Blog

Why are some paintings so successful, and others leave us flat?  What creates that catch in the breath as we look at a painting?  How do we create that wow factor more often in our own work?  It turns out that the special sauce has more to do with the artist's heart and mind than with what’s on the page.   In a wow painting, there’s risk, daring and freedom.  There is heart on the page.

I’d like to share the process my classes went through in ‘Finding the Wow’: from discovering it in others’ work to uncovering it in their own, in a series of blogs.  This first will be on discovery.

William Merritt Chase, oil, MFA Boston

No matter whether one is a beginner or a seasoned pro, sometimes the best way to push our skills further is heading to a museum, or just to the internet for some inspiration.  But simple admiration isn’t enough:  we have to dig deeper and take a close critical look at what we find.  What makes that painting so successful?  Is it color, shape, value, edge quality, mood?  Be specific about what attracts you to your ‘wow’ piece.   When I go to a museum, I stand in the center of each new room and look slowly around, determining which painting really grabs me, then I go to that one first.  Identifying why a ‘wow’ painting that you love works is the first step toward pushing your own work further—it develops your own critical vocabulary and deepens your understanding of where you want to go.

Our class assignment was to bring in an inspiring ‘wow’ painting.  One thing we discovered is that while we may all agree on some, the wow is a very personal reaction for artists, and often it reveals where we’re heading in our own artistic journey.

Here’s a sampling of what we found in a recent class:

Deb Quinn Munson, Over the River 9 x 12 pastel  www.quinnmunson.com

The large, simple shapes and tiny bright pops of color against more muted tones create drama and movement in this 'simple,' powerful landscape by Deb Quinn-Munson, proving the adage that less is more.  There is no fussing; strokes are fresh and bold.

Liz Haywood-Sullivan, Boulder Creek Afterglow, 20 x 20 pastel, www.lizhaywoodsullivan.com

This painting by Liz Haywood-Sullivan masterfully orchestrates composition and color.  Though there appears to be a lot of detail here, the composition is comprised of four basic shapes with a few tiny ones to give balance and interest.  And while there is a feeling of brilliant color, most of the foreground and the middle distance is quite muted, and low key.  The few strokes of brilliant ochre in the distance, which form a contrast in both value and chroma to the foreground, sing against the dark pine trees.  In the foreground, the reddish orange reflection in the water provides an unexpected (wow) complement to the snowy river.

Tony Allain, Haast Pass www.tonyallainfineart.com

This painting by Tony Allain is all drama:  big simple shapes, plunging diagonals, vivid dark/light and cool/warm contrasts.  The painting also works on the level of textural interest:   it skates the line between representation and abstraction by calling attention to the material surface of the paper and the texture of the pastels.   It manages to be both very flat and suggest tremendous depth at the same time—wow.

Paintings with a strong WOW factor often feature one of these elements, exceptionally: a strong mood or feeling, vivid or experimental color--or neutral, tonalist, subdued color, a vivid sense of light and shadow, a strong contrast of warm and cool tones, high value contrast, interesting texture, a sense of movement, edge variety.  Wow paintings do not try to do too many things at once.   They have a clear intention, and they have wisely let some things go, in order for other things to sing. 

This is tougher than it looks, and one reason they take our breath away. 

It’s worth mentioning here that finding inspiration in others' work, and identifying and analyzing what makes their work so breathtaking, can help push us toward our own artistic goals without fear of creating copycats.  What we learn from studying the masters (contemporary or historic) is principle and technique.  These will still be useless without another essential ingredient:  your own heart and vision.  And that is the subject for next time.