I create paintings that interest me personally… that is the luxury of “fine art.” You ge to paint what you like. It is an added bonus when other are also interested.
I approach painting using a modified wet-on-wet “Alla Prima” technique in multiple sessions and layers. I allowing layers to fully dry before moving to the next.
I consider myself a scientist with peculiar interest in the human visual system which I study from emerging medical research. As new discoveries are made in the field I gain a complete understand of them and apply that knowledge in a practical sense to make my paintings better.
I believe painting is about creating a deception. It is about fooling the mind into seeing an image in full dimension that is really simply flat with the intent of eliciting an emotion or feeling. My critical focuses are on depth; brilliance; color saturation; and luminosity. I am cognizant of wavelength and how light is manipulated when it reflected off the surface or under layers in my painting or absorbed by pigments and textures in my paintings and then journeys back to my audience’s eyes as an image. To attain the effect I seek I use many self-developed techniques and paint pigments I have designed myself. I also use some old pigments that haven’t been used for over a century and no longer readily available.
I would say that I paint in a semi-impressionistic-chiaroscuro style. The dramatic lighting apparent in the chiaroscuro style is a natural solution to my pursuit of the ultimate perception of depth in my paintings and an off-shoot of my attempts to extend the dynamic range in my paintings and I came there by happenchance.
I have had people accuse me of photorealism. Not that there is anything wrong with it--but I would simply buy a camera and be a photographer if that be the case. My paintings give the illusion of detail where there is none by providing additional detail in foveal points I expect the audience’s eyes may be drawn to and it may fool a person into thinking that the same detail exists in the periphery of the work that actually doesn‘t. To me, impressionism it is all about the size brush you use--larger brushes equals a more impressionist and painterly painting. Anyway, don’t all impressionist paintings become photorealism when you step far enough back from them? One should never try to compete with photographs or photocopiers.
I do use digital reference photos to paint from which I shoot myself. But generally paint from the image on my computer monitor where it is back-lighted. I use computers to dynamically enhance my reference images to see more than I can with my eyes alone. Often changing brightness, zooming in, or over gamma correcting (pushing the color) to get at useful information that can have a positive influence on the painting. For portraiture I paint from a combination of live and photo references (at lease one sitting in final stages). I believe only oil portraiture has a sense of presence in that when you are walking past such a painting of a person you get a sense they are really there and looking at you. This is what I try to achieve.
Jay D Anderson joined Fine Art America on November 6th, 2009.
