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Mike Dodson · 01-13-2009, 04:32 PM

I attended Marvin Mattelson's lecture "Everything I Know About Art I Learned at the Met" (I think that was the title) a few years ago and one statement he made really stuck with me. He mentioned that he was noticing, while at the Met, that the paintings in the museum seemed more alive than those who were viewing them. For those of us who consider ourselves "realist" painters, what is the key to accomplishing this? I find that trying to reproduce a life-like image means painting with a fair amount of neutrals with a little color added, but on the opposite end of the spectrum I see alot of "orange-flesh" paintings that seem cartoonish to me (even my own I must admit). Is this just a disciplined to be learned through trial and error or a matter of taste? Does this make sense?

01-13-2009, 04:32 PM	#1
Mike Dodson Juried Member Joined: Feb 2003 Location: Centreville, AL Posts: 306	Alive Flesh Tones I attended Marvin Mattelson's lecture "Everything I Know About Art I Learned at the Met" (I think that was the title) a few years ago and one statement he made really stuck with me. He mentioned that he was noticing, while at the Met, that the paintings in the museum seemed more alive than those who were viewing them. For those of us who consider ourselves "realist" painters, what is the key to accomplishing this? I find that trying to reproduce a life-like image means painting with a fair amount of neutrals with a little color added, but on the opposite end of the spectrum I see alot of "orange-flesh" paintings that seem cartoonish to me (even my own I must admit). Is this just a disciplined to be learned through trial and error or a matter of taste? Does this make sense?