Art as Someone Else Sees It !

Sometimes I ask my family how they like a particular painting or which frame might work better. If you ask different people how they feel about different works of art you will probably get different answers. Art is not a survey. My daughter saw this particular painting, "Mixed Flowers with Plum" at a recent exhibition and said, "why did you put that painting in", "it doesn't look finished"! I felt this painting reached a certain level of satisfaction for me. The freshness, clarity of color and brevity of brush stroke seemed to captured the beauty and simplicity of the piece . I was trying to keep the image as simple as possible without over working the painting. The vase says it all, "less is more"! All I could say in response to my daughter's critique was, "but I really like this painting". As I see it, someone else may see your painting a little differently than you do.

Still Life Painting

As I see it, still life painting is a very meaningful drawing and painting lesson. One is compelled to pick objects of interest, and place them in a pleasing composition. I find this genre in historical painting fascinating; artists have picked odd things to paint ranging from dead fish/animals to kitchen still life paintings with cheese and beautiful breads!! As a contemporary realist painter I am drawn to beautiful vessels/pottery combined with colorful floral remnants. I also love to combine different textile and fabric patterns. These studies keep my interest during long winter months in the studio and the unlimited amount of subject matter continually keeps me challenged. I remember an elementary art class lesson plan that I had small groups of children do. They were given a format and each group had the same symbols to use and place in the rectangle. It was interesting to see how each group used their innate sense of balance and placement to resolve spatial/design issues! This is something artists do on a daily basis. Some aren't even cognitively aware that they're do it. How they decorate, cook, move within a room,compose music, construct and navigate through a social conversation, etc.,,,, As I see it, still life painting is a lot more than the "sum of it's parts"!

Compositional Elements of Design and Framing Decisions

Making definite marks and distinct decisions within the frame of your picture plane is very important. There are many choices you can make but which is the right one? Square format, rectangular, add this object, takes out that object, so forth and so on ,.......Compositional elements of design and framing can seem like a daunting and endless job. Lately I have been working on canvas mounted on board and find that I enjoy the freedom of changing my mind about the format and size of the composition. I like cutting, changing and sometimes even omitting elements for the sake of design. This painting has potential to be viewed with multiple framing ideas. I still might take out the asian sculpture but as I brought the frame closer to the left and omitted it the painting felt different, some what empty and unfinished. You have to be brutally courageous and just make the decision. Sometimes this is how I see it and sometimes I can definitely see it another way. Art can be very stimulating and also very frustrating at the same time. I guess I wouldn't have it any other way. Still haven't decided yet, and yes it might sit in my studio a bit longer before I'm really sure.

The Placement of the Face on a Page

As I see it, balance and harmony have everything to do with the placement of the face on a page.
How I compose and draw the anatomical elements help portray the feeling of the portrait but the
warm light caresses her mood, the diagonal juxtaposition of her glance looking downward bathes
her delicate skin and enhances her angelic portrayal. I have suggested the placement of the face on
a page and she begins to sing quietly amongst the light of color and dark shades of neutral.
I can only begin to understand the placement of the face on a page.

Landscape Painting Issues

How I see it, landscape painting is the most difficult of genre painting. The outdoor studio is very challenging, constant light and temperature changes! This particular painting is a free interpretation of a non-tradition landscape . The feeling of land and air allowed me to construct and mold the space with paint. I began to apply paint like a sculptor would chisel out form. The brevity and staccato use of paint strokes in this painting creates a unique sense of life and movement. Successful landscape painting gives the viewer a sense of place, time and mood. Be it traditional or interpretive, landscape painting is a very honorable but difficult profession.

Front Street Gallery LLC, Patterson,NY

February 2011 will be the beginning of two creative worlds blending together. My personal journey as an artist, mother and art educator and now a gallery proprietor. At the end of this month we will be completing our first year at Front Street Gallery llc, Patterson, NY. My name is Mary Smoot-Souter and I am one of the 3 partners involved with the gallery. A close painting friend of mine, Linda Puiatti (who is no longer with the gallery) and myself started the idea. We raised our children in the near by town of Pawling and have always shared dreams of art awareness , cultural centers and viewing spaces for fine artist's. We invited Gene Cadore a well established pastel/oil painter and Jeremy Wolff, a creative photographer and writer to join our newest adventure.
Since then, Front Street Gallery has successfully exhibited at least 10 exhibitions, initiated studio drawing and painting classes and most recently hosted a successful Artist Marketing Salon!