[Ramona Hornung]

[Ramona Hornung]

Ryokoseigo, stop beating yourself up. You are creative, all else is nonsense, each one of us is, naturally, and when someone is not it’s because something has come between  life’ s natural creativity and the soul of the person.  In that case, it’s a matter of developing trust, and letting go of control and healing that wound.

A few things I can tell you out of my experience, maybe they help.

Firstly, realize that you cannot be artist/creator and judge/critic all at the same time; these two are at war with one another. You let go of the critic so that you can “mess up” , because the critic is your rational mind, and it only knows what it has already encountered before and can recognize, whereas true creation is new, and the critic gets scared because it does not know if it’s good or bad, and it really really needs to judge things in these terms.

secondly, and it follows from the first, you let go of reason and calculation and control in order to create. What you do is engage deeply, without disturbances, with what you are just envolved in doing, with the tools and materials , you flow with each moment, you react to each mark you make  with the next mark… all this time, the critic gets gently pushed aside, and kept at distance; the day after, you can call him in for a “ critique” and hear what he has to say, but keeping in mind what I already mentioned about his natural fear and need to play it safe, support stuff it already knows.

thirdly, you must consider the development and change of your work as any other natural process, gradual, slow, in tiny increments, which will only show their direction in the long run. A rose bud, is very well different from the fully opened bloom, and the bud does not betray its potential. So, in practice, the one mark you make today, which looks to you like nothing much, as these disintegrating abstract marks in this piece, may be just the first step on a staircase, which in time, takes you somewhere new, a place you cannot even imagine now.  This is true creativity. If you know how your picture will look , if you drive for a specific outcome, then you miss the boat, you are a crafts person , not an artist.  What you strive for, I guess, the goal, is to express something that feels true to you.  So, you accept the marks you put down on the canvas and ask yourself, “what can I do to it now?”, always engage the work, always ask questions and be open to the answers which come through. When you hear it in your head :” oh, this does not look right, it’s a mess! “ recognize, this is a judgement, hence, it comes from the critic. Let your creative part intervene and ask a productive question like: “ I don’t like this, why? Is it the color? Is it its size?‘“  I hope you get the gist of what I’ m driving at.  Questions are welcomed!

I wish you well! And above all, patience.

[Ramona Hornung]

[Ramona Hornung]

[Ramona Hornung]

[Ramona Hornung]

[Ramona Hornung]

[Ramona Hornung]

[Ramona Hornung]

[Ramona Hornung]

[Ramona Hornung]

Good points there Zhi Su. The orange breast is intentional  I might say, it plays with the blues and violets I used also. As for the other orange-red patch, so and so, its intentional but is too strong, I noticed it also in the photo because the camera made it even more intense, I’ll have to reconsider my red patches I guess.  Thank you for pointing these things for me out! I went to the studio checked that red patch itself and it gave me an idea of how to get better photographs. I think I managed it, better at any rate. You guys have deserved better, now I’ll upload what are hopefully better photos. I don’t know if to delete the old ones, if these are better, and if, yes, if I can, and how.  We’ll see.

Thank you for your encouraging remarks, I’m so happy you found something there!

A tip for photographing, what I did—-hope someone else can benefit from this :  I brushed thinner on the painting to bring the sunken in surface back to life, then I placed the lights on the sides of the paintings, so that they skim the surface, rake on it, like the sun at the horizon, this apparently minimised the reflected light, and thus the glare.

lets see how the photos load up.

Again only one at a time 😢

[Ramona Hornung]

#ARTBEASTMODE, lol , 🙃. I suppose it’s suitable, especially as this is only some of the stuff I’m working on. I really took Steve’s advice to heart to do many beginnings and not worry about how to finish. Very wise advice.

[Ramona Hornung]

I feel that generally you could work with softer edges on the core shadows to gain more volume in the forms.  The girl’s legs for example, but also the entire front of the male figure. In the male figure’s face there is little difference between the cast and the turning shadows, the turning shadow on the chin for example, has almost as sharp an edge as the cast shadow from the nose.  And even where the form turns abruptly and the light is being reflected from a harder surface, as on the spine of the nose, there is still room for a bit of softens, blurriness … you could, even only pass with a soft brush the length of that edge as the paint is still wet to blur it a bit. Also I feel there is a bit to be gained from playing with the edges on the contour line of the male figure, the light side, say, if you were to selectively sharpen a bit the forearm on the light side, and make it contrast with the softer contour on the torso, which is further in space, that would gain you some pictorial space. What I mean is, there is yet variety  in edges and contours which you might explore.  But on the whole, it’s beautiful, your work, and I wish you well. Thank you for sharing.

[Ramona Hornung]

Now I finally have them all up ! I’ll try to not look at them at all, it’s painful what poor photography can do!
I propose NMA offers a course : “How to take good photos of your art with your iPhone”, I surely need it.

😳🙈😳🙈😳🙈

[Ramona Hornung]

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