Thank you for your generous teaching. I'm an elderly beginner with impaired eyesight who only sees the world now in shape and color. Your teaching has given me permission to embrace this limitation and to not worry about the details.
@@roxanndonahue3785 Look at some of Henri Matisse's paintings. There are plenty to choose from. Many people, me included, think he just might be the best painter of the 20th century. He definitely changed how the world looks. And he stopped worrying about precise brushstrokes. Let the paint do its thing. I'm an older painter, too. I've been painting since I was 5 and now I'm 67. Like my sister says, you don't want your art to look like a photograph, that's what cameras are for! haha This isn't my channel and Ian might not agree with me about all I've said. But I love this video, it's one of my favorites of Ian's :)
Delighted you liked the painting. The voiceover is done once off and I can generally make them coherent. But it's better than listening to me try and paint and talk at the same time!
I’m a retired commercial photographer, exploring art through a digital platform. Letting go of realism to give way to the abstract is surely my biggest challenge. Thank you for your approach to teaching art, and helping me to let go of all the details 😅
I like your statement “find the color put in the shape”. I even wrote it down. I just began painting 1 year ago and this gives me good guidance on how to take a scene and interpret it. Keep pushing into abstraction and making these videos, they are a treat! Maybe eventually I will get it!
Meandering through RUclips to find what she needs is like searching for that needle in the haystack. But then she hit gold, and this is exactly what she was looking for. Your channel has it all. Thank you 🙏
Excellent!! Your videos have taken me through Covid (every week I think?) and beyond. When I wake up on a Tuesday morning and find another video (or three) in my Inbox, I can't wait to make a coffee, sit down and watch. Your videos have helped me so much. I really appreciate your generosity and knowledge and experience and honesty. Molly in Canada.
Really neat exercise to kick us out of tight painting mode, seeing, recording too much detail. Love it. I started painting only multiple studies of the same still life objects until I am cured of tight painting disease so I'm going to try this approach next time. Thank you.
Very useful indeed - especially helping the viewer to understand that the response to the two paintings at the beginning is a means to self understanding. The demonstration in the second part is a masterclass in miniature - we often fear using a big brush but it helps the simplification of the composition. Much as a love church spires they are a nightmare to paint and the 'Deus ex machina' obliteration has improved the composition greatly. Likewise you have eliminated the unsightly solar panels - bravo! I I have watched the video on tv at a distance and again on the computer close to - we do need distance and composition should choreograph how far back we should stand when looking at a painting.
Hi Ian, glad you enjoyed the video. It is really interesting point you bring up about painting distance (arm's length) and viewing distance (say 8-10 feet). We need to paint at one, going back to check the other periodically. One can get so caught up at painting distance and then stand back and realize you just spent 20 minutes on something you can't even so from 8 feet away. Thanks for your comment. Make me realize this would be a good topic one week.
Ian, great to see you walk the talk on the essence of abstraction, allowing ourselves to be content and satisfied with the 'sense of', when too many of us are way too caught up in details. Understand and work with the big blocks first, where, what and how they relate, because that builds a solid foundation for anything that follows. Thanks for your gentle and wise teachings.
I found that VERY interesting. Even if one wants to paint with more detail, it's really important to be able to determine those shapes to pull them out of the cacophony of detail, to get the image onto the canvas and have it look right proportionally and with perspective. I learn something with each video! Thank you.
Yes! Love how those simple shapes are so strong. I'm trying not to get lost in niggly shapes and this is a wonderful example and reminder. The colours you've chosen are so lovey too.
What a thoughtful, caring teacher you are. Thank you for sharing your beautiful art and your struggles as an artist. Very helpful analysis as always. THANK YOU. YOU ARE MUCH APPRECIATED.
love your work, and how you are able to take a complex subject and make it simple. I am struck with this painting that it has elements of Diebenkorn and Cezanne. I have been following you for years. Thank you.
HI Susan, both Diebenkorn and Cezanne were pushing this same abstraction idea weren't they? Delighted you are finding the videos helpful. With best wishes.
Excellent video, taking the steeple off was surprising. Good to remember not to get stuck with an idea. I've had your books for sometime and refer back to them so often. Thanks for your dedication.
thanks so much Marie. I'm not sure taking the steeple out made it better or not but it did show you can make the changes you want. As you say not being stuck because "the reference says"
Yes please, my I have so more? Like so many others here have found, you can make more sense and cement clearer and more USABLE content in 7-10 minutes than the hour or longer 'fiddling' of many others on RUclips. Thank You. A refresher on blocking in values would definitely be appreciated.
Hi Gerald, thanks for letting me know you are finding the videos helpful. I'm thinking next week's video will sort of address the blocking in values. I'll do that again one week when I do a larger painting. But next week I do three quick sketches in pencil simplifying everything into 3 values. Big simple block-ins. Best wishes.
"Find the color. Put in the shape." LOVE this!!! Omg. I'm a fast and furious abstract painter, and this is so helpful in overcoming my absolute DREAD of anything representational or realistic." Thank you Ian.
LOL, you said next Wednesday by mistake, but that is absolutely correct for me. I look forward to viewing each new video on my Wednesday morning here in Australia. Thanks for you insightful instruction.
Glad you are enjoying them down under Alan. I don't obviously shoot the videos on Tuesday morning and often shoot different segments on different days so I'm usually in a muddle between the day they are released and the day I am shooting. Best wishes.
I bought your book, Mastering Composition, in 2013 and was blown away at how useful it is. Thanks so much for writing it. Your RUclips videos are wonderful, and are also really informative. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge!
This was great! I do portraits mostly but in the times I've tried doing landscapes I tend to get lost in the details so this was wonderful - to see how larger shaped can be massed but still be recognizable.
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Thanks so much for your response! I wish I could show you my pastel paintings and get a critique - any thoughts about that? Your videos are really interesting and well done. Thanks!
I have been watching all your videos and your work is fabulous! I am an artist and my work is a little bit Hockney ...I paint pools and people swimming but I love how you always say everything has a shape and that is so true look at yhe shapes then add your darks and lights. I paint every single day! I sell some work and have won some awards for my work. So happy and fortunate to have this talent!
Loved how you simplified the shapes to an extreme especially with all of the buildings. And at the end took the steeple out completely. I would enjoy a lesson on mid-ground in paintings. I always seem to have the toughest time with this. And usually this is where the point of interest lies. Thanks Ian.
Fantastic demo this week. You're really making me think about my personal preferences for color intensities, brush strokes, level of abstractness, etc. Thanks!
Just so informative, Ian. I see how important the block in stage is. So much information is given in that stage. The painting makes sense or reads even that early on. Excellent instruction. Thank you.
Thank you Ian; that was very insightful. I'm going to borrow that exercise and possibly add a time limit to push myself even harder and farther. I think it's a great idea. Thank you again for your generosity.
I am so enjoying your weekly videos and the insight you give regarding seeing "shapes". I have been painting now for a little over 5 years and struggled with always trying to get everything to look so real nothing quite looked right. Now I find myself looking outdoors and seeing shapes and variations of colors and lights and shadows! Wow, so much easier to start a painting this way and take it so much further. Thank You So Much! I look forward to every Tuesday. And I also have watched your videos on my Artistis Network membership which is how I found you on utube.
Hi Julie, I am delighted you are getting a lot out of the videos. As you say it is much easier when you see shapes rather than bushes, and more bushes, and trees, and clouds and on and on ....
Very interesting. The farthest that I’ve seen you push abstraction, I think, in these videos - complete with rectangular clouds. :) And it all works, is engaging to look at with gradations of color, thoughtful textures like in the furrowed field, edges that make me slow down and look as in the trees, and the beautiful grasses in the foreground that are obviously different but don’t stand out too much, and I just keep looking at it all. There’s a lot for me to experiment with and learn from your videos (I’ve watched them all over the past month) and your book which I have skimmed through but will now work through. I’m still a beginner at drawing and watercolor and have lots to learn but am convinced that I need to spend effort on composition before every drawing or painting. I appreciate your efforts, Ian. Thank you.
It's a good point. I think there is a range of exploration. Times when you want to push into that discomfort. And times when you want to consolidate what you know. I think both serve their function on the path.
Thank you so much for your generosity demonstrative process. I have many years of painting in realistic and want to break through into abstract. from not quite sure how until saw your infomration and with one of your way now to experience.
I am going to try this painting tomorrow. I do way too much detail so I hope copying you will give me a feel for doing less. I bought your book and have been absorbed in it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and talent!
I really liked this video. Of course I like them all, but this form of abstraction is the direction that I have been wanting to take my own painting. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But I feel like it is such a strong way of painting. Less is more. Thank you for your wonderful tutorials!
I'm still catching up on some of your videos, all of which are packed with great nuggets of information. As I was watching, I started trying to figure out what I could paint to practice, trying to come up with local areas that I might could use as subjects. I realized that I have a phone full of pictures. I know it sound silly, of course I do, we all pretty much do, but what I hadn't considered is that while the pictures I have may not be great compositions in and of themselves, a little cropping and I have a library of images I can work with to practice doing block in paintings like this. So now I've been going through my old photos and started cropping and created a folder "to paint' that has a ready made list of subjects to work on.
So glad I watched this! I have so much concern over my lack of drawing skills, though the courses have helped. This kind of practice may help as well. Thank you. Grateful.
Fascinating. I really liked your analysis of where each of us are as artists on that scale of representational to abstraction and personal comfort levels with color vs. tonal, brushwork vs. smooth, simple vs. complex. And your own self analysis was helpful -- "I can only go so far until I sort of feel lost and confused...." Putting that into words is helpful. And then the importance of strong structure, wherever we are on that continuum. Excellent!
Thank you Ian. I have just bought your books as I am trying to become more aware of the shapes and colour of things rather than see detail. These short videos are incredibly helpful as I am a very visual person and learn better when I see how something is done rather than read the words.
Glad you like them you like the videos Sarah. I think working through the book and watching a reminder video each week probably is a good combination. Good luck.
Particularly enjoyed your comments at the beginning on the exploration of "direction of interest on where we want to go with our work", something I'd been struggling with. Thank you for the description on the "movement" of the journey of the painter. This week's painting also undergirded your comments quite well. Thank you.
Your videos are so helpful! You have a real gift for making your thought process visible. I just discovered your videos a few weeks ago and have been binge watching. Wish I’d found them earlier in the pandemic. Thanks.
I love the way you explain things! Great teacher- I’m going to try this I have been trying to become more abstract but have struggled. What a great exercise.
The way you expressed the building shapes was very helpful in understanding how to tackle a complicated subject in a simple but effective way.Thanks for sharing.
This was so helpful. I just got your Mastering Composition book and am very excited to delve into it. Your videos have completely changed the way I view the things I want to paint. I definitely have become much more discerning as it relates to design. Thanks for all you do!
I have been wanting to move to a more abstract style of painting for quite some time. I have done a good deal of reading and watched many videos about this subject. Your knowledge and explanation of how to achieve a more abstract effect is inspiring and helpful. I am now looking at good artwork in a more structured way and it is exciting to find all the important things that you have talked about in your lessons. Thank you for sharing with us your unique style. I am now painting with a more relaxed effort and achieving better results.
Thank you Ian for sharing these videos!!! They are most helpful and clear!! I've learnt a lot so far and you have helped me a lot to improve my painting... thank you again!!!
Thanks Ian.....VERY helpful video and I really like your finished painting. I have my 20 year old niece here and I am teaching her painting "ala Ian" . She has been enjoying your videos and doing very well. Hope you have a great trip through the canyon....sounds like it will be an awesome experience!!!!!
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition I love the peels at your finished paintings. They just POP! Thanks for spending all this time and effort teaching us. I got your book, too. Slow boat is better than no boat.
Your videos have given me so much insight into the processes of producing quality work, I only wish I could have had you for a mentor sooner. Thank you so much!
Thank you, Ian, for another informative video. I enjoyed this deeper push into abstraction and your resultant landscape painting at this stage. The way you faded the chroma of the left field into a lost gray edge is exemplary - shapes do not require definable edges on all sides. Simple sophistication. I also liked the lively stalks of grass in the lower left as visual relief from your broader planar shapes. On a minor note, there are a few adjustments you might want to consider: 1) the cluster of buildings and trees contains too many repetitive shapes (rounded squares and rectangles that are painted the same size); and 2) the palette of mixed-blue hues gives a cool cast to your entire landscape. No relief from blue (you'll see what I mean if you shrink the image of your painting). However you proceed with your painting, I am delighted to be able to look over your shoulder on Tuesdays and learn something new.
Hi Christine, I don't disagree with you on your assessment. I did that as a demonstration of the idea for the video. It isn't really a painting I'd try and pull together further. So I just moved on. I thought it might be interesting to do it larger, 24 x 40 say and then of course your suggestions would be apt, but I think I"ve moved on.
This reminds me of Mondrian and his journey into abstraction. His landscape and tree paintings progressively became more linear in structure and fractured. They are some of my favorite paintings.
Your thinking behind the paintings are equally, if not more important than the technique. It informs my think towards discovering a style to call my own. (This is an unsettled question for me as I like so many different styles.) Great job. Thank you. .
Hi Maria, I honestly think that is the value of these videos. The thinking behind the scenes so to speak. You can't just watch someone apply paint and expect to understand what's happening.
Thank you for your generous teaching. I'm an elderly beginner with impaired eyesight who only sees the world now in shape and color. Your teaching has given me permission to embrace this limitation and to not worry about the details.
Look at how many thumbs up you got on that comment! It is true though, if you only see the big shapes chances are that is all you will paint.
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Thank you. Hoping to put this new found gift into practice. Maybe the shaky hands will prove to be a gift as well.
@@roxanndonahue3785 Look at some of Henri Matisse's paintings. There are plenty to choose from. Many people, me included, think he just might be the best painter of the 20th century. He definitely changed how the world looks. And he stopped worrying about precise brushstrokes. Let the paint do its thing. I'm an older painter, too. I've been painting since I was 5 and now I'm 67. Like my sister says, you don't want your art to look like a photograph, that's what cameras are for! haha This isn't my channel and Ian might not agree with me about all I've said. But I love this video, it's one of my favorites of Ian's :)
By
I really like this painting. Love hearing your thinking as you paint.
Delighted you liked the painting. The voiceover is done once off and I can generally make them coherent. But it's better than listening to me try and paint and talk at the same time!
I love how you break up complex images into simple shapes yet convey the essence.
Thanks Dipak.
I’m a retired commercial photographer, exploring art through a digital platform. Letting go of realism to give way to the abstract is surely my biggest challenge. Thank you for your approach to teaching art, and helping me to let go of all the details 😅
I've been trying to break things down this way and your short video was so insightful. These short videos are real gems.
Really delighted you find them helpful Veronica.
I like your statement “find the color put in the shape”. I even wrote it down. I just began painting 1 year ago and this gives me good guidance on how to take a scene and interpret it. Keep pushing into abstraction and making these videos, they are a treat! Maybe eventually I will get it!
Glad you liked it Kathryn. All the best.
Thanks for giving us a perspective of how abstraction has evolved.
Meandering through RUclips to find what she needs is like searching for that needle in the haystack. But then she hit gold, and this is exactly what she was looking for. Your channel has it all. Thank you 🙏
Thank you so much. I appreciate your letting me know.
Excellent!! Your videos have taken me through Covid (every week I think?) and beyond. When I wake up on a Tuesday morning and find another video (or three) in my Inbox, I can't wait to make a coffee, sit down and watch. Your videos have helped me so much. I really appreciate your generosity and knowledge and experience and honesty. Molly in Canada.
Really neat exercise to kick us out of tight painting mode, seeing, recording too much detail. Love it. I started painting only multiple studies of the same still life objects until I am cured of tight painting disease so I'm going to try this approach next time. Thank you.
Hello Ian,
I could not have taken the steeple off. LOL
Thanks for your insight.
Larry
Hi Larry, it was my wife that made me do it! Best wishes.
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition hahaha its always the wife.....
This is so great thanks so much Ian! An eye opener!
Fantastic series, very visual!❤❤❤
Very useful indeed - especially helping the viewer to understand that the response to the two paintings at the beginning is a means to self understanding. The demonstration in the second part is a masterclass in miniature - we often fear using a big brush but it helps the simplification of the composition. Much as a love church spires they are a nightmare to paint and the 'Deus ex machina' obliteration has improved the composition greatly. Likewise you have eliminated the unsightly solar panels - bravo! I I have watched the video on tv at a distance and again on the computer close to - we do need distance and composition should choreograph how far back we should stand when looking at a painting.
Hi Ian, glad you enjoyed the video. It is really interesting point you bring up about painting distance (arm's length) and viewing distance (say 8-10 feet). We need to paint at one, going back to check the other periodically. One can get so caught up at painting distance and then stand back and realize you just spent 20 minutes on something you can't even so from 8 feet away. Thanks for your comment. Make me realize this would be a good topic one week.
Establish it...lay it in...leave it.....
I've been reprogrammed! Thanks!
Ian, great to see you walk the talk on the essence of abstraction, allowing ourselves to be content and satisfied with the 'sense of', when too many of us are way too caught up in details. Understand and work with the big blocks first, where, what and how they relate, because that builds a solid foundation for anything that follows. Thanks for your gentle and wise teachings.
Glad you found it helpful Steve. Best wishes.
Loved this lesson and the painting!!
I found that VERY interesting. Even if one wants to paint with more detail, it's really important to be able to determine those shapes to pull them out of the cacophony of detail, to get the image onto the canvas and have it look right proportionally and with perspective. I learn something with each video! Thank you.
Hi Maggie, glad each video adds something. Best wishes.
I love the phrase: "The alchemy of brush and paint."
Yes! Love how those simple shapes are so strong. I'm trying not to get lost in niggly shapes and this is a wonderful example and reminder. The colours you've chosen are so lovey too.
Glad you like it Karen. Thanks for letting me know.
What a thoughtful, caring teacher you are. Thank you for sharing your beautiful art and your struggles as an artist. Very helpful analysis as always. THANK YOU. YOU ARE MUCH APPRECIATED.
love your work, and how you are able to take a complex subject and make it simple. I am struck with this painting that it has elements of Diebenkorn and Cezanne. I have been following you for years. Thank you.
HI Susan, both Diebenkorn and Cezanne were pushing this same abstraction idea weren't they? Delighted you are finding the videos helpful. With best wishes.
I love how you show this technique of simplifying our work. I have struggled with this. Your demonstration is very helpful.
Excellent video, taking the steeple off was surprising. Good to remember not to get stuck with an idea. I've had your books for sometime and refer back to them so often. Thanks for your dedication.
thanks so much Marie. I'm not sure taking the steeple out made it better or not but it did show you can make the changes you want. As you say not being stuck because "the reference says"
Yes please, my I have so more? Like so many others here have found, you can make more sense and cement clearer and more USABLE content in 7-10 minutes than the hour or longer 'fiddling' of many others on RUclips. Thank You. A refresher on blocking in values would definitely be appreciated.
Hi Gerald, thanks for letting me know you are finding the videos helpful. I'm thinking next week's video will sort of address the blocking in values. I'll do that again one week when I do a larger painting. But next week I do three quick sketches in pencil simplifying everything into 3 values. Big simple block-ins. Best wishes.
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Thanks, looking forward to whatever is next.
Gracias Ian, muy interesante. Saludos.
"Find the color. Put in the shape." LOVE this!!! Omg. I'm a fast and furious abstract painter, and this is so helpful in overcoming my absolute DREAD of anything representational or realistic." Thank you Ian.
Thank you Ian , have a great week too!
Thank you teaching and giving of yourself so generously
LOL, you said next Wednesday by mistake, but that is absolutely correct for me. I look forward to viewing each new video on my Wednesday morning here in Australia. Thanks for you insightful instruction.
Glad you are enjoying them down under Alan. I don't obviously shoot the videos on Tuesday morning and often shoot different segments on different days so I'm usually in a muddle between the day they are released and the day I am shooting. Best wishes.
I bought your book, Mastering Composition, in 2013 and was blown away at how useful it is. Thanks so much for writing it. Your RUclips videos are wonderful, and are also really informative. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge!
Really happy you let me know that you enjoyed the book and the videos. Thanks for letting me know. Best wishes.
This was great! I do portraits mostly but in the times I've tried doing landscapes I tend to get lost in the details so this was wonderful - to see how larger shaped can be massed but still be recognizable.
Glad you found it helpful. You can of course do the same thing with portraits, the big masses of light and dark. Depends on the lighting.
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition Thanks so much for your response! I wish I could show you my pastel paintings and get a critique - any thoughts about that? Your videos are really interesting and well done. Thanks!
I have been watching all your videos and your work is fabulous! I am an artist and my work is a little bit Hockney ...I paint pools and people swimming but I love how you always say everything has a shape and that is so true look at yhe shapes then add your darks and lights. I paint every single day! I sell some work and have won some awards for my work. So happy and fortunate to have this talent!
Thank you for sharing. I'm getting a lot of knowledge from your videos.
Thank you for every video. These are a huge help as I’m getting into painting. Thank you!
Well, Im encouraged to give it a go
Loved how you simplified the shapes to an extreme especially with all of the buildings. And at the end took the steeple out completely.
I would enjoy a lesson on mid-ground in paintings. I always seem to have the toughest time with this. And usually this is where the point of interest lies. Thanks Ian.
Glad you found it helpful Robin. Best wishes.
Super instruction thank you Ian
Ian, your exploration of abstraction is a wonderful gift. Thank you.
HI Jane. Thanks so much and best wishes to you.
Fantastic demo this week. You're really making me think about my personal preferences for color intensities, brush strokes, level of abstractness, etc. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful Tom.
Just so informative, Ian. I see how important the block in stage is. So much information is given in that stage. The painting makes sense or reads even that early on. Excellent instruction. Thank you.
Was so helpful watching you demonstrate!
Thank you Ian; that was very insightful. I'm going to borrow that exercise and possibly add a time limit to push myself even harder and farther. I think it's a great idea. Thank you again for your generosity.
I am so enjoying your weekly videos and the insight you give regarding seeing "shapes". I have been painting now for a little over 5 years and struggled with always trying to get everything to look so real nothing quite looked right. Now I find myself looking outdoors and seeing shapes and variations of colors and lights and shadows! Wow, so much easier to start a painting this way and take it so much further. Thank You So Much! I look forward to every Tuesday. And I also have watched your videos on my Artistis Network membership which is how I found you on utube.
Hi Julie, I am delighted you are getting a lot out of the videos. As you say it is much easier when you see shapes rather than bushes, and more bushes, and trees, and clouds and on and on ....
Yes this skill augments your focus of Mastering Composition very well.
You are a good painter and generous teacher.
Very interesting. The farthest that I’ve seen you push abstraction, I think, in these videos - complete with rectangular clouds. :) And it all works, is engaging to look at with gradations of color, thoughtful textures like in the furrowed field, edges that make me slow down and look as in the trees, and the beautiful grasses in the foreground that are obviously different but don’t stand out too much, and I just keep looking at it all. There’s a lot for me to experiment with and learn from your videos (I’ve watched them all over the past month) and your book which I have skimmed through but will now work through. I’m still a beginner at drawing and watercolor and have lots to learn but am convinced that I need to spend effort on composition before every drawing or painting. I appreciate your efforts, Ian. Thank you.
So satisfying! Thank you.
That point on the scale where the artist starts to feel uncomfortable and lost is where we learn the most about ourselves and the art being created.
It's a good point. I think there is a range of exploration. Times when you want to push into that discomfort. And times when you want to consolidate what you know. I think both serve their function on the path.
Wow! I love this idea!
This lesson shows me exactly what I have been wanting to do. Thank you so much, Ian. I am so glad I found you on RUclips a few weeks ago.
Glad you found the channel too Irina. Best wishes.
Thank you so much for your generosity demonstrative process. I have many years of painting in realistic and want to break through into abstract. from not quite sure how until saw your infomration and with one of your way now to experience.
I love the Picture! It is quite appealing!
I am going to try this painting tomorrow. I do way too much detail so I hope copying you will give me a feel for doing less. I bought your book and have been absorbed in it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and talent!
I really liked this video. Of course I like them all, but this form of abstraction is the direction that I have been wanting to take my own painting. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But I feel like it is such a strong way of painting. Less is more. Thank you for your wonderful tutorials!
Look forward to my Tuesday sessions. You give us all a goal to keep in mind.
That's great Diana. Thanks.
This is what I’ve wanted to hear,and see,and feel . It’s so real.
Thank you Leo. Delighted you are enjoying them.
Love your style and relaxing voice😊
Thank you and All the best.
I'm still catching up on some of your videos, all of which are packed with great nuggets of information. As I was watching, I started trying to figure out what I could paint to practice, trying to come up with local areas that I might could use as subjects. I realized that I have a phone full of pictures. I know it sound silly, of course I do, we all pretty much do, but what I hadn't considered is that while the pictures I have may not be great compositions in and of themselves, a little cropping and I have a library of images I can work with to practice doing block in paintings like this. So now I've been going through my old photos and started cropping and created a folder "to paint' that has a ready made list of subjects to work on.
So glad I watched this! I have so much concern over my lack of drawing skills, though the courses have helped. This kind of practice may help as well. Thank you. Grateful.
Fascinating. I really liked your analysis of where each of us are as artists on that scale of representational to abstraction and personal comfort levels with color vs. tonal, brushwork vs. smooth, simple vs. complex. And your own self analysis was helpful -- "I can only go so far until I sort of feel lost and confused...." Putting that into words is helpful. And then the importance of strong structure, wherever we are on that continuum. Excellent!
Hi Ralph, glad you found that helpful. And thanks again for your sound input this week. Best wishes.
great impact! love the idea of pushing the shapes to the most abstract version!
Glad you like it Lisa
Excellent. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. It’s really very helpful 😊
Thank you Ian. I have just bought your books as I am trying to become more aware of the shapes and colour of things rather than see detail. These short videos are incredibly helpful as I am a very visual person and learn better when I see how something is done rather than read the words.
Glad you like them you like the videos Sarah. I think working through the book and watching a reminder video each week probably is a good combination. Good luck.
Thank you very much for your lessons they are always very helpful for me.
Particularly enjoyed your comments at the beginning on the exploration of "direction of interest on where we want to go with our work", something I'd been struggling with. Thank you for the description on the "movement" of the journey of the painter. This week's painting also undergirded your comments quite well. Thank you.
HI Mary, so glad you found the video helpful. And the direction of interest seems a constant engagement for me. Where to next?
Absolutely beautiful technique - love your work and explanations 🙏🏻
Thanks so much 😊
Brilliant! This is one of your best so far, you make it look so simple yet it’s very difficult to think simple!
I really think it is about how we see. You know right brain stuff. Seeing in shapes. I'm delighted you enjoyed it.
Your videos are so helpful! You have a real gift for making your thought process visible. I just discovered your videos a few weeks ago and have been binge watching. Wish I’d found them earlier in the pandemic. Thanks.
HI Susan, I like you expression "making your thought process visible". I like that idea. Glad you are enjoying the videos. Best wishes.
Brilliant! So simple! Thank you!
Glad you like it Audrey.
I love the way you explain things! Great teacher- I’m going to try this I have been trying to become more abstract but have struggled. What a great exercise.
I'm delighted you found it helpful. Thanks so much.
Love your lessons in a nutshell. Thanks!
Glad you like them Margaret.
Fantastic job, Ian! Thanks for sharing!!
Glad you enjoyed it Joani.
The way you expressed the building shapes was very helpful in understanding how to tackle a complicated subject in a simple but effective way.Thanks for sharing.
Glad you found that helpful Joyce.
Thank you. I love your lessons. They are so clear and so helpful. I have recommended your channel to many.
Glad you like them and thank you for recommending them!
This was so helpful. I just got your Mastering Composition book and am very excited to delve into it. Your videos have completely changed the way I view the things I want to paint. I definitely have become much more discerning as it relates to design. Thanks for all you do!
Really glad to hear it. Delighted you are finding the videos helpful.
I have been wanting to move to a more abstract style of painting for quite some time. I have done a good deal of reading and watched
many videos about this subject. Your knowledge and explanation of how to achieve a more abstract effect is inspiring and helpful. I am
now looking at good artwork in a more structured way and it is exciting to find all the important things that you have talked about in your
lessons. Thank you for sharing with us your unique style. I am now painting with a more relaxed effort and achieving better results.
HI Carole. Makes me happy to hear how you enjoying the videos.
I really appreciate you making these videos 🫶🏼
Thank you Ian for sharing these videos!!! They are most helpful and clear!! I've learnt a lot so far and you have helped me a lot to improve my painting... thank you again!!!
You are very welcome Diana.
This is an amazing demo!!!
Thanks so much Paresh.
Thank you. Am glad I found your videos. Interesting!
Glad you found the videos too Antonia. Best wishes.
Thanks Ian.....VERY helpful video and I really like your finished painting. I have my 20 year old niece here and I am teaching her painting "ala Ian" . She has been enjoying your videos and doing very well. Hope you have a great trip through the canyon....sounds like it will be an awesome experience!!!!!
HI Ramona. Show and tell on the next call. Best wishes.
Brilliant demo thinking of shapes
Thank you very much for your lessons they are always very helpful for me
LOVE this freedom!
Hi Sally. Glad you liked it.
I miss the steeple! It took my breath away when it disappeared! Just lovely! Thanks!
I don't think you're alone on the steeple. But some said wow you can do that! and that in itself seemed a useful lesson. Glad you enjoyed the video.
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition I love the peels at your finished paintings. They just POP! Thanks for spending all this time and effort teaching us. I got your book, too. Slow boat is better than no boat.
Peeks not peels LOL
Amazing how the blocks of paint come to life.....
Thank you very much.
Your videos have given me so much insight into the processes of producing quality work, I only wish I could have had you for a mentor sooner. Thank you so much!
Hi Steven, delighted you are getting a lot out of the videos. Thanks for letting me know. Best wishes.
Thank you, Ian, for another informative video. I enjoyed this deeper push into abstraction and your resultant landscape painting at this stage. The way you faded the chroma of the left field into a lost gray edge is exemplary - shapes do not require definable edges on all sides. Simple sophistication. I also liked the lively stalks of grass in the lower left as visual relief from your broader planar shapes. On a minor note, there are a few adjustments you might want to consider: 1) the cluster of buildings and trees contains too many repetitive shapes (rounded squares and rectangles that are painted the same size); and 2) the palette of mixed-blue hues gives a cool cast to your entire landscape. No relief from blue (you'll see what I mean if you shrink the image of your painting). However you proceed with your painting, I am delighted to be able to look over your shoulder on Tuesdays and learn something new.
Hi Christine, I don't disagree with you on your assessment. I did that as a demonstration of the idea for the video. It isn't really a painting I'd try and pull together further. So I just moved on. I thought it might be interesting to do it larger, 24 x 40 say and then of course your suggestions would be apt, but I think I"ve moved on.
Marvelous! Excellent explanation and demonstration. I liked the steeple, but it’s a different painting with it in, and this is great also.
This reminds me of Mondrian and his journey into abstraction. His landscape and tree paintings progressively became more linear in structure and fractured. They are some of my favorite paintings.
Hi John, I'm sure you've seen his trees just step by step getting more and more abstract until well Broadway Boogie Woogie.
You make it look so easy! But this episode was really brilliant!
Thanks so much Patricia.
Very nice abstraction, thx😊
So beautifully explained..
I really like the look of this. I’m going to give this a shot this week.
Great. Good luck.
I really liked your painting, Ian - everything was bathed in light. Interesting to watch how you pushed through. Jane/Oxford
Thanks Jane. Glad you liked it.
As always Ian, wonderfully helpful video. I am learning so much from your videos!! Thank you!!
Great to hear Jan. Thanks.
Your thinking behind the paintings are equally, if not more important than the technique. It informs my think towards discovering a style to call my own. (This is an unsettled question for me as I like so many different styles.) Great job. Thank you.
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Hi Maria, I honestly think that is the value of these videos. The thinking behind the scenes so to speak. You can't just watch someone apply paint and expect to understand what's happening.