a card at the last minute for my wife because I procrastinated buying one. I have to walk past the Kinkade collections to get to the cards.

Unfortunately, I doubt if Kinkade will age well, he is kind of like a George Foreman Grill, everyone has one somewhere collecting dust. I see a few of ours come out every year when my wife decorates the Christmas tree with a Kinkade Ornament

There is a market for his "limited edition" prints it seems, but not so much for the art itself, but for quantity and demand, similar to Beanie Babies.

But that is not fair, so I went to his website and looked around a bit...



This one is interesting. It is maybe a modern Rockwell, the kid on his fathers shoulder? The baseball caps, the sports jerseys. How will folks in 50 years look at this from that perspective. It is crazy busy, but so is Bruegel, so if we compare the events that he was living, the reformation, with lifestyles of our generations?????

I like this one, it is cool....



Apparently, from what I briefly just read he was trained and/or influenced by this guy....

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=8 ... 1&dpr=1.25

I looked at some of his early stuff and it is much different than what it is marketed today.

{Edit: Confession..... I just realized he has been dead for a dozen years or so, I had either forgotten that or just did not know}

[Markk]

... I am not sure how I feel about his blood stream, it is almost as if it does not fit the rest of the painting, almost as a last minute afterthought added on with a sharpie or red pen. It seems to jump from 3d to 2d there.

This is the one part of the painting that also seems odd to me. Not for it being bluntly graphic, but because the blood does not seem to be obeying physics. It looks more like a red multi stranded polypropylene rope coming unwound instead of carrying the type of arced motion one would expect of a liquid backed by some force. It’s a minor quibble, though, given the absolutely gorgeous interplay between lighted areas and those in shadow, and the attention to details, and facial expressions, including Judith’s furred brow and look of nonchalant concentration on the task as if she were merely dispatching a bird for the evening meal.

Lol, I see that now in her face....for me it is almost like watching a person that is gutting a trout, not really liking to process but knowing it is necessary if you want to eat....good observation.

[Markk]

Though I think that's an excellent question, Professor, I'm going to step aside and let Markk lead out on this one.

Markk, given your appreciation for Grandma Moses, Pieter Bruegel, Hieronymus Bosch, and even Piet Mondrian, what are your impressions of Thomas Kinkade? Like everyone else in America, you're probably well acquainted with his work.

Pardon me please as I step in with an odd aside. I do not see Kincade as a sell out as I see no indication that he had anything to present but what he does, take or leave it. It is sweet and the lights glow.

I have a puzzle about Kinkade. I have a distinct memory of seeing paintings of sweet cottages with glowey lights in a little gallery Cannon Beach Oregon in 1970. I was struck with the thought, gee the lights glow. What I remember was so like Kinkade that I have long assumed I saw early Kinkades before he became famous. I looked Kinkade up in Wikipedia and found he was too young to have made the paintings I saw. I am inclined to think what Kinkade created or helped create(or was used by?) was the marketing system that allowed him to spread his not very original work to wide audiences.

The more I look at his early stuff, I see a different artist. I think that this is worth a dive.



Photo above: Thom and his Mentor, Glenn Wessels

In Placerville, he was a boy with crayons, a kid who could draw. He was also the local newspaper delivery boy, an avid swimmer and loyal friend. As a child he constantly read biographies of artists, including those of painters and illustrators like Norman Rockwell, Maxwell Parrish and Howard Pyle. At age 11, he had his first "apprenticeship." Charles Bell, a local painter, instructed him in basic techniques. It was that year that he sold his first painting for $7.50. The woman who bought it remembered thinking at the time, I'd better hold onto this picture. In high school, Kinkade came face to face with twentieth-century modernism in the person of Glenn Wessels, a former professor in the art department at the University of California. Wessels encouraged Kinkade both to tie his art more directly to emotion (rather than observation alone) and to experiment with highly personal forms of expression. He also influenced Kinkade's decision to attend the University of California at Berkley, where he enrolled in studio art and art history classes with a vision of himself as a counterculture nonconformist who would use his art to change and challenge convention. But Berkley in the 1970's gave Thom a culture shock of his own. He discovered he was indeed a nonconformist in his dislike of their system of art education. "My professors would say art should be all about you," Kinkade recalls. "That's a very self centered approach." After two years of frustration, Thom decided it was time to move on and he transferred to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The fierce competition with other students pushed him to an intensive development of techniques for creating effects of light and mood. His work at the Art Center helped him to get hired to paint backgrounds-700 of them-for Disney's Hollywood animation studios on the animated film Fire and Ice. After one year he decided to move on