So……What Makes A Great Painting
The Art is nothing without the Gift,
but the Gift is nothing without the Work…
emile zola
When Pablo Picasso was a mere fourteen years old,he visited the Prado Museum in Madrid and
stood in front of this Painting by the famous Spanish Artist Diego Valezquez, “Las Meninas”.
It was painted in 1656 of the Spanish Royal Family.It moved Picasso deeply, in such a way that in 1957 he began a series of works based on this Painting. Bad Artists copy, Great Artists Steal, he once said and so he began his Fifty-Eight works over a four month period.
At its core a Painting should make you feel something, an emotional connection.
It needs to Stir your Soul and bring you back to a Thought or a Memory or a Place…It needs to communicate something inside you that opens your eyes to your mind, to the beauty of it…
There’s no doubt about it though,each viewer is different and what is Amazing and Beautiful to one person can be just plain bland to someone else.
You see, Art is so subjective….I know my own ideas come from observations of city life.. I have a facination with the Human Figure and how we all interact with each other …So many people occupy the Space yet there’s annonymity between them .Each in their own thoughts, each with their own goals…My research does involve sitting in open -air cafes and bars ,Vino or Cappuccino in hand depending on the time of day, obviously and looking, observing….Not too shabby,no complaints here but it’s still work, I promise. I’m a self-taught Artist. I have worked hard and studied for a long time the rules for technique and composition and I do my very best to apply them to my Paintings. However I tend to mix an blend colours on instinct and I go with my Gut as I work through a Painting.It hasn’t let me down so far.
Last year I was lucky enough to visit the Prado Museum in Madrid and I too stood in front “Las Meninas”.
It truly is a breathtaking Masterpiece.
I like to think I stood in the exact spot Picasso did all those years ago ,Six Feet from the huge Canvas….
Of course I know I’m reaching…… but a Girl can dream……
