Downsizing

Yes…this tells me no matter how well equipped one is…there is always improvements that can be made…and the realization of this …shows great wisdom!

Very sound advice if the composition of the painting is balanced enough, but it works the other way around, too. If you have a bit of a painting that you really like whilst the rest is rubbish (in your view), you can isolate it (editing a photo of it is probably the most convenient way and does nto damage the original painting) and then upsize your idea and incorporate or develop it into something new. Of course, this is not a solution if it’s only the edges of a painting that bother you. Then resizing is the best option, but again I think editing a photo of your work is a lot less laborious than fiddling with mats and you can decide on a standard (proportional) smaller size for the painting. When that is achieved you can used the appropriate sized mat over the original painting to make a final decision. Another way is to incorporate any favoured bit(s) into collage. I’m quite sure a lot of painters recycle work that way.

Have done this often (and easily) with my watercolors! That’s one of the reasons why I don’t usually throw away my rejects. ☺

To Robert and other readers: I would like to know other sources of prepared boards with reversible heat-activated conservator’s adhesive. thanks

This morning I am going over my old big bad ones looking forsmall nuggets of gold. Thank you.

I crop, cut up and frame old paintings and leave them in public places as small gifts of abundance. There is a message on the back indicating that the painting is meant to be a gift to the finder.

I used to crop all the time when I was working on paper, but I haven’t done it since I switched to canvas. THANK YOU for the idea and the great instructions. I may revive some older paintings yet.

I recently cut a painting into 4 equal pieces and restretched them, attaching the canvas all the way around the stretcher bars as I didn’t want frames. The painting, being abstract, was quite amenable to this. I put picture wire exactly in the middle of the stretchers; that way I could hang them in both directions. I am still planning to add picture wire in the exact middle going the other way, which allows me to hang the 4 individual paintings in 4 different ways. They can be arranged and rearranged almost endlessly and look good no matter how they are hung. I cut another painting, which was semi-abstract, into 3 pieces that were of different sizes and have had a good time changing them from time to time. It is truly interesting to achieve a variety of arrangements which produces entirely different compositions.

Dear Robert, This is the DUMBEST idea you have ever come up with! The message behind an artists work should be about the journey. Piecing together these Frankenstein works where this “part was good” is not sending out a good message for artists and is an irresponsible piece of advice. Artists need to know the art of letting go. When a piece, no matter how good one area is, needs to tank a painting when it is not the right voice. This is how artists learn to hone their craft of the vocabulary they are communicating in their art. An artists needs to allow the voice to come through them. Hacking away at bits and pieces of art where they had a fluke here and there is not only not fair to the viewer seeing it, it is no way for an artist to mature and bloom. John Ferrie

I don’t feel about it as strongly as John, but I tend to agree that this exercise gives me a feeling of avoidance. Although for Robert that sounds unlikely since he is so prolific. For myself, looking back I find that I have always been fond of fiddling with old works – as an escape from real work on a blank canvas.

CROP is my favorite four letter word or it used to be when I worked in experimental water media. Trying to find the workable parts actually taught me a lot about comosition. When I switched to oils and wrapped canvas I had to make sure my composition and my painting fit to the size of the canvas. I do occaisionally decide that a painting would be better if it were framed and since I work pretty large I have found that one eithth inch gator board is a great surface to mount my canvas on once it is cut off the stretcher bars. It is a very light weight and rigid surface.

…and what a waste of the beautiful mahogany plywood! It would lovely to paint directly on it!

I like your idea. I did downsize one painting and the piece I removed deserved it. It was thrown in the garbage. It did not suit the painting.

One of my favorite Winslow Homer paintings — a beach scene in Long Branch, NJ — I understand was actually divided by the painter. It is a compelling scene of bathers with their back to the viewer. Interesting to see this note today.

I have done just that and it works! Also, the prepared boards idea sounds super and I did not know they existed…thanks so much

Ouch, John. I don’t agree with your view. “Honing one’s craft” entails reworking, rehashing, destroying, creating, recreating, adapting, liking, hating, rejecting and lots of other -ings, but the best -ing is, I think, rescuing – what is good, and scrapping the rest. If that means making a bonfire, tearing rome down, swimming the Atlantic etc….. all well and good. Examining a painting critically, even if it’s one’s own, is a step in the right direction. It’s called “learning by doing” – a couple more -ings for the list!

Thanks for giving me the courage to do this Robert. When I first started plein air painting I tended to rush right into the piece more than I do now. Now I realize that it is vital to get the composition worked out and worked out well before applying paint to the canvas. I have several of my early plein air works that I have not shown due to compositional issues, so I may try cropping them. I have used Photoshop also to find the best composition I could come up with, if I cropped something.

Sorry, “downsizing” strikes me as trying to repair a work that wasn’t up to snuff to start with. I’m a potter, and once the clay is turned back into rock, it is there for the ages. Or, until I smash it to bits. Clay, paint, and canvas are cheap. A hard earned reputation is not- don’t waste it!

This is the most informed group of painter-artists on the internet. Thank you to all. Going back through the responses is truly amazing.

Faith, lighten up with your “ouch”, no big whoop. BUT, there is nothing more disappoint-ing that the term “half baked”. “So, when i did this piece, this was the only part that worked” or “I got this part from the trash as the rest was a hot mess”…These are not good features when an artist is describ-ing or sell-ing their works. Bottom line is how the public responds to their works by either like-ing or BUY-ING their works!

I am grateful to Glenn Secrest for getting me on to your subscription list. The first thing I read was “Your Inner Shadow “. Wow does that hit home — I am glad to know I am not alone !! I think I shall find great encouragement in your weekly letters. I shall look forward to them — thank you so much ,

John! I know and appreciate your work. You have a clear working concept and use tools you are skilled with. But not everyone has reached a stage when everything is “in butter”, as the Germans say. I see it as positive when an artist (including me, of course) can admit that a work is not entirely successful or even a big disaster. The easiest way is to overpaint or destroy. The hard part is to resuce the flash of inspiration that made even a tiny fraction of that artwork worth rescuing. Of course, if it’s breakable it’s a different matter. And in other art forms there are comparable problems. On stage, for example, if you miss a cue in an opera perfromance, that does not bring everything to a halt, though it is infuriating. When a pianist makes a recording of a Chopin etude he is sure to remember the wrong note that strayed in and torments him every time he hears it. Too many wrong notes and the recording is scrapped, but the energy of learning and perfecting the “trade” is not lost. That is one reason for rescuing anything worth the effort!

Dear Faith, It is the conductor of the symphony who can pick out the flat note in a piece of music. We artists, who are like the maestro of our canvas, need to be as keyed into our pieces and tuned into our works as if we are conducting a symphony. Of course we make mistakes and we do that by working beyond what we already know. This is the sign of true creativity. But you’re reasoning is also the same reason why I find Robert’s advice to be so irresponsible. And while you might think I have a clear working concept, I assure you I do not. I know my work can always be better, I also know that the bulk of the greatest works of my life is still a head of me. The key here is to know when you have the right voice behind your works. How would you feel if you went to the Symphony and heard less than 3 minutes of wonderful music because the next two hours was all horns flashing and squeaking flutes. And then the conductor turned and took a bow saying “sorry we botched up everything, but three minutes were worth your time”. Sorry, Im still not buy-ING this. John Ferrie

I’m so glad to learn something new. It has never occured to me to crop a painting that didn’t work. I’m sure I’ve got something that could be improved by down sizing. I hate the idea of leaving dull work stuck in the closet. It will be a challenge to do for my “Bucket List”.

Being a prolific painter I end up with lots of work. Some pieces weren’t necessarily intended to be mounted and framed. Over time with fresh eyes you notice some have a chance if reconfigured. I’ve taken works that were years old but never finished and added backgrounds, repainted clothing, dressed nudes and cut down works. Most times with great success. It happens to many artist that after painting a work, there is still some unknown thing missing. I find it better to store it in a corner for future examination. Some still, after a few years, need burning while some have been refurbished and sold.

This is just a simple response to your ‘downsizing” post. I know it, and I’ve done it in the past, but your comment gave me “permission” and encouragement to cut down a 16×20 to a 12×16 of a St.Charles Lane scene neighbouring Ross Bay cemetery without losing anything! In fact, I think I’ve gained crunch value. Victoria, BC

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your twice weekly letter. i look forward to the insight and perspective you share, and the topics often lead to conversations about them with artist friends. i like the downsizing idea – i can see the value of it, and will turn to previous paintings that haven’t worked with a new eye.

I’m back here in time to react to John’s last comment on my comment on his comment! Dear John! Of course, any conductor worth his fee can hear “flat” notes, but in fact all is lost if the perpetrator can’t. He will be fired in all probability (a lot of orchestral players go deaf early because of the constant noise levels they have to endure – but hang on to their jobs). If the concert performance is bad, the MD has to answer for it, but it could be that the the instruments are affected by climactic conditions, the light is bad, etc. Who knows? You can’t go back on live performances, however bad they are. You can’t scrap the past, but you can scrap or even rescue future art exhibits. Painters don’t normally get fired for their work (maybe for other reasons). This is due to the fact that if he says his work is art, it IS art, however dreadful it is. The difference between live music and live art is that there is no such thing as live art, unless we’re talking about live demos. I’ve experienced many live music performances of all sorts, particularly recitals, where you have to say the performer made a good job of this or that piece, but the rest was pretty awful. You can only say that after a performance. In contrast, a painter doesn’t need to wait for the vernissage to find out if his work is good. If he says it’s good, it IS to all intents and purposes up to standard. When I go to an art show see the stuff hanging there – some or all of which I like – and know that what is there has been blessed by the artist (painter in this case) who is either satisfied or has maybe run out of time and chopped a few old works up. Who knows? I’m certainly that most of us have stood in front of artworks and wondered why they are as they are, without being able to change anything about them. Why didn’t the painter do this or that to improve it? He may have been waiting for Bob’s next letter after this one – what a splendid follow-up. Claiming that an artist who makes critical decisions concerning his work – and even goes the whole hog to rescue it for whatever pzurpose – is incompetent is, in my view, too drastic and misleading. Artists are fragile creature at any level of competence. They need help and encouragment, and the courage to stand back and make valuable decisions about their own work, even if that entails chopping them up. The main thing is surely that the final “exhibit” is satisfying, whatever the artist has done to achieve this. What you see as an exhibit is what the artist wants you to see. Whatever he wants to conceal will be concealed.

Seems to me this is about recycling, which is what we’re all encouraged to do. The argument is whether going back to recycle failed art is worth an artist’s time. Perhaps cutting up a piece is a learning experience that makes it worth doing. Or would making a new work of art be time better spent? Your choice.

Using a couple of Britannicas (or Amercanas) is a good idea. All that knowledge pressing down on the art gives it a degree of “gravitas.”

One of the best art teachers I’ve ever had was very helpful when giving a critique… he would first point out the good things and then point out things that would improve the work or help me in the future with new works. I learned more from his classroom crituques than from most of the theory and live demos….

“A well-composed painting is half done.” — Pierre Bonnard “A badly-composed painting is two paintings in one!” — Michael Epp

Thank you, thank you, thank you so very much. For years I’ve thought I was cheating when I did that.

I have been painting for a lot of years, now in acrylic. I have never cut down a work hoping for some kind of compositional or other resolution salvage. For me, the painting works as a whole or it doesn’t. If so it goes out into the world. If not, it gets a coat of gesso. Simple.

This is a reaction to Jan Yatsko post of Jun 12, 2012 What a wonderful idea to leave traces of your artistic presence. As a matter of fact I do the same with my poetry… in a small format & a note: This is not trash please absorb it in a proper manner.

In response to Steve Day — Jun 12, 2012 May I suggest you recompose the sgards into neat piles or compositions for photographic purposes & call them Akashic Records of Broken Might’ve Been Masterpieces

In response to Janet Badger — Jun 15, 2012 It’s not a matter of recycling. Recycling is to decompose while this article is about recomposing. Cutting ‘away’ excesses is training the eye.

In response to Leroy Leong — Jun 15, 2012 I suspect with that philosophy the world will become flatter… now don’t flatter yourself as this has to do with removing the fat from the flat artwork.

In response to Laurel McBrine — Jun 12, 2012 Well, I use my sculptures as door stops as well but with your suggestion I’ll step on Robert Genn’s book & my knowledge of art will be that much taller. This is not about upmanship… lol

Having cropped off the left eighth of a watercolour landscape for me, the framer asked if she could keep it… I signed it and she framed it and has a better painting than the larger one I kept.

It’s interesting to read the pros and cons expressed here. However, I have had watercolor paintings that have been cropped to be winners in many juried shows. Not that this is proof positive that cutting down an original piece is a good idea, but worth considering if a piece just doesn’t feel right when you complete it. I must admit, if I worked on canvas or board, I’d be less likely to take the time and effort to do this.

I need to enlarge a 10″x10″ cropped oil sketch of clumps of apples nestled deep within an apple tree. How will this read at 40″x40″? My concern is that enlarged 8″ diameter apples and 12″ leaves will look grotesque! Yikes, please offer your experience and tips. Merci, Judy