Workmanship: Two Sides of the Same Coin (Part 2)

Workmanship n. 2. Evidence of such skill.

In the previous post we see Vermeer’s porcelain-like rendering of a beautiful young woman, whose face is painted in such a way as to leave no visible trace of brushwork. She is a vision of idealized, youthful beauty that transcends brush, paint and canvas.

Rembrandt                                                           Self Portrait  @ 1660

Rembrandt's self portrait stares back at us from the other end of the artistic spectrum. Looking at the careworn face we can almost hear the bristle brushes being dragged across the canvas.

Here Rembrandt makes no effort to hide his workmanship, allowing the individual strokes to stand out from one another, rich in variation and texture. He is as honest about the years that show on his face as he is about his brushwork; we see here a man whose youth and optimism have left him, a man worn and resigned and altogether changed from the young, playful artist of years before. 

Rembrandt                     Self Portrait with Saskia 1635

 What has happened to this man in the 25 years between the execution of these two paintings? If Rembrandt is so worn and resigned, why does he still paint? Why would someone paint such a picture of himself? Unlike Vermeer, much is known of Rembrandt’s life and a brief account of his family and career sheds a great deal of light on the mood of the later self portrait. 

A Few Words About What I Do (Part 3)

As we saw in Part 2 of this series, a painting of an object or a place can be read by the viewer as nothing more than what it immediately appears to be. A proper narrative painting like the one below is quite another matter: clearly something is happening.

"The presentation at the Temple"  2012                  Collection of St Philips Church, Charleston, South Carolina

The thing that is being attempted in such a painting is rather the opposite of the still life or portrait: to take a story, find the critical moment upon which the dramatic tension of the story hangs and capture it in a single frame. The figures must be arranged on the canvas in such a way so that their emotions and gestures add all they can to the story without distracting from the focus of the picture. 

It is a venture not without risk. Months of preparation and work go into a canvas and in it a painter has the burden of capturing a single moment in dramatic clarity, with skill of perception and brush, so that it is communicated to the viewer with all its intended meaning.

Keeping it Simple

On a trip to Saluda, North Carolina, 
we went to an orchard and picked a basket of apples.

When we got home this one was on the bottom. The way a few leaves and stem had come away with it and been pressed together in the basket gave it character. The bruise made it downright poignant and so I decided it had to be painted! Sometimes the days that knock us around and mess up our hair are the most interesting.