Sunday, August 22, 2010

Wet Paint, Plein Air...

The Bridge
12x12, Oil/Linen panel

It felt good to be outdoors painting Saturday morning with Janet Onofrey. We met behind Borders bookstore on The middle river. I was immediately taken by the abstract potential of the bridge and the way the sunlight illuminated the bank & sea wall on the other side. Well into it, I realized my painting was becoming more literal than I meant it to be... I then set about to "deconstructing" the landscape and found what I was after initially...

4 comments:

Eden Compton Studio said...

Very nice Greg! Like the abstract quality and color. Lovely!

Greg Little said...

Thanks Eden!!

Charlie said...

A couple of thoughts ran through my mind when I took a good look at this painting and then at the title, "The Bridge." First of all, most artist's technique evolves over time, gradual changes that you can detect over time as you look at an artist's works retrospectively. You, however, set out to make a very noticeable change in your style in this painting all at once! As you said, it was too literal and you "deconstructed" the landscape to achieve the abstract potential you were seeking. In other words, you did for this painting what George Balanchine did for ballet, he de-emphasized the plot in his ballets in order to let dance be the star. Here, you let shape and color be the stars. Your subject matter was reworked and presented to the viewer in brilliant blocks of color, but Mother Nature's "plot" is still quite evident. Wonderful balance and presentation Greg! Lastly, is this also a bridge to a new style of painting for you?

Greg Little said...

Thank You, Charlie! Hopefully it is the bridge that is changing my mantra from "I'm not there yet" to "I'm on my way"...