Monday, 15 February 2010 - 12:00 AM EST

But the thought of a painter must not be considered as seperate from his pictorial means, for the thought is worth no more than its expression by those means, which must be more complete (and by complete I do mean complicated) the deeper his thought.  I am unable to distingush bewtween the feeling I have about life and the way of tranlating it.  - pg 37&38 

I think he is trying to explain a conflict with expression.  I find this exerpt confusing and interesting because it shows the thought of expression.  That it is just as important to indulge into deep thought to understand and express a  thought. 

Saturday, 20 February 2010 - 10:54 AM EST

            “The imagination completes the sensibility of the real world; it renders the facts of life more dynamic, more expressive, but when then details appear, when the senses become simple indicators of the intellectuality, the imagination is no longer a complement of reality, but something abnormal, excessive and false.”

 Notes of a Painter Pg.34 Paragraph 6

The notion that the imagination is an abnormal growth on the truths of reality forces me to question the integrity and purpose of design and illustration, as well as expressiveness in many paintings and drawings.

Is the imagination a place where reality is consciously skewed to create a more pleasurable image? Or can it be a part of ones intuition which spews itself out through expressive colors, forms, and synthetic figures?

Saturday, 20 February 2010 - 11:43 AM EST

14 February 2010 22:37 EST | Posted by cait.r.h

"there was a time when i never left my paintings hanging on the wall because they reminded me of moments of over-excitement and i did not like to see them agian when i was calm. nowadays i try to put serenity into my pictures and re-work them as long as i have not succeeded in doing so." -notes of a painter bottom of page 38.
i think this passage is interesting because it shows how the feeling of the painting is not only conveyed by the image itself but by the moment it was created in. this feeling, while usually only known to the artist, is in ways much stronger than the feelings it gives to the viewer.  i think this is because the relationship between the artist and the work is a terribly strong bond, and because of this the sight of the work can throw the artist right back to that moment of it's creation. positive or negative.

Saturday, 20 February 2010 - 11:44 AM EST

14 February 2010 22:27 EST | Posted by c.mccauley

Saturday, 20 February 2010 - 11:46 AM EST

14 February 2010 22:08 EST | Posted by cole.e


"If I take a sheet of paper of a given size, my drawing will have a necessary relationship to its format. I would not repeat this drawing on another sheet of different proportions, for example, rectangular instead of square. Nor should I be satisfied with a mere enlargement, had I to transfer the drawing to a sheet the same shape, but ten times larger. A drawing must have an expansive force which gives life to the things around it. An artist who wants to transpose a composition from one canvas to another larger one must conceive it anew in order to preserve its expression; he must alter its character and not just square it up onto the larger canvas." pg 38, second paragraph
 This seems also applicable to images that have been scaled down, which brings reproductions (say, in books) into question... These reductions were likely not conceived anew by the artist. The expression would be deadened or unintentionally mutated by the scale change.

Saturday, 20 February 2010 - 11:48 AM EST

14 February 2010 16:34 EST | Posted by ktquinn


"A rapid rendering of a landscape represents only one moment of its existence.  I prefer, by insisting upon its essential character, to risk losing charm in order to obtain greater stability."
pg. 39, end of paragraph 3
 Here, Matisse discusses the impressionist painters, who worked quickly to capture an impression of what they saw.  Matisse suggests that going back to a painting he has started earlier gives him another perspective on what he is painting.  The impressionists have "charm" in their art, for everything is clean, expressing one moment in time, and their paintings have little history in them.  
I agree that re-working a piece, and changing lines and colors as your eyes see them change gives a painting more "stability."  Looking at Matisse's work, you can see that he constantly fought to find the correct line.  An artist's first impression of what she or he sees will not always stay true as the painting progresses, which is why Matisse found it important to work paintings over and over until he felt they were true.

Sunday, 21 February 2010 - 9:02 PM EST

I really like how Matisse doesn't try to make a perfect picture but rather he paints for it be entertaining and decorative for himself. I feel that he was seeing painting as means of relaxation; it would express a thought or feeling he had about a woman or a landscape. In a way, I feel that I can relate to what he does with his paintings as he looks for a balance in art and how he approaches his work differently. He sticks to the same goal but takes a different route to reach it (page 37 last sentence of the 3rd paragraph).

Sunday, 21 February 2010 - 10:50 PM EST

Page 40, second paragraph
 
 "If upon a white canvas I set down some sensations of blue, of green, of red, each new stroke diminishes the importance of the preceding ones. Suppose I have to paint an interior: I have before me a cupboard; it gives me a sensation of vivid red, and I put down a red that satisfies me. A relation is established between this red and the white of the canvas. Let me put a green near the red, and make he floor yellow; and again there will be relationships between the green or yellow and the white of the canvas which will satisfy me. But these different tones mutually weaken one another. It is necessary that the diverse marks [signes] I use be balanced so that they do not destroy each other."
 
 
 
 I feel that after reading this I am going to reevaluate how I paint, and the consciousness of my mark. With painting being an aesthetic process, I feel that this passage explains the balance needed to make a piece not seem heavy in one place, or less important in another. Each stroke is significant, and can't be under minded by a more important stroke. They all work together to create the greater whole. The harmony of the relationships between colors and canvas is also very important to the flow of the pieces. If all of the colors are competing with each other, the piece becomes overwhelming and subsequently, less aesthetic.

Monday, 22 February 2010 - 10:36 AM EST

On 14 February 2010 22:37 EST cait.r.h wrote,

"'there was a time when i never left my paintings hanging on the wall because they reminded me of moments of over-excitement and i did not like to see them agian when i was calm. nowadays i try to put serenity into my pictures and re-work them as long as i have not succeeded in doing so.' -notes of a painter bottom of page 38.
            i think this passage is interesting because it shows how the feeling of the painting is not only conveyed by the image itself but by the moment it was created in. this feeling, while usually only known to the artist, is in ways much stronger than the feelings it gives to the viewer.  i think this is because the relationship between the artist and the work is a terribly strong bond, and because of this the sight of the work can throw the artist right back to that moment of it's creation. positive or negative."

this point brings up the topic of commercial art and independent art. where things are created for others, strictly on the basis of making a sale, the emotion can be absent for both viewer and artist. however, if artists create their work for themselves, the relationship of their emotional location at the time will be present and way more rewarding for the individual,

Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 8:12 PM EST

In response to c.mccauley's post, I have mixed feelings about transferring a small sketch into a large format painting.  I sometimes question, what's the point of doing this?  If you're going to figure out a whole idea on a smaller scale, where's the interest in making it any bigger?  Why do a painting when you already know how it's going to turn out?  Last friday, visiting artist Neysa Grassi even said, "To illustrate yourself is a dead endeavor."  To recreate something you've already made can in a way be dead.  

But on the other side of this, I love to paint from a sketch I've created in my sketchbook!  The best way I've found to do this and keep the painting alive, is rather than just copy an old thought, allow myself to change what I see when I transfer it, and not constrict myself to that exact image.  I think this is what Matisse is getting at when he suggests you may have to change the entire picture when you transfer it.  

Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 9:44 PM EST

Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 10:01 PM EST

Wednesday, 24 February 2010 - 10:02 PM EST

the rhythm of life, and the necessity of simplification, is something that i think about alot when i paint, and matisse states about the individual and the connection to the artists expression through simplification.

"rules have no existence outside of individuals" i feel like as i grow as an artist and as i will always be a student of art, the rules i set for myself are important.... but the way i perceive what i am taught and what is around me, is not even relative to you or my peers.

Last, i feel very confused when matisse talks of color and how he must translate them, and how he questions color theory. 

Thursday, 25 February 2010 - 1:05 AM EST

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Sunday, 21 February 2010 - 9:02 PM EST

Name: "Chaos"

I really like how Matisse doesn't try to make a perfect picture but rather he paints for it be entertaining and decorative for himself. I feel that he was seeing painting as means of relaxation; it would express a thought or feeling he had about a woman or a landscape. In a way, I feel that I can relate to what he does with his paintings as he looks for a balance in art and how he approaches his work differently. He sticks to the same goal but takes a different route to reach it (page 37 last sentence of the 3rd paragraph).

 orange0

 I feel in the third paraghraph Matisse is talking about the evolution through his experence of painting, from looking back at his earlyer works. He is giving credit to the artist he admires.  He also talks about his fear of condadicting himself by stating his feelings on his approach to painting. His approach to painting is personal and he may not want his work to look like a "perfect painting" but he is searching for what he feels is perfect for his paintings. With his constant  searching for the right line or color seems more of a struggle to satisfaction than a means of relaxation.