A 5 by 7 inch oil painting on sheet canvas of President Barack Obama speaking.
Obama Speaks Portrait - Ebay Art Auction
A 5 by 7 inch oil painting on sheet canvas of President Barack Obama, happy.
Happybama - Ebay Art Auction
A 5 by 7 inch oil painting on sheet canvas of President Barack Obama looking determined and hopeful.
Obama Hopeful and Determined Painting- Ebay Art Auction
While at the Minneapolis Institute of Art a few weeks ago I took a very long look at Rembrandt's 1666 Lucretia. I wish I had done that earlier. Up close the painting surface is dismayingly ugly. It looks like a house painter's rag.
I've always had the idea that the surface of a canvas must be beautiful at any distance. I've tried since then to convince myself that Rembrandt's surface was attractive, and I just wasn't appreciating it. But it wasn't, and I haven't. From a foot away Lucretia looks like crap. Step back, and it's an amazing painting. The place where this transition happens is when the painting ceases to be seen as a physical object and instead implants itself as an idea.
Thinking about this saved the middle painting of the three posted above. I was very close to thrashing it when I thought of Lucretia (1666) and guessed I was being too precious with my lovely paint surface. So I forced the paint to do what I wanted, not caring about it's own integrity, and the painting became an image.
