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MOST ANNOYING
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Message
Posted
I am with you all the way John. And on the question of coffee this is one of my biggest bugbears. The so-called coffee chains do not understand coffee at all. The best way to make it is to let stand as with tea (correct timings and amounts available on request) - all they can offer is a gunge forced through a machine. An americano is not a filtered coffee. And try asking a Barista' what coffee he has and you will get a blank look- prompt him - what variety - country of origin - terrain - and he won't have a clue - all he can offer is an amorphous blend of unknown origin. A decent tea house can offer a range of varieties why can't coffee houses and don't mention those disgusting flavours they add - a bit like adding currants to curry.
Anyway all this brings me to my next annoying comment. It's when someones brings round coffee (instant I'm afraid) at a group art event and says something like'don't dip your brush in it' If I've heard it once I've heard a hundred times.
I feel like saying 'well it doesn't matter because my water jars empty - I've just drunk it' (and it would probably would taste better than the coffee anyway!)
Edited
by MichaelEdwards
Posted
Love the picture Sylvia! John and MIchael - I agree re the fancy coffees! I don't drink coffee (and haven't for many years) and have found out recently that (a) it feels like forever waiting for everybody to get their fancy coffees! Also, (b) some places definitely don't cater for tea drinkers any more - I !was recently in two different cafes to meet folk and in one the coffee came in a proper china mug/cup and my tea came in a paper cup; and in he second, the coffee was apparently lovely, the teabag came in the smallest teapot I think I have ever seen out of a dolls tea-set and the tea went from water to undrinkably stewed very quickly (and both of these cafes were in art galleries).
Posted
Here's one I am often asked and which I never know how to answer
What inspired you?
The answer is 'nothing'. The truth is I can honestly say I'm never inspired in the way questioner envisages - I don't have eureka moments when I say I must paint that. If I am inspired at all it's by the simple love of painting.
Posted
It's 'real' that gets my goat these days, as in real time. I am struggling with the concept of unreal time. I also struggle with 'real' ingredients, though unreal chocolate could be intriguing. So, next year I will look forward to Landscape Artist of the Year with some plein air painting done in real time. Apologies to all those whom I have offended with that sentence, but at least we can all look forward to some genuine arty bollocks comments from the judges.
Posted
In articles and in art sessions I often hear the comment; where is your focal point? or similar. It is usually said as though it's a rule that mustn't be broken. It may sometimes be relevant but when it isn't it's another case of teeth grating. Not every composition or painting needs or benefits from a focal point. Discuss.
Posted
An interesting point, Micheal. When I look at a painting, I find my eye drawn to one thing, and then I explore the rest. If that 'one thing' was the artist's intention, then he's got it right (as I see things, of course). Paintings where there is no focal point seem lacking to me. As I mostly paint people it's usually the eyes that people go for as a focal point. When I have several people in a painting, then I have to arrange the composition so that I get them looking at the right head...don't always achieve that, of course. But the idea of no focal point being necessary is interesting. I'll have to think about it some more.
Lew.
Posted
As I sit here in the study I have a large oil painting in front of me of three apples - they are arranged in the traditional triangle but I can see no focal point (unless it is argued that the focal point is the study itself) and yet there is no competition to confuse the eye. Also having taken a quick look through my abstracts I cannot see that there is what one could strictly refer to as a focal point in many of them.
Posted
Yes the viewers eye inevitably must start somewhere and end somewhere but do all viewers start and end at the same places especially where there is no clearly defined or intended focal point. In an abstract for example one viewer may be drawn to a certain texture whisl another may be attracted to colour composition. Just playing devils advocate.
By the way in my representational works I never consciously seek a focal point nor do I give it any thought but intuitively I seek a suitable composition (as in my village paintings) which nearly always does include one - but not always..