Bob Rohm - The Painterly Approach: An Artists Guide To Seeing, Painting And Expressing

The Painterly

Approach

An Artists Guide to Seeing, Painting and Expressing

Bob Rohm

NORTH LIGHT BOOKS
CINCINNATI, OHIO
www.artistsnetwork.com

The Painterly Approach: An Artists Guide to Seeing, Painting and Expressing. Copyright 2008 by Bob Rohm. Printed in Singapore. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by North Light Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45236. (800) 289-0963. First Edition.

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Rohm, Bob.

The painterly approach : an artists guide to seeing, painting and

expressing / by Bob Rohm.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-58180-998-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)

ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-650-1 (EPUB)

eISBN: 978-1-60061-650-1

1. Painting--Technique. I. Title.

ND1500.R58 2008

751--dc22

2008005538

EDITOR: Kelly C. Messerly
DESIGNER: Brian Roeth
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Matt Wagner

About the Author

Bob was born and raised in central Pennsylvania and has been painting for most of his life. He received formal art training at the York Academy of Arts in Pennsylvania. After graduating, he painted part time as he followed a career in film and video production that eventually led him to reside in Texas. He has been painting full time since the early 1990s.

Bob juries shows, teaches workshops, lectures and demonstrates in oil and pastel mediums. Known for his expressive brushwork and an ability to capture the poetry of light, he has received many awards and is a signature member of several art organizations, including the Pastel Society of America and Oil Painters of America. He has been featured in several books and periodicals, including Southwest Art, American Artist, The Artists Magazine, The Pastel Journal, International Artist and Pure Color, published by North Light Books.

METRIC CONVERSION CHART

ART ON COVER

TRANQUIL ILLUMINATION

Oil on linen panel

18" 24" (46cm 61cm)

ART ON

YELLOW TREES

Oil on linen panel

24" 18" (61cm 46cm)

LAKESIDE COLOR
Oil on linen panel, 18" 24" (46cm 61cm)

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the many artists and teachers who so graciously shared their knowledge with me. To Albert Handell, who taught me so much and continues to inspire me; and especially to my teacher, mentor and good friend Ann Templeton. Those of us who are fortunate enough to know Ann treasure her.

I also want to thank Jamie Markle, Publisher, for his guidance and recognition of this book project; Kelly Messerly, Editor, for her help in organizing my materials and editing my rambling words; and Michael Chesley Johnson for his help developing and writing the concept for this book.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my son David, daughter Kelly, and especially my wife Lynn, who has encouraged and supported me in my passion and pursuit of painting.

table of contents

Discover the materials and equipment necessary for a painterly approach.

Bring a natural and emotional feeling to your work.

The keys to using composition, value, color and mood in a painterly way.

How you construct a painting determines your success in executing your idea.

Painting is a series of choices: what to see, what to include, how to represent it and how to express it.

introduction

MARSH PATH

Oil on linen panel

8" 12" (20cm 31cm)

Painterly is a term that is used far too widely and often incorrectly when describing art. It seems that drawing is somehow considered a lesser form of fine art. The first thing that I want you to clearly understand is that it is not lesser in any way. It is just different. Painterly and drawing are the two basic approaches to creating art. Each is equally valid. Every approach you have ever heard about is a variation or combination of these two.

My hope is for you to understand the differences between the two and find a balanced approach for your own work. More has been written and taught regarding the drawing approach, probably because it was the way of the Old Masters and it is where we start as children with crayons and coloring books, filling in accurate and unchangeable outlines instead of creating relationships of masses.

Drawing is a linear approach to creating a painting with an emphasis on the exactness of the subject contours and form. The painterly approach is a shape and mass approach. There are almost as many variations and combinations of these two as there are artists. No matter how you work, the starting point should be based in one or the other of these two concepts with a clear understanding of the difference. Then you will choose to use one or the other from a position of knowledge.

The painterliness and poetry of painting is how we use line, edges and masses to suggest and express ourselves as artists. As with literature, the poetry of painting suggests rather than fully describes the subject as in a textbook or technical manual. A work started in a linear approach can be finished in a painterly and poetic manner by loosing edges and definition, causing the viewer to become engaged in thought and in the interpretation of the subject and mood.