# Art Critique July 2012

- Link: https://www.reekersart.com/art-critique-july-2012/
- Published: 2012-08-07T23:41:34+00:00
- Author: billy bates

This was a night where we could take some time to look at the work, talk about the
exploration of art and discuss the struggles in finding ways of expressing our artistic
scheme as a cohesive unit;  this was particularly Socratic since it was just Ron
and I.

[[Ron brought two pieces that explored the contrary nature and inner dialog of shapes.
Within the motif lies a large wedge like structure contrasted against an organic
flower like object.  This sets up a certain dialog against the two; one being hard
versus the other being soft in nature.  The contrast of light is also very interesting
which is well handled within the medium of watercolor.  The boldness of the piece
is very attractive, yet the clear separation of the object is less attractive.  
We talked about shifting some of the values and color consistencies to bring the
objects together as much as possible.  All in all though, the expressive mark-making
is excellent and adds to the expressive nature of the work.

[[The other painting looked like an explosion of some sort with plumes of smoke,
orbits forming and jet streams of energy passing throughout the work.  The chaos
of the work presupposes a unique problem of finding a thematic foundation for the
work; what is it about?  The title of the work is ‘Universe 1’ which seems appropriate
for such an astro-dynamic beginning (if this was the intent).  What stood out was
the variety of technique, which I personally consider to be a big challenge in watercolor.
The lack of a clear un-ambiguous direction was not so well received, but as in any
exploratory work, the ambiguity gives purpose to having to work the idea out.  Ron
agrees that it could be a bit bolder like the previous watercolor, but the free 
nature of the work is what best sets this piece apart.

[[I showed my last work associated with the Shipley Center Spot 13.  It is a monoprint
using plexiglass and a woodblock to create the work.  We spent a good amount of 
time talking about the background tree line and how the shifting of value from the
foreground did much for creating depth in a realistic way.  The color did not have
the same intensity or saturation that some of the other works from this series had(
talked about in past critiques).  In addition, more separation of the objects could
further enhance the interest of the work.  What didn’t need to be change was the
mark-making in the monoprint technique, which we thought added a great amount of
character to the piece.

Again, as in all these critiques, much was gained by sitting down and looking hard
at our work.  This is something that anyone reading this blog should leave with 
the desire to do.  And as always, we look forward to increasing our circle of friends.
In order to join the critique, please review the front-page for the date and time
of the next critique session and contact me at [info@reekersart.com](https://www.reekersart.com/art-critique-july-2012/info@reekersart.com)

## Comments

### By: ron howlet

- Link: https://www.reekersart.com/art-critique-july-2012/#comment-22
- Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:09+00:00

Thanks for your thoughts Ron. My experiments with abstract watercolor always bring
me insight and discovery with the medium. Enjoyed the visit.