60 http://www.artistsmagazine.com
ask the experts BY SHELDON TAPLEY
Q. How can I distinguish between
a truly developed artistic style
that departs from conventions
and just plain bad painting?
A. You can’t—not without some
serious ef ort. h e answer to almost
everything challenging in art is sim-
ple, if not easy: spend a lot of time
looking. h at is, when you’re in front
of a puzzling work, stay there. Keep
looking. Spend more time looking
at the dii cult work than at the art
that immediately pleases you. Look
closely, so that your nose nearly
touches the challenging piece; back
away a little to see it whole; back
away a lot to get some distance; leave
the room and re-enter so you can get
another “i rst” impression. After this
peripatetic inspection, your brain
might benei t from giving your legs
a rest: Sit—on the l oor if no other
seat presents itself. If you get bored
or distracted, you’re not looking
hard enough. How long is enough?
Longer than you might expect.
Is someone else looking at the
work? If that person will join you
in conversation, listen to his or her
observations, but don’t rush to i ll
the air with your own because stat-
ing your thoughts tends to cement
your opinions. Just thank the other
observer, and keep looking.
Repeated visits to view an art-
work are priceless because they allow
the work to re-introduce itself, giving
you a second chance to shed any rash
judgments. Look also at other works
by the artist. Context and comparison
are the only way to i nd your bearings.
Reading about art is similar to
conversing with another gallery goer,
except that your interlocutor might
be a great critic, historian or artist. If
the work that puzzles you is historical,
there will be much information
available. If it’s contemporary, you’ll
at least i nd some exhibition reviews.
You may learn of other artists, those
who inl uenced or were inl uenced
by your vexatious artist. Look at the
work of those artists. h eir respect,
their work, matters.
If you look, read and converse,
you may or may not change your
response to a puzzling work, but
you will be a more thoughtful
viewer, more coni dent in your taste.
Your response may change slowly.
I now admire artists whose work I
once disliked, and my early love of
other artists’ work has sometimes
faded or waxed and waned over the
years. If you really want to know
what you think, try putting your
views into writing. Your reader’s
responses will test the strength of
your ideas, and what you write may
help even those with passionate
opinions to look again.
TRANSFER A DRAWING WITH A GRIDQ. I use the grid method when I
transfer my drawing to canvas,
but the elements in my painting
often seem too wide or too tall.
Can you give me a formula or
other method for getting the right
ratio and then explain how to use
that formula?
Suzan Lukas, Allison Park, Pa.A. When transferring an image from
a drawing to a canvas, the canvas
must have the same proportions as
the drawing. h at is, it must be the
same shape, even if it’s larger. To
dei ne the shape of your drawing,
you must determine its proportions—
or the ratio of its dimensions.
Let’s assume you have a
horizontal 12x16 drawing. Divide
the smallest dimension by the
largest: 12÷16=0.75 (or ¾). h at
number is the ratio of the two sides
of your drawing, and that ratio can
be applied to any canvas or panel
you might consider building or
buying.
You may wish to transfer your
drawing to an 18x24 canvas. h at
canvas yields the same ratio as your
drawing (18÷24=0.75). You draw a
grid of 1-inch squares on your draw-
ing. (Alternatively, you can make
a reusable grid with a i ne-point
marker on a clear plastic sheet, like
Grai x plastic i lm. h en you’d
attach the grid to your drawing with
removable artist’s tape.) To make a
grid with matching proportions on
your canvas, the one-inch squares
will have to be expanded. How
much? Divide the height of the
canvas by the height of the drawing:
18÷12=1.5. h us, the squares on the
canvas grid must be 1.5 inches high
and wide.
Let’s now suppose you want to
transfer that 12x16 drawing onto a
22x28 canvas. Rounded to the near-
est hundredth, that canvas has a
ratio of 0.79 (22÷28), which is close
to the shape of the 12x16 draw-
ing but not identical. Your drawing
won’t i t neatly onto that shape so
you’ll either have to crop your image
or add a little extra to it.
To i gure out how much you’ll
have to add to your image to make
it i t your canvas, multiply the ratio
of the drawing (0.75) by the longest
dimension of the canvas (28). In
this example, the answer is 21. h at
tells you that a 21x28 image will
be the same shape as your draw-
ing; you’ll have to add an inch of
invented image to the top or bottom
of your canvas.
Develop an Eye for Style