Eagles and Parrots

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Eagles and Parrots

From

Published on before 2005


The more Mark talks, the more I hate impressionism. I am not interested in painting with big, sloppy, nasty splotches of paint. Coarseness and sloppiness are qualities usually associated with things like ugliness, poor quality, cheapness, and lack of sophistication. I love beauty and sophistication.

I love how Godward was such a master of painting all sorts of textures, like transparent cloth, fur, marble, etc. I love the sophisticated, poetic, and brilliant way that Bouguereau painted people. I love how Gérôme and Alma-Tadema had such a mastery of perspective drawing. I love how Gérôme made such convincing and sophisticated paintings of ancient Roman arenas. I love the deep shadows and luminous passages that the old masters achieved with glazing. I love the extremely accurate brush control that the great painters had. I love the poetic, timeless beauty expressed in some of the great classic artworks. I love paintings that are very three-dimensional, giving you the feeling of looking at something real that you could reach out and touch. I love the appreciation of beauty in the old paintings. I love John Singer Sargent's painting of his teacher, because it has the most realistic skin tone I've ever seen in a painting.

I will never give all that up just to make some splotchy, near-sighted, blurred, streaky, slap-dash paintings.