Someday my prints will come

[Chris Bennett]

A couple of brand new paintings both 45cm x 35cm acrylic on gesso board.

I've also posted a number of paintings I'm considering trying out as prints. I've set them out as they would be printed with mount. Some of the paintings you have seen before, so apologies for that. But my reason for doing this is to ask you guys and gals if you could just spend a moment to say which one is your favourite.

I'll add up the votes (if I get any!) and it will be useful to figure out which ones I should print with my limited resources.....

[Chris Bennett]

OK here are the prints:
A quick "I like so-and-so" would be great. But any thoughts, crits are always welcome.

[SoufMeng]

OK here are the prints:
A quick "I like so-and-so" would be great. But any thoughts, crits are always welcome.

Your work is great and we all know that so I'll cut to the chase.
My vote:

1) Tournament: I think that's the best thing I've seen from you.

2) Mr Waterhouse's Girlfriend: It's an older one but still sweet.

3) No one but me: Nice if a little confusing at places.

Overall crit: The faces, I have a problem with most of them. Sometimes its the colours that are "dirty" (Huntress) or too much space between nose and chin (Tournament), no white in the eyes (Girl in white), pouting mouths (Time traveler; Races), weird perspective (Archer), unattractive for some reason (Girl and horse). I can just imagine how I would love what you do twice as much if the faces were flawless.

[Andrew Sonea]

SouMeng stole the words from my mouth--I agree with absolutely everything he said. I would also like to add Girl in White to the three SouMeng already picked out.

Anyways, great work. How large will the prints be? I almost like some of the detail pics more because you can see all the texture and brushwork.

[rattus]

archer
no one but me dear
huntress

[ArtEaters]

good colors, good to see something in this style here..

[Ryan_B]

They all look great Chris. Fantastic work.

Tournament is my personal favourite. The brushwork, texture, and colours work perfectly together.

[Colin Boyer]

Wonderful work. Such amazing shape design.

Edit: I think "No One But Me My Dear" is my favorite.

[MLutz]

I strongly disagree with SouMeng, I think the faces work well. Very vibrant and they have a presence that they might lack if they were "flawless".

Girl and Horse, Girl in White, Renishaw Hall, and No One But Me My Dear give me a huge composition boner.

NOBMMD in particular, maybe because the colors are more saturated than some of your other pieces? Not sure. I'm enjoying trying to pick out the relationship between the left and right half of that one, and the 'doubled' composition gives it great rhythm.

[dkvision]

I like all of them! So I am not help. LOL! I like the faces. I like the colors and tehy style. I would not change that about your work. Nice job!

[edub9]

No One But Me My Dear is beautiful. I like most of them but this one stand out far from the crowd. The color saturation and the vibrancy of it is amazing.

[Chris Bennett]

SouMeng: Many thanks for the feedback Sou, the faces thing is something that is really tricky since I am thinking of the abstract thrust of the thing as a whole and the faces get like that in the course of sorting some other thing out somewhere else on the painting. I'll then notice something is 'off' and then try and sort it out only for this to cause some other part of the painting to not balance up properly.....and so it goes on. I eventually have to stop and say that's the best I think it can look at the moment.

Andrew Sonea: Again, thanks for the feedback Andrew. The prints are on average 60cm x 50cm.

Rattus: Many thanks.

ArtEaters: Many thanks.

Ryan B: Thanks for the encouragement and feedback Ryan.

Colin Boyer: Thanks Colin, again for the encouragement and the feedback.

MLutz: That's great to hear Mlutz....I was beginning to think I perhaps not taking the best strategy with these paintings....that said I'm always trying to make the girls as appealing as possible, but without compromising the gravity of the painting as a whole.
Interesting to hear your appreciation of 'NO ONE BUT ME MY DEAR' - it is pretty close to what was going on in my mind in a formal sense. Thanks again.

dkvision: Many thanks DK, and for the encouragement.

edub9: Thank you. because of people's enthusiasm for this painting, I'm seriously thinking of entering it for the Royal Academy Summer Show in place of another painting I had in mind.


Thanks everyone for chipping in with your feedback and preferences. Anybody else with any thoughts are very welcome......it would be good to get a strong idea of what is going down well with this batch before I add more paintings to this thread.

[The Pariano]

I like " no one but me my dear", " waterhouse's girlfriend", "tournament", and " Girl in white".

Also, don't show us the details before you show the full composition! I find myself liking the details more that way! Although I will say the girl in tournament doesn't work very well without the horse. She's flat- and on her own it doesn't stand as successful without context.

[Beelow]

I do like "No One But Me My Dear". I love the saturations of the colors of this one. One thing that is a problem is that the comp is split in half with the vertical statue happening there. It competes with the main focus the woman looking at the statue, assuming that is focus of piece. I am not sure if that was intentional, but I do believe it hurts it a bit. I Love the softness of your brushwork though. Thanks for sharing Chris.

[Velocity Kendall]

i love the way you balance the weight of things.
its different from how i would do it and masterful
although sometimes the very strong vertical lines can resonate and break the images up a little, so the
broken up bits clash with the generally soothing tone
wonderful colours
5*

these are my favourites

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/att...4&d=1298287039

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/att...7&d=1298286802

[Chris Bennett]

Thanks for the 5 stars everybody, it's much appreciated.

The Pariano: Thanks for the feedback Pariano. Interesting what you say about the close-ups.....I kinda feel that way myself at times! Also intersting what you say about 'Tournament' - the whole problem to be solved with that painting was the relation between the girl and the horse, and the horse was changed many times along with everything else to solve this.

Beelow: Many thanks for your feedback my friend. In a sense there is no focus in the ordinary sense to 'NO ONE BUT ME MY DEAR'. It is really about a journey through the large formal gardens of a mansion - hence the close-up of the shoe and the 'out of' and 'back into' the painting from one side to the other. I tried to get all the little moments to add up to one viewing experience - but it seems I have not quite succeeded. I have attached a study for the painting along with a larger version of the original in case you prefer the composition of the study......which is in some ways better, some ways a tiny bit worse.

Velocity Kendall: Thanks for the interesting feedback Velocity, it's much appreciated. The strong vertical and horizonals or irregular boxes is a method I use to move from one environmental 'mood' to another...and although I try hard to use other means of doing this I am very often driven back to it in order to get the painting to 'work' or balance as a whole. I guess I have come closest with 'NO ONE BUT ME MY DEAR' which I have reproduced in its study form and final form for Beelow below....(hey that's kinda funny!)

STUDY 35cm X 45cm:



LARGE PAINTING 70cm x 90cm:

[Velocity Kendall]

youre gonna want to strangle me so i apologise in advance, but that study is my favourite thing of all. for me the shoe timeslice of the study is easier to read and that unlocks the whole sequence.. she looks down and her slipper on the stonework, cut to her view down the path, cut to a side shot her moving through the garden, (any order works) and it works really naturally.
the final image is less... flowy? sorry i cant explain better..i tried to draw on the pic how i like to look at it. i had to draw with mouse so sorry for the lumpy line
its a gorgeous image though. reminds me of that talking heads tune And She Was
And she was drifting through the backyard
And she was taking off her dress.
And she was moving very slowly
rising up above the earth.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ennetroute.jpg

[Colin Boyer]

I agree that the narrative reads better in the study because it's easier for me to see the relation of that large foot to the figure. However, I think the final is a stronger image because the foot in the study was competing with the figure, and the dark shape above leads the eye towards the figure in a more graceful way in the final.

Thank you for posting the study. I'd love to see more process work from you. Specifically from the thumbnail/ideation stage, for I think the decisions you've made in composing your shapes is the real genius behind these beautiful images.

Edit: looking at it again, the study reads to me more like comic panels, where I jump from one scene to the next to form a cohesive story and is a brilliant play with time and narrative in composition. I see now why Velocity likes it so much more. I suppose your solution to the dominance issue with the foot is the most graceful, but I think it did lose some of the impact of it being three separate views.

[Pavel Sokov]

For me it is Mr Waterhouse's Girlfriend.

Reason being is the simplicity, the beautifull blue, readability, and the ease of looking at it. It's like you made it so easy to love.

A second is obviously "no one but me my dear", everybody loves it, its a winner. The reason why I placed it second is because of the lesser ease of looking at it. It isn't soothing because of the bright and vibrant colors all over the place. I find the study of it a bit easier to look at.

Third:
Girl in white. Great textures and such, reminds me of Klimt.

Your work is unlike anything I have seen on Ca, deeply inspiring. You are the real deal. While a lot of great artists here might recieve weak feedback in galleries of the real world, I think you will dominate both the world of galleries and our virtual world of Ca.

I applaud that.

[tehmeh]

Hi Chris, you won't remember but you left a lot of words of advice and encouragement in an old sketchbook I had on CA years ago, which had a huge impact on me - and I had the pleasure of seeing a selection of your paintings at the Mall Galleries quite recently, hugely inspiring stuff.

My votes: huntress, girl and horse, aviator - I can't offer critiques but these are simply the ones I'd buy over the others as prints. Keep kicking ass!

[Chris Bennett]

Velocity Kendall: Very intiguing, it was tricky figuring out what you meant at first until I had a look at the diagram you kindly attached and it made things much clearer. Absolutely fascinating is the movement of that line of yours - because it describes the internal gesture of the painting extremely accurately. It's a gesture in space that the girl is making by jumping off the little stone plinth and rushing into the garden. It's the downward tread of that close-up of the foot which takes you on to the rest of the walk and its delights and its the trace of the comings and goings of the sunshine of that day from dawn to dusk. I hadn't realised it could be expressed this way until I saw your diagram. Many, many thanks for such interesting and thoughtfull feedback.

Colin Boyer: Yes, I think you and Velocity are reading the pros and cons of both very well and pointing out things that I had not properly taken stock of before, or realised I was doing. But they are very sound and helpful observations. My own particular take on things stopped short at the colour, which in some ways is better in the study even though it is less punchy and saturated....there is something more suprising about it, something a little more mysterious.
And special thanks for your kind words and encouragement, it is extremely appreciated.
Regarding your request for a few more process shots I have included the two I have at the end of this post for you by way of a warm thank-you for your and everybody else's interest in these images.

Pavel Sokov: Thank you for the feedback Pavel, it helps enourmously with the printing decisions and I really appreciate the time you and others have taken to drop by with your contributions. Those last couple of sentences on your post are wonderfully kind in their open hearted appreciation.
In many ways I envy the fantasy artists, but it is too late in the day for me to try and join them, I have to plough my own furrow in the gallery scene. But the community of CA has been astonishingly helpful to me in my work and its relevence across genres because the artistic concerns of people here are spoken of directly and frankly without obfuscating artspeak. I hope that my contributions in the other forums on this site have helped pay back the debt I owe.

tehmeh: I kinda remember it vaguely! It's funny but this has been said to me more than once by people who at the time I thought might just be dumping what I said in with all the other stuff they hear from everybody else.....only to be told much, much later that it had a profound effect. The latest was a fashion designer who is getting to be pretty successful who told me my words were a key turning point for her......well, I ain't that smart 'cos she's making 3 times what I earn!
Anyways, thank you for the feedback and your warm encouragement - it's great to hear you went to the ROI show at the Mall.
Took a look at your sketchbook - you have a marvelous talent and the hardworking ethic of yours is ripening up the results beautifully.

[Serpian]

I think Aviator is the weakest of these. Which is to say, all the other one's are lovely!

[Chris Bennett]

Serpian: Thanks Serps! Your support is always appreciated!

[OmenSpirits]

Time traveller!

My fav.

[kelly x]

Time traveller! is my fave too!! This one captures everything great about your art Chris, Hi Chris too by the way

[OmenSpirits]

Time traveller! is my fave too!! This one captures everything great about your art Chris, Hi Chris too by the way

Kelly X Sighting!

How you been?

[BenVanDen]

I enjoy your work.

[kelly x]

Yeah and now where's Chris, hahahahaha!!!!!

[Chris Bennett]

.....not far away Miss Kelly.

Omen Spirits: Many thanks for the feedback Spirits!

Kelly x: Hello Miss Kelly and thank you for your support and feedback, its good to see you again. 'Time Traveller' is also my favourite - so much so that I have kept it by me and never put it up for sale - as far as I am concerned you are absolutely right about it capturing everything about my work (from the structural stuff right across to this montage stuff)... You are a very perceptive young lady!

BenVanDen: Thank you, that's very kind of you.

[scrawnypaws]

Hey Chris,

it's...exciting to see you MOVING thru' the time, seriously. I remember your work from two years back and - well, I'm happy that you can do what you're doing - finding your own voice. A rare thing these days.
I wish I were rich so I could live my own dream - just stay stay at home and paint them good old Dutch still lifes, like the ones I'm trying to get my wife to work on.
Anyways, back to you. You were always very kind and civil in your comments, yet you wouldn't mince words either. Tit or tat.
Looks like you have a fairly good idea where you're going by now.
But you gotta make your choices pretty soon doncha? Can't be both Klimt and Lempicka (and coupla others you obviously like) at the same time. You'd need live models, too for the kind of thing you have in mind. Any false note or hesitation reduce the impact.
I'm just an old fashioned burned out husk of an old man, so.. hmm..we were taught that if the work has been changed more than 20% during the execution phase, the author hadn't do his/her homework. Remember the Grand Prx du Rome. They had to come up with a sketch first. It was sealed. Then they could finish the pic having access to models, props and such. Then the Jury would compare the prelim sketch to the final painting... Guess who would win
Anyways, just the old man's gripes. Keep going.