The first can be exemplified by this image–a landscape by William Wendt:
And the second could be summed up by this painting by Mark Rothko:
The first area of obsession is the landscape defined by color masses, primarily in a light key, and the second focuses on areas of pure color used to evoke a mood and perhaps suggest a theme or subject. And never the twain shall meet, really. The first is traditional (well, late 19th century to early 20th century traditional—the Wendt piece is really an evolution of the Impressionist tradition, which is where my interest in this genre starts from) and the second is firmly rooted in mid-century color field painting/abstraction.
One is big, the other is small. My abstracts are 24 x 36, or 30 x 40. I use gallery-wrapped canvas with extra-thick stretcher bars, and don’t use frames. You need a good sized wall to put them on, and they tend to be Type A personalities. My landscapes are small (16 x 20, 9 x12, or even 6 x 8 ) and usually painted on panel or canvas-wrapped panel. They look great in a gold plein air frame, and play well with other art that may be on the same wall.
One has a thick, painterly surface; the other has layers of thin glazes. I have to say that I love a textured surface, and I love painting alla prima for plein air and mostly alla prima at other times…but my abstracts are some of the smoothest works I’ve ever done (they still have some scumbled texture in the upper layers, though.)
One is instantly likable, the other isn’t. When I paint landscapes on my porch from plein air references, people passing by stop and comment regularly. They recognize the scene, feel some connection to it, and sometimes even ask if the painting’s for sale. When I paint my abstracts, passersby still look, but don’t seem to feel the same connection as they do to the landscapes. Sometimes they get a strange look on their face that says Hmmm, another artsy fartsy person painting big simple shapes that my five year old could do. But occasionally someone walking their dog walks by as I’m putting the fortieth layer on, or the seventeenth transparent glaze, and stops, mesmerized by the colors, and says Wow, that is BEAUTIFUL. The color is just stunning. I could look at it for hours and just get lost in it. And I feel like I won the lottery.
Two sides of the same painter, I guess.
I’ve quit fighting the disconnect and given myself permission to be a split personality.
