When is Fine Painting Like Cooking?

Q: When is Fine Painting like Fine Cooking?

A: When the artist knows what to put in and what to leave out.

  Bill Sawczuk



Running Horses, oil on linen, 12x16. © Bill Sawczuk, 2014.



When I was a kid in the 50s, we used to eat a lot of soup.  Sometimes the soup contained everything in the icebox (that's right, the icebox), and although it was flavorful, we couldn't tell what flavor it was.  It was called garden soup, but sometimes we called it garbage soup.  I think that the same thing could be applied to painting.  If you put too much in, the picture might be painted well, but the viewer might not recognize the subject .   

Peaceful Afternoon, oil on linen, 8x10. © Bill Sawczuk, 2014.



Stippy's and Moran, oil on linen, 9x12. © Bill Sawczuk, 2014.

We are often tempted while painting en plein air to include everything that we see in the scene.  We may feel that the viewer might need all the facts to understand the picture.  The crucial time to resist the temptation to put everything in the soup is in the early composition stage of the painting.  Ask the question,  "What do I need to tell the story?"  The all-inclusive data is in the scene before me, but what should I leave out?  What can the viewer complete in his own analysis of the painting?  Will I clutter up my efforts to express my reaction to the scene by including every tree, every branch, every rock, etc.?  All of these elements may be hinted at in my painting, and the viewer will know that it is a forested, rocky scene.

 

Zero in on the subject.  Know what you are trying to say.  If you don't know that, why are you painting?  If you are trying to show the beauty of horses running through a pasture , for example, what more do you need than the horses and the pasture?  Do you need fences, barns, rocks or anything else? Paint the horses  as well as you can. Try to show their grace and their spirit .  If you can do  that, you will be successful.  Your painting will be complete, and you won't have to throw anything else in!

Texas Blood, oil on linen, 10x10. © Bill Sawczuk, 2014.

 

 

We want to share our artistic process with you! 

This is a continuing series of posts here on our gallery blog:

Behind the Brushes  -  http://triofineart.blogspot.com

The artists at Trio will be taking turns writing about art and sharing on the last week of each month.  If you have a question or an idea for a post, please email us at trio@triofineart.com

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