Tag: Maggie Siner

Thoughts on Brushwork

In my last post, I looked at both portraits and brushwork. Doing both is sort of a new adventure for me – portraits, certainly, but brushwork is something I play with periodically. Two artists I admire for both their subject matter and brushwork are Maggie Siner and Hashim Akib. Both have very clear brush marks as well as a strong sense of graphics and color. Siner’s work often displays wide swaths of color and Akib’s often does the same, as well as creates movement and light with brush strokes. Their portraits are striking.

That said, I am a dabber and a rather haphazard (okay, very haphazard) painter in my approach. I paint and putz, sometimes getting it right, sometimes getting it wrong. I will draw in a general idea, but don’t do much more. In particular, I don’t do value studies as I want to look and decide on the scene. I want to train my eye to see them in the picture or landscape or person. It is far more difficult than I think it will be. Slowing down helps, looking and then going into the painting process.

I did the painting below vaguely based off a paining by Siner called “Golden Cumulus”. You can find it on her website. Siner’s brushwork is deliberate, and she says she scrapes her oils off until her brushstroke is as she wants it. She doesn’t paint over things.

What I was looking at in her painting were her brushstrokes. They are directional, sometimes heavy with paint, sometimes not. At times she smudges and edge into another to break things up. For my variant, a wide brush, a square canvas, and either oils or acrylics using the colors found in Siner’s palette, which is very limited.

A lot was learned here: A limited palette makes color choices easy and harder – gotta mix those colors! A big brush – here a flat – allows far more mark making than I thought possible. And a big brush forces me away from my dab-dab-dab with a pointed round.

I don’t remember when I did this painting nor what media I used, or even if I published it here before. I found it the other day and remembered what my goals were. Brushwork then, brushwork now. I’m trying to clean up my oils / acrylic painting skills like I worked on with (and sort of succeeded with ) watercolors.

Oil or acrylic on cotton canvas board, 12 x 12, sort of a master copy of Maggie Siner’s “Golden Cumulus” ca. 2018.

Why a Master Copy?

Copying the work of a master painter, as I have been doing with Edward Seago (and others) of late in watercolor, is a time-honored tradition in learning how to do things. There is a lot to be learned while doing a master copy, and doing a master copy imprints itself on the copy-ist in many ways. Search “why make a master copy” on the internet, and you will find a million bazillion results.

Here are some reasons from Cecile Yadro’s website:

  • Beat the art block
  • Develop your skills
  • Get creative inspiration
  • Learn to self-critique
  • Improve your observation skills
  • Develop patience and focus
  • Develop muscle memory
  • Build confidence

These are all great reasons, and some you may not even expect, such as muscle memory! For me, these are salient reasons, and even more importantly, open my mind up to a way of doing things and seeing things that I probably never have otherwise considered. By nature, I am not analytical but reactive – patience is not one of my virtues and frustration is not something I like reacting to. As a kid, well, let’s just say my inability to handle frustration made me the “bad” child!

Watercolor master copies are easy enough to do, as is with any water-based medium which dries quickly. I say “easy” because once done, I can scan them and look at them, and critique them more objectively. I see things I miss when looking at a non-digitized painting. (Need to work on that!) Oil painting, though, is a different story. Oils you can paint over, you can use quick-drying mediums, you can take forever to decide something is finally “done”. I have been working on three oil paintings, master copies of three different artists: Erin Hanson, Michael Chamberlain, and Maggie Siner.

Today let’s learn a bit about Erin Hanson.

I first came across the work of Erin Hanson about 3 years ago. Cruising through who knows what, I found her site and learned that she created a painting style called “Open Impressionism” which, as her website states, “continues the work of impressionists and post-impressionists.” It does insofar of the radical use of color to capture light and movement. There is a freshness here that I rather like, and the bright colors appeal to me. Her ability to create good composition is evident, too, and these make for attractive paintings. Below is a lengthy YouTube video which will acquaint you with her work:

YouTube has a number of videos by and about Hanson. Explore at your will. As well, check out her portfolio of paintings on her website – you can see her evolution over time as well as decide for yourself if you like her style. As with any artist, some paintings will appeal to you more than others.