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Message
Posted
We have had a thread running about an art technique called "fluid painting". In very simple terms it means that a cup is filled with layers of fluid acrylic paint together with some additives and poured onto a canvas and allowed to slurp and blend together by tilting in different directions. The results can be quite stunning. Lately art has become much more than just applying paint to a surface using a brush and people are now experimenting more. But it has been suggested to me that this is not art unless you pore over books and learn the old way. That is fine for some people but art has now become so much more - you don't have to be an expert and you don't have to paint in the old style. You Tube and other media have enabled art (in any form) to become possible for so many of us. We can experiment and have FUN. So what is wrong with that? A couple of our esteemed colleagues on the forum have also stated that "art" for them is not fun or joyful. Well of course an artist has always suffered angst, especially if they are professional and working against a tight deadline, but if it is a hobby, aren't we supposed to enjoy it a little? I am sure that a lot of you out there enjoy making art, in any form because what is the point of a hobby that you don't enjoy.
Posted
Nothing wrong with having fun but for me the problem with "just" slurping paint over a canvas is that it all relies on chance and thus, i suspect, the finished result has no depth of soul or great interest beyond the 'now'. In short, it will become boring.
Turners Fighting Temerer (sp?) For example has depth and so will never get boring. It has depth because it by and large wasnt created by chance.
Even Starry Night, which at first glance is garbage, has great depth brcause it has a souls influence. The chance haphazard sloshjng of colour on paper is accident.
Thats my take anyway
D
Posted
You are right David it is chance to a certain degree - but fun nonetheless (if you don't mind a bit of mess). Would this become boring - I'm not sure, because every result is different. It's probably a fun-filled diversion in life. Takes nothing away from traditional painting of course, but can't traditional painting be fun as well or must we anguish over it? That's the question. I'm sure a lot of us paint for fun, enjoyment and pleasure - it can't be just me surely.
Posted
I can imagine it's fun to create a completely random image, but I suspect it's like a sugar fix - makes you happy for a while but there's no long-lasting satisfaction. Like David, I like to see something that's sort of recognisable in a painting; it doesn't matter if it's a five-line landscape, or a kid's drawing of a ship with a funnel belching out smoke, so long as there's a "proper" subject.
Painting for fun: Yes, many of us here have day jobs where something has to be done and done in a certain way because it has to be done and that's how you do it. Thou shalt not deviate from the procedures manual. That makes painting, or any kind of hobby, something you do because you want to do it, and that means it gets done "your way" - the way you want it be done, whatever way that might be; whether it's a photorealistic painting of a grape that takes three hours, or a quick slop of runny paint on a piece of paper in a random-ish fashion.
Posted
Well I paint both traditional watercolours and abstracts. The traditional watercolours are where I get most of my commission work but I get most buzz and excitement when painting my abstracts. I certainly never tire of them. In fact the more I paint abstracts the more I become attracted to them rather than those with a' proper' or ( as I prefer to call many of them) with a 'pretty' subject.
Posted
I know what you mean David. I am constantly changing my paintings around. It was more about the concept of having fun with art or paints or whatever.
Not knocking the tried and tested methods at all Sylvia, in fact if I was younger and starting out, that would be the way to go for me. I like the idea of a bit of fun on the way and so much is out there on you tube. But I am also a crafter so a lot of other things appeal to me, although, I have to say that I draw the line at what one young lady was doing with a ball of wool on You Tube - wool art! I will leave it to your imagination!
Posted
Syd, I do see what you mean with your analogy above and I must agree with you. I paint because I really enjoy doing it. Last year I had a dabble with shaving cream and inks - made a right mess but that was what I would call fun and I don't do that everyday.
And books - I have loads of them and this is the way I have taught myself how to paint and still buy books on painting which interest me as we are all learning new things every day. I used to do all sorts of crafts at one time but now I stick to watercolours which I love doing. Anyway, enough from me.
Posted
And I agree with everyone! But you know the saying and I quote a song title - "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (and of course boys - you included Syd). On a serious note, books are great to learn from and I have many in my collection - but I can't follow instructions in books so well and I need to be shown, so You Tube has opened the door for me and I expect many others as well.
Posted
Adele, this is a technique that I saw a video of a few weeks ago and really want to try. Looks fun! It's completely at odds with my love of hyper realism and my (admittedly self-professed) attention to detail, which is maybe why I like it!
As far as technique, the old way, twisty faced artists etc - each to their own, as long as it doesn't affect me, but the words that jumped into my head unbidden are 'they're taking it far too seriously'. Or is it me that doesn't take art seriously enough?
I really enjoy the creative process, which is just as well seeing as it's my day job as well as my hobby, but I try not to be too serious, old school, stuffy, however you wish to describe it, about my work. Anyone else wants to paint with a grumpy face, please feel free :)
Posted
That's the danger of any easily available social media outlet Syd - anyone can do it, be they good or bad. Some of the tat produced by the vloggers my 10 year old daughter watches on Youtube is unreal - and they're being paid handsomely for it! I've learned plenty on there as well though, and I'll certainly be searching for more fluid painting vids now the subject's been raised again.