All art and our inner world rely on our experience of various aspects of reality: therefore, there is no art without some form of realism.?

Different styles are ways to express certain aspects of reality through a human filter. Let’s look at some examples to see how different styles use realism differently.?

For instance, in this painting, the connection and completion of opposites is the theme. The contrast between light and dark, between cold and warm. The two opposites complement each other. The idea is simple and is well expressed through a simple, symmetrical, and graphic style that focuses the viewer on the central idea. The painting uses certain aspects of realism: the shape of the human body, the shape of the sun, moon, and stars, the abstraction of the movement of the fabrics. The painting has more stylized elements than realistic ones, yet without realism, the painting wouldn’t be complete. If the man and woman looked like a child’s drawing, for example, the concept would still be charming, but the execution would be lacking.?

In this painting, again, we have two figures, but this time the realism is a bit more realistic. The figures and background have three-dimensional characteristics, the woman is drawn with more muscles and realistic anatomy, and there’s a slight indication of light and shadow. But the painting is still designed according to shapes; the trees and other elements in the background are presented as texture. If the background were more random and full of details (realistic), it would draw too much attention and ruin the drama.?

Now let’s take it a step further, to realism that describes full three-dimensionality, including nuances of shading. Even here, certain aspects of reality are simplified and planned to highlight the figures in the best way for the story. Because art is not a copy of random reality; it uses reality to tell a story or convey some message.?

So what’s the conclusion from all this? First of all, there’s no single “correct” formula for how much three-dimensionality and how many nuances to include in each painting. Each subject and style has its own charm.?

Creation requires courage – to put your preferences and personal style on the page, to give tangible expression to the soul, to expose yourself to love, deep understanding, or criticism, success or failure – these are not easy things.?

Art is, first and foremost, a means of communication, a way to tell stories, to convey some meaningful message that adds value to life. Realism is a tool in the artist’s hands, not a test to pass.?

Realism is a tool for artistic expression and can provide us with enjoyable and impressive detail richness that draws us into the special feeling of the creation. But realism can also be a way to hide from vulnerability, making “mistakes,” and from exposure and rejection. Why? Because by including every aspect of reality in the painting, we avoid making any personal statement. In fact, we transfer the responsibility for the quality of the creation to the reference or the object in reality that we painted. If we just draw it exactly as it is, no one can say we made a mistake. And at least we are assured that others will appreciate the accuracy and realism in the painting, even if they don’t see the inspiration or experience we wanted to convey. And that can be a very emotionally safe place to create from. But what if the source of inspiration for the creation is precisely the richness of details down to the smallest pixel? Well, yes, that’s also a possibility that can work when that’s indeed the source of inspiration, and when the message in the painting is still conveyed and not drowned in chaos.?

So what’s the story with realism? It’s not good, it’s not bad – so what? What am I trying to say here? I’m trying to show that in art, there’s immense creative freedom. And the main requirement to create good art is to embrace confidence in self-expression, and humility and enjoyment in the learning process.?

A mentality where the artist is a slave to the reference, versus a mentality where the artist is the master of the creation, are two completely different modes of being.?

So why do we, as artists, have such a complex relationship with realism? Why does it sometimes feel like the success or failure of a painting depends on its level of realism??

Well, this question has several facets. When a certain type of realism is a skill one wants to acquire, it does set objective criteria about what’s right or wrong. The learning process can feel tedious, like first grade, or like a challenging and enjoyable journey. We’ve had 12 years of school with tests that may have taken away our joy of learning. This is already a psychological question that confronts us with very personal aspects of ourselves.?

On the other hand, there’s the external world that sometimes confuses art with science. Many teachers treat drawing as a journey to accurately reproduce reality – from shapes to shading and colors. And in some places, realism is taken as the sole criterion for the success or failure of a painting – and this can fixate the artist’s thinking. So no, I’m not saying realism is bad. I’m not saying realism is good. Sometimes we need to let go of the need for such simple answers to understand a certain message in all its nuances. There is knowledge, and there is choice, and they require selectivity and personal expression as well as the need for knowledge and tools that demand investment, experience, and learning.?

It’s always important to approach art from a place of self-awareness – what do you truly feel? What do you want to create? What burns within you to convey to others so

Hi all. I’d like you to meet my newly hired studio assistant, Ralph. My go-to guy for abstract art and general help for rough painting days. (Picture credit: Adam Harnett / CATERS NEWS)

Some days… no matter how hard you try, paintings just don’t come out right. And that’s when you call Ralph to the rescue.

Available for hire; please contact me for rates and times.

Forest Trail, Oil on Canvas 11”X 15”

This summer I had the luxury of going outside and painting. It was relatively a new experience for me and I enjoyed it a lot.

Sometimes I would go by myself and sit in a forest for hours, painting, and sometimes go with a friend and do short studies of things.

At the beginning:

A couple of small, single sitting studies:

  
It’s been a lovely summer. I hope I will get more opportunities for outdoor painting now that the summer is pretty much over here in Seattle.

-Ifat

I love sculpting. Sometimes, while working on a painting I would go get something from my art room, see this sculpture and start working on it, forgetting all about what I was doing before. It sends me to a meditative state of mind and satisfies my love of the human figure and anatomy.

I made this sculpture during a sculpting class I took a couple of months ago. It was my first sculpting class, though I sculpted on a small scale at home before. This time I learned how to do it properly – how to construct an armature and use sculpting tools (though I still prefer my hands for most things).
The instructor for the class was actually a sculptor whose work I really like. You can check out his website Here.

So… about this piece: It is currently made out of oil-based clay and is connected to a pipe to provide it with support since I haven’t casted it (quite an expensive process). It is 22” tall.
The class was 10 sessions and was not enough time for me to finish everything, so I actually worked at home without a model for a while to finish it. I can’t say I find this sculpture perfect. But hey, I need to stop telling you what I think and just let you see it for yourself. So here it is. I took pictures from all sides, more or less and from some favorite angles.

So.. that’s it. I have plants for more sculptures: some I plan to do from imagination and use them as a way to further study anatomy as I go, and at least one I plan to do from a model as part of an “open studio” sort of thing.

One last note: I’ve been working on finishing a couple of pieces that have been lingering for a while now since my last semester at the atelier. These two are definitely my favorites from all I’ve done at the atelier and have a lot more “me” in them than the other works I’ve done. Turns out my mind works very slowly in figuring out “big picture” things in art. It takes me a while of staying away from a painting to realize what it needs. Hopefully I will be able to display them soon.

Thanks for reading and have a nice rest of the week.

-Ifat

Here are the stages I went through while painting a portrait during a short amount of time (5 days, 3 hours in the mornings). I painted this a couple of months ago, when I started expanding my palette.

I started out with a pencil study to decide what I want to include, how to crop the painting and to study the general value range.
Then, I started working straight on the canvas, blocking-in the figure with thinned-out paint and brush. The next day when the underpainting was dry, I started applying paint using about 7 colors. I run out of time before I could complete the painting but I still enjoyed the process.

Here it is:

Pencil study:

Paint Block-in:

The developed Underpainting:

The painting after additional 2 days:

I think it’s interesting to see the facial expression and mood change from version to version. One of the major challenges I encounter and will encounter in painting is how to live up to that initial vision a painting has for me.
Going through various difficulties in the execution of a painting, it is hard to still keep in mind that initial inspiration and vision, but I think doing so makes the painting better.

-Ifat

I find myself with only scattered thoughts to write about this week.

In my art school, Georgetown Atelier, I am still working on a 4 week long painting I posted about last week. More to come about that later.

 

One thought I had, is more about the subject of integration of the painting around its theme as the key to good art. Here is an example of how the lines of an artwork serve to enhance its theme. It’s a digital artwork I found on Deviant art. Here is the link to the page (and the artist who created it).

  

(Click to enlarge).

The lines in the right picture are added by me. They all converge into one direction: the direction of motion and they help convey the sense of purpose, motion and how the two of them are flying together (since these lines end up putting them in the same spot). That’s what the theme is: A a deep romantic bond based on a similar way of experiencing life: Instead of fear or weakness, finding joy and strength in this dangerous flight.

What I find interesting is that this sort of convergence of lines is not “classical”. I am definitely not an expert in art history nor in the study of composition, but I would bet ya, that nowhere in any art book about composition will you find a template that describes these lines of arrangement of focal points. The reason these lines “work”, I believe, is simply because they serve the theme – they serve the conceptual meaning of this work, and not because they happen to fall on spacial harmonies within the frame. In other words, they “work” because of the concept of the piece, not because of its precepts (it’s not the “purely visual” that makes them “work”).

Personally, what appealed to me about this digital work was the way it illustrated a deep bond: not through physical proximity, loving eyes or touch, but through spiritual values illustrated by each of them individually (and hinted by the way the male is looking at the female (I am tempted to say “man” and “woman” but am afraid of being targeted by a mob of angry nerds telling me that this is a different race than humans).

A small note: I don’t see myself painting in this style, but I very much like this artwork. I would often display different artworks here in different styles, none of them necessarily something I care to adopt as my own style. Please take it as such.
Later on I’d also like to “chew through” examples showing how value (how dark or light things are) can serve to enhance the theme or break it as well as how other elements in a painting can do that.

 

I’ll leave the rest for next week.
Have a good one!

-Ifat

In the next 3 weeks I’ll be working on a portrait. It will be 18X24 inches, with color! Yes, real color, not just monochromatic or 3-4 colors like I used before.

I’ve worked on a few studies this past week as preparation for this painting to allow me to work methodically during this pose.

Here are the drawing and the color study:

  

(Click images to enlarge)

If the painting turns out well, I shall post an image of the final result 3 weeks from now 😀

More news from the front rows of the battlefield: I’ll be discarding my monochromatic painting of a skull which I’ve been working on for 3 months and starting over. Yes, starting over. Too many mistakes, too many re-do’s and doodoo’s. Start anew.

This project taught me a few things, mostly what NOT to do.

1. Don’t work into an area you haven’t oiled out.
2. Don’t work into an area without matching the existing paint first.
3. Don’t work all over the place, work one area at a time.
4. Don’t “improve” areas before seeing how they fit in the big picture (this is what my instructor said and I’ll be darned, I think he’s right).
5. Don’t be afraid of long-term projects. Like, seriously, girlfriend, what is your problem?
6. Beware of a subconscious “To-Do” list; it can blind you to seeing what’s actually in front of you.

Regarding the “To-Do” list: It was an interesting discovery to realize it exists and how it affects my work. My subconscious would decide that I do some systematic error, and before you know it I was making the opposite error all over in an attempt to compensate. Conclusion: Just look at what’s in front of me, the rest of the “advisers” must realize their secondary position. When it comes to decision making, I’m the boss.

 

-Ifat