61 x 45, oil on birch panel
Do you see sky or water?
Here is an update on the bluff picture which awaits further changes based on Karl’s critique.
Dune
23 Comments
Comments closed
a multi-disciplinary dialog
Posted by Birgit Zipser on August 1st, 2010
61 x 45, oil on birch panel
Do you see sky or water?
Here is an update on the bluff picture which awaits further changes based on Karl’s critique.
Filed in painting
23 Comments Comments closed
Birgit:
Let me guess: it’s the lake reflecting the sky.
correct!
I like the changes to the bluff picture.
Not so sure about the new one. I find the horizontal banding too stern for my liking. However, the foreground imagery is interesting and catches my eye.
This has nothing to do with this post, but I was scrolling through older posts and hit something from Sept. 25, 08 where the subject of fractals came up. The name itself – fractal – puts me in mind of baked goods. Guess I’m thinking of “cracker”. Poly wants a fractal. Maybe it could be a big triangular flat bread incised in such a way that smaller triangles (or other regular polygons) could be broken off. This product would be manufactured in Germany by the Mandel Brot Fabrick.
Water. Good painting, Birgit!
Thanks guys!
A couple of days ago, I had a conversation with Karl and Beth Bricker, a gallery owner in Glen Arbor, about contemporary and traditional lay-outs as we viewed her exhibition of the paintings of Margo Burian. Looking afterwards at my own pictures, Karl suggested that the two shown here are o.k. but that my winter motif has a traditional lay-out that people in the Netherland would find boring.
Tree, thinking that the initial foreground of the bluff picture was too cutsy, I first painted it over with dark colors. After my daughter’s critique that the landscape looks too flat, I googled Cezanne’s landscapes showing a dark foreground with shadows. From that I learned to insert some lighter colors into the shadows in the foreground. To make the picture still more 3-D, I now should make the green of the distant bear less vivid.
After my mostly solitary living during the rest of the year, I am currently more of less successfully managing the the diverse needs of 4 generations of family members ranging from 6 to 92 yrs while trying to squeeze in a little time doing some painting. Not much time for blogging!
Birgit:
I remember some of your earlier dune photographs in which the dunes and their attendant vegetation constitute the main focus. One of the things I have noticed at Sleeping Bear is how the dunes and the lake are more juxtaposed than they are interrelated. There’s the lake as a worthy subject, divided visually from the dunes, which rise abruptly from the water in something of a withdrawing gesture. I would compare this to the Maine coast where the elements are in a constant state of admixture, and the potentials of the shore as subject matter are enhanced.
Jay,
I have been thinking about your comment that water and dune are juxtaposed in my photographs and paintings. It may reflect how I see. Margo Burian’s picture (the link is in the previous comment) seems to reflect the admixture that you describe for the coast of Maine.
I don’t have a clear memory of Maine. The last time I was in Bar Harbor, the place was unbearably crowded.
Birgit:
Still is I’m sure. Head down the island to places like Southwest Harbor and you will find the intimate embrace of sea and land that I have in mind.
wow, i just discovered this site and what a beautiful first image to see! The top image is gorgeous …
To the question of whether i see sky or water … at first my answer was almost ..”Does it matter?” :) For me it reached that perfect point where sky and water are the same and its the mood that it creates that i found beautiful.
although of course the answer would be ‘water’ …
But then, it holds the memory of the sky, whether it is all the memories of sky-in-water that i have seen all my life, or directly indicated by the painting … what matters is the fact that it instantly had the power to cause this effect.
:)
nice work
Anreal,
“memories of sky-in-water” what beautiful expression!
Sounds like you’re really busy, Brigit. It’s good you still have time for your art.
Things are crazy with me. I’m getting married August 21 and am 9 weeks pregnant. That’s my entire life in a nut shell!
Tree,
Congratulations to both! I hope that you will have a laid-back wedding and plenty of maternity leave!
Tree:
Congratulations as well.
Crazy as it is, things could be more so if the numbers were August 9 and 21 weeks pregnant.
Thanks, Birgit and June. And June, you ain’t kidding. ;-)
Good grief, Jay. I called you June. Please forgive. I’m sick all the time and often in a fog. Hence the total lack of written material for A&P.
Tree:
You can call me June. You can call me Dune….
Birgit this is very interesting because I been working on this painting for a while now… sea and dunes and I come here and found this! I feel I was meant to see your work today!
My favourite is your foreground, it looks like seaweed almost. Are you working from photos or directly in the nature?
Angela,
The first painting is based on an excerpt from a photograph, the second from a sketch done on site.
The foreground of the first painting was done last and underwent several transformations, making it different from the original photo.
I love to see your interpretation of sea and dune. Seaweed is not a feature of Lake Michigan where my motifs stem from.
Birgit,
I absolutely love the paintings, particularly the first one. “Do you see sky, or water?” Such a wonderful question. I see both and because of this I’m able to enjoy the painting from two perspectives. Did you intend for this or was it just one of the many happy accidents that make our art so much more?
I’ve just found this site, and haven’t looked away since. I very much enjoy these posts, though I’m not sure why. Up until recently my artistic taste had been somewhat exclusive to the darker, more sinister vibes, however, a two day trip to the numerous galleries and museums Dallas/Ft. Worth had to offer, and two semesters of art history, I’ve found I quite enjoy a bit of everything. Landscape and plein air especially excite me. I’d give my left arm to paint with/like the Dutch landscape painters of the Baroque, and after a healthy dose of Church’s work, along with Cole and Durandt (I got to see the Hudson River School exhibit!), I’m itching to grab my tripod and paint to do some studies on location.
Anyway, excellent painting, ditto on the blog, and now it’s time to hit the ‘Bookmark’ button.
Christopher,
I am glad that you love last summer’s painting. I am just about to wrap up my day job and hope to get back to painting soon.
Check out Jacob Collins http://www.jacobcollinspaintings.com/ for a current landscape painting that paints somewhat in the tradition of the Hudson River School.
Birgit:´When i’ve first saw your picture, I saw sky, but after you ask what was it, I´d rather thought: that isn´t any matter at all…. what we actually do as painters or artists in general it wouldn´t care for the eye of the guy who’s looking at…. do i make myself clear?
be happy with your making art… it amazes me that this question has flown on the virtual world so much time, and still people get involved in something that happened long time ago.
I´m an artist from Chile, very far away, as well. Cariños.
Francisca,
Thank you for looking at my image. What kind of art do you do? Chile must be a beautiful country. Cariños