Summer Breeze, 2017, encaustic on panel, 24 by 24 inches
Six months ago an artist new to encaustic wanted to know how I created my woven paintings. We had an in-depth discussion on ideas, techniques, and processes. Recently the same individual posted paintings on the internet, and I was surprised to see a similar intent and content to mine. I contacted the artist to talk about the issues associated with copying versus finding a personal theme and direction. We seem to have reached a détente, and that conversation prompted this article.
With regard to artwork, copying is reproducing the way one artist has used the elements of design to capture his or her intent. The person copying uses the same theme, colors, lines, shapes, textures or forms as the original. Yes, someone may take the same intent and tweak those elements to make his or her own painting, but it’s problematic when the source comes from the originating artist or teacher. While copying an artist’s idea and technique may not fit the legal description of copyright infringement, it certainly violates a community standard. And, of course, it violates the originator of the work.
I have seen teachers at some conferences, in some workshops,
and especially on YouTube promoting a step-by-step approach to painting. The
least inspiring of these teachers encourage the viewer to create a replica of
their artwork with the same techniques! In this kind of beginner-level, teacher-directed
workshop, students learn the instructor’s signature style but rarely the basic
elements and principles of design. Nor are they encouraged to develop
strategies to find a personal theme or approach.
Additionally, many students, after taking only a few such
workshops teach the same techniques as their teachers. So the baton goes
from students copying their teacher to that of a student becoming a teacher who
uses similar techniques and methods to teach his or her own students. One
instructor a few years ago actually offered a workshop in how to paint in the
style of a well-known artist in the encaustic community (who did not teach
because she didn’t want her work copied)!
Strategies for developing a signature style
From my own experiences I have found that the first step to move away from copying is to find a theme or topic that inspires you and then research that theme by looking at artists who have painted on a similar theme. Instead of copying, consider these issues:
. How does that artist use the elements and principles of art within the
work?
. What is the artist’s message?
. How does the message work in relation to the elements and the artist’s
techniques?
. What does or does not work in the painting?
. If the work is based on themes outside of visual art, explore them at the source, whether they be science, mathematics, music or literature
. If the work is based on themes outside of visual art, explore them at the source, whether they be science, mathematics, music or literature
. Learn about other artists but keep them out of
your studio when you are creating art
The second step is to take many workshops from different teachers to
broaden your sense of what is possible and then just paint until you find the
tools and techniques that best suit your theme.
. Make small experimental works by exploring the elements of design with
different painting tools
. Learn how to paint different types of lines, shapes, forms, and experiment
with color relationships
. Teach yourself how to apply wax for different types of surface
textures
. Painting on small panels and exploring your theme will help you begin
to master the design elements and techniques
The third step is to paint many artworks on one theme. Do variations by
changing the colors, textures, lines, or proportions so that after varying paintings
on one theme, you will begin to discover new ways to express yourself. If you
paint artworks that come from a personal voice, then few will say that your
artwork looks like some other artist’s painting.
How I learned encaustic
When I discovered encaustic four years ago, I had never dipped a brush in
liquid wax. Although I knew how to paint, I did not know how to paint with
a medium that cooled and hardened almost instantly, so I took a workshop and
learned how another artist painted in wax. She painted amazing
expressionistic paintings. I loved the way she demonstrated how to scrape back
layers of wax with a blade, use pigment sticks, and add transparent and opaque
layers of colors. It was a valuable workshop because she taught how to paint
with abandon.
I took her ideas back to my studio, but I still had a
quest to find my own style of painting and a theme to explore. I have
always been drawn to weavings and art quilts, so I decided to begin each
painting with
flowing streams of colors similar to reflections in the water. When the landscape
is completed, I paint a covering over it using hundreds of interlaced lines. At first the lines hardening extremely fast frustrated me, but I learned
to trim my brushes so that the wax left the brush smoothly. After four years of
painting different types of lines, I can now paint straight, flowing,
meandering, or curving lines.
At the same time, I researched hundreds of artists who
work with textiles. The weavings of Ptolemy Mann
and Anni Albers
and the fabric constructions of Dorothy Caldwell
are inspiring. Mann uses vibrant colors and her woven sections move
from strong primary colors to softer muted tonal values. Albers weaves
different weights of threads to separate each geometrical section from raised
to receding areas–a push and pull of textural surfaces. Caldwell uses needle and threads and hand
sews predominantly white meandering lines onto the surface of her black fabric
constructions.
Inspiration not duplication
Mann, Albers, and Caldwell have inspired me to think about color relationships and the idea of line and shape as an embellishment to create surface textures, but I do not use their images or think about them when I am painting. In my studio I am alone with my thoughts, thinking about the connection between coverings and barriers as metaphors, and continually investigating ways to paint woven structures.
Anna Wagner-Ott lives and works in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Read her bio here.
Great article
ReplyDeleteAnna, I really liked this article. I teach and find many students tend to fall into the pattern you discussed above. Any suggestions is the teaching process how to encourage them to look beyond an instructors work during the workshop?
ReplyDeleteI do discuss composition , design, color etc and encourage trying to find their own style. I will pass your article on to past students to encourage them to look into their own "tool box"
Thank you
Cindy