On Painting - Part Seven

Image; Ken Kewley, Pink Abstraction, 2003, Collage, 3 7/8 x 3 3/4 inches

From an interview with Ken Kewley on Painting Perceptions website

Keep things in flux. You must be willing to get rid of anything.

Get back to the joy of painting and trust that all you need to know is within you.

The beauty of things comes partly from never having become accustom to that thing, that relationship. It is what keeps things always fresh, always surprising, it is that the mind has never been able to completely name the thing.

Do not make a picture of a landscape, create a landscape.

Painting is very simple. Anyone can fill an area with paint. But to relate everything in a complex journey without resulting in chaos takes a lifetime to master.

On Painting - Part Six

Image: Ken Kewley, Figures on Rocks, 2001, Oil on Canvas, 48 x 60 inches

From an interview with Ken Kewley on Painting Perceptions website

Using paint does not make one a painter. Paint can do so much more. The life of a painter is a life of exploring.

With the same brush work from dark to lighter, putting in darks while your brush is loaded with that value. Rinse only when you need to go quickly from one extreme to another.

Three elements in the right relationship get much closer to feeling real and often are enough to carry the whole. Do as little as possible.

Emphasize one thing over another. It is saying; “This is want I want you to look at”.

Paint with color-shapes. One color-shape followed by another. Reacting without rejecting. Paint instinctively. If not looking at nature then having looked at nature. Do not fall in love with any part. Always think of the whole. Stopping at the thought of stopping.

Overlapping is a large tool. Overlapping colors hold down other colors. They become steps into and out of space. Little and big steps. Controlling multiple planes.

The same lessons need to be learnt over and over.

On Painting Part Five

Image: Ken Kewley, Cake with Chocolate Flowers, 1998, Oil on Canvas, 28 x 36 inches

From an interview with Ken Kewley on Painting Perceptions website

"A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art”. – Cezanne

You speak. Some will listen others will not. You can not choose who will and will not. Do not concern yourself, do not adjust to please. Those you please will find you.

If you try too hard it will show up in the work as an unpleasant element. I do not like to see artist suffering.

Do not think about it that much. Get away from the self. Reject consciousness. Make it child’s work. What is created is the real thing.

Passion, excitement needs to be there at the beginning to have it there at the end.

Good things come when one no longer cares about pleasing anyone else.

On Painting Part Four

Image: Ken Kewley, Chinese Pastries/Watermelon, 1998, Oil on Canvas, 28 x 36 inches

From an Interview with Ken Kewley on the Painting Perceptions website

Paint large areas quickly and unconsciously as much as possible. Let nuances happen. Never consciously paint them.

Emphasis is invention….The need to find shapes is a need to exaggerate and gives freedom to invent.

Surprising yourself should be encouraged.

One should always be reconsidering the whole and willing to redraw the whole.

The painting is the result of the process of painting. Do not anticipate this. Forget that you are painting a painting. And even more that it is a picture. Give up control to let things happen in painting.

The secret (your methods) to painting needs to be discovered everyday. This is necessary because these secrets only work for a little while.