Advice from William Paxton

[Linda Brandon]

I'm looking at an old book about the artist William MacGregor Paxton and I thought I'd type out the maxims on the first page of the book, written by Paxton in 1901:
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Let the surfaces flow into one another in a supple envelope of light and paint.

Find a new motive.

Make the picture look as if it were painted in one sitting.

Paint as large a piece as possible at once.

Never paint on one piece too long at a time.

Do something somewhere else to rest your eyes.

Paint neither too thickly nor thinly.

The quickest way is the best.

Compose by masses of light and dark or dark and light.

Chiaroscuro is what makes pictures rich.

Seek a noble and ample design.

Make the objects swim in the air.

Paint all things in relation to the focus.

[Allan Rahbek]

This is all so true and if it was understood one would paint like the masters.
How about illustrating the maxims one by one?

[SB Wang]

http://www.artnet.com/artwork/424473...-s-morgan.html
http://www.artnet.com/Artists/LotDet...378481676B68EE

[Linda Brandon]

Originally Posted by Allan Rahbek

This is all so true and if it was understood one would paint like the masters.
How about illustrating the maxims one by one?

I hope you're not asking ME to do this, Allan.
They all look hard to me. For example, the only way I can make "objects swim in the air" is to toss the painting across the studio.

[Linda Brandon]

I was trying to be slightly humorous in my prior post, but if you want to know the truth, I have been thinking for a long time about the concept of beauty and how to adjust painterly technique to enhance that quality. My current thinking is that beauty is essentially a fluid concept and strength/ truth is essentially a solid concept. Since Paxton loved to paint beautiful women, he used words like 'flow' and 'swim' as metaphors for the quality he sought to express that went beyond the rendering or the more photographic, literal qualities of reality.

I don't know if the paragraph above makes a lot of sense; in fact, I will probably come back and change it later.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Originally Posted by Linda Brandon

My current thinking is that beauty is essentially a fluid concept and strength/ truth is essentially a solid concept.

What a fascinating idea!

It occurred to me that the idea of making objects "swim in the air" might have something to do with the interaction between figure and ground. So as not to repeat myself (as my kids tell me I do) I'm going to post this link to one of my long and rambling thoughts.(wish I could be as succinct as you, Linda!)
http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...8558#post68558

There's a great thread in this forum somewhere about composing in masses of dark and light, or value massing, by Peggy Baumgaertner. I'll try to find it and post a link.

Here's the link;
http://forum.portraitartist,com/show...hlight=massing

[Allan Rahbek]

Linda,
I was actually trying to be slightly serious I did not address it to you alone, but to all members.

Those maxims seem to cover all the aspects of painting like the masters, so if we joined our common knowledge, here on the forum, we might be able to define to meaning of every single rule set up by Paxton.

Alex made a fine example with "backgrounds" I believe that it must be possible to define the maxims by words and examples if we put our minds to it.

I will attach an example that, in my understanding, illustrates "flow" - how one area flows into another.

"Beauty"should not be one single element in the portrait (the person) but should be supported by the way the the whole picture is painted.

I really look forward to a concentrated and serious attempt to solve this topic.

Happy New Year to all.

[Linda Brandon]

Allan, what an interesting Paxton you posted - observe all those undulating, wavelike flowing lines. This also strikes me: if you turned her arms over, she would be cradling her arms as you would rock a baby. Paxton's women are always so ladylike and soothing, whereas Sargent's women usually have some dangerous edge somewhere,

Alex, what an interesting discussion about backgrounds! I've always felt that Sargent used a very subtle form of cartoonist's movement lines to show life in his subjects; depicting light radiation is another version of this.

[Richard Bingham]

Linda, that list of Paxton's are going to be my New Year's resolutions! (and I've already broken several) Thanks for posting that, and for reminding me of Paxton, whose comps I generally consider lyric! Great stuff!

[Mike McCarty]

"Let the surfaces flow into one another in a supple envelope of light and paint."

To me "flow" has to do with edges, the edges that appear and disappear, flowing the properties of one passage into another. This also has much to do with the control of focus:

"Paint all things in relation to the focus."

Establishing a focal point and a hierarchy of interest through the use of edges, contrast and light.

Regarding backgrounds, I once asked a question of John de la Vega and got this response:

[QUOTE]Re backgrounds: you