“Clematis” 30 x 40, Oil

When I have been most moved and impressed by artwork, music, or any expressive art form, it has been when the work has first grabbed my soul with its poetry, then amazed my mind in its structure and construction.

Throughout my development as a visual artist, I have found my greatest struggle in the making of art is to balance the crafting of accurate, solid forms while retaining the lyrical nature of the visual world. So often in my efforts to capture the exactness of what I am seeing, I lose the poetic beauty and essence of the elegant, peripheral line.

For me, the balance comes when I can relax enough while in the throws of building the solid structure of the forms to absorb and feel the rhythm before me. Certainly this comes with experience, but to be aware of the end goal during the early stages of development is critical in not becoming too stiff in your approach. While working and studying the subject, to feel the connectedness of the forms, the living, breathing life of our subject makes a clear difference to me in the end result. I have found that it is having faith that the poetry will come and manifest itself if I am true to the beauty and strength of the construction, being careful not to overthink the problem.  Allowing all of your senses to take part in the mechanical process is the beginning of where the poetry begins.

I wish you great success as you strive to bring your paintings to life in poetic strength!

To view more work by Daniel Gerhartz, please visit http://www.danielgerhartz.com

Dan Gerhartz will be the Judge of Awards for the 2020 NOAPS Small Painting National Juried Exhibition at the McBride Gallery in Annapolis, Maryland April 5-May 3, 2020.  Dan will also conduct a 4 day workshop, “Training the Eye to See”.  To sign up for the workshop go to www.noaps.org.

Written by Daniel Gerhartz, 12-19-2014