[Matthew]

Hey guys

Just 4 years ago I could never have guessed that I would be all caught up in painting and doing the thing that I do now, being at an art-school and all.
Don't think there is anything that can describe the kind of joy that I feel when I paint, I wish the feeling could be described but as you guys probably feel too when u paint there is no feeling that can describe it.

There are many different roads in the quest to achieve good art and most of the time I am confused, teachers telling u to do this and do that, in the end though I have to trust my path though and yea it is risky as spooge said once.
Anyway, these are some of me latest oils and one mountain pic beneath that I started out during the summer 2004, treating that one in layers so it will probably take forever to finish it.

Let me know what u think about these paintings, I know there are a lot of things that could be fixed in these paintings and they are not finished but I thought some comments and critique from u guys could help me out in me later paintings and for these paintings aswell.

And don't be afraid to critique, I would like to hear any kind of critique.


This piece I did yesterday, painted from life-model with one of the older teachers that is at the school at some times helping out and yea sitting as a model.




first try of the same model, a couple of days before that piece above.





This is the mountain pic I talked about, think I used ref for that first sketch but I can't remember for sure. Lots of layers to be treated in this one and too bad cause I didn't treat it right in the first layers which is probably thicker than the layers above, oh well, I am mostly experimenting with this one.






This is the thing where me heart lies, no ref used, which is the thing that me teachers don't like at all. They think I should focus my painting into life and still-life painting and yea I do agree to a certain degree but sometimes you just have to do these kind of paintings.
I don't think they understand how important it is to be able to solve things without ref or original.
Some students can't even draw their own hands but still they have the guts to point out my mistakes in the drawing of me paintings, well there is a conspiracy I tell u, but, I don't mind that much though cause the biggest critique-thinking has to lay with the artist himself, I believe in that but what do I know.




Still-life, this one needs more work.





This was for an assignment in school and the project was elements, mine was soil (dirt), hmm is that the right word?
Mostly a texture experiment from my side and made with hobby colors that me mother found in the attic at my parents home, I thought hehe, what the hell it could work.
The very rough area in the middle is old newspapers.
I treated it in an half-abstract way to please the teachers for once but I don't think they liked it, it is supposed to be a pile of dirt with a big shovel in it, and yea the houses, hmm not sure why I added houses really.


ok I will be back in about 2 days to reply in this thread.

Let me know what you think guys, sorry about the long rambling but I guess I felt a bit talkative today *snif.

thanks for looking.

[AdamMiller]

i tend to like your stuff without ref a bit more than your work from reference personally. i know i probably shouldn't encourage you but i cant help it, just so much more interesting. aside from that, your second attempt at that model was much more of a success in my eyes. will be kind of interested to see how that mountain piece turns out but from the way you describe it, it will probably be a bit longer. i want to see some more of your gouache too they are always so vibrant. okay im almost done. what art school do you go to? okay done.
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[Heysoos]

nice work matthew. one critique I can think of is in your landscape paintings the paint gets a bit mushy and unstructured like in the trees and mountains. Try breaking things down more into more abstract graphic-like shapes, kinda like what you do in your figure studies. This is one of the main reasons why teachers like students to work from some sort of reference, so they can learn to translate what they see into abstract shapes. I think you should Keep doing stuff from your head too though, because thats where a lot of your more personal work will come from and will eventually evolve into your main "vision", or theme. Don't shy away from getting reference for those too though, like if your painting a boat you should have some pictures of boats to look at even if your not copying straight. Theres always a bit of a tendency to make things look kinda generic when your just working from memories and imagination. I worked from my head a lot when I was in school and had to put up with the same comments from teachers, after you get skilled enough to pull it off convincingly they won't complain so much (well some might. ). Good work.
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[Tomasis]

thank you for posting your works. you're my idol

[Chruser]

"Some students can't even draw their own hands but still they have the guts to point out my mistakes in the drawing of me paintings"

It's not fun to hear complains, but when you say they point out your mistakes, I think you should at least listen to it, assuming it is useful advice. I know very well that it sucks to work on a piece for hours, and then have someone say "I think you got the foundation wrong, you should have kept it lighter" when you try to do something with watercolour. It sucks to not be able to do anything about it either but to start over, but really, I'm grateful for any advice that opens up my eyes and makes me a better painter. I know very well it helps me in the long run.

On the other hand, there are those who say "Yeah, real nice work... NOT! That's ugly!" or something to that extent. I frankly don't care if they say this out of jealousy or because they simply lack constructive criticism, I just try not to take it to heart, but GOD DO I HATE when people do that. Likewise, if someone praises me, it feels kind of like I get clouded in my mind, thinkng I'm better than I really am, or should be, hence hindering my improvement. It's a jungle out there. I wish people could just point out my actual mistakes more often.

Ugh. End rant.

About the paintings, I really, really like the boat painting. It has so much imagination and life trapped inside that... Well, really awesome work! I think your work takes a different turn when you're forced to do something. It's not bad, but it lacks "that little extra", which is the stench of vividness your other work offers.

I'm sure your art teachers have helped out a lot too, but you make it sound like they really urge to kill your creativity off, and copy things according to certain models. And it does seem kind of awful when someone tells you "don't do that, it's wrong", because there isn't often someone around who can tell you otherwise.

I thought I said end rant earlier. I guess it didn't work too well.

And I can draw my hands somewhat well, so I hope you'll at least listen to my ramblings.
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[Naeem]

matthew, i love ALL of the paintings. they're really really good i must say!
if i had to chose my favorite, i would choose the no ref. one with the ship. the colors r just the kind of colors the ancient masters used in their paintings. its very nicely done. good job!

[Max]

nice stuff. I really love the shoe in the 5th one.
Can't critique because I have never painted with oils so far
Juts keep up the good work!!

[jr]

mathew these look muddy and m ilky, you should try to use less black and white in your mixing, also wipe the brush clean after you make a few strokes that way you get fresh color every time. also focus on w hat you're painting and not too much on just painting, oil is fun but it's more than just piling on paint. it's drawing form too. keep at it!
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[Matthew]

ok I'm back a bit late in me thread, sorry about that.

Many thanks for all the nice comments and crits here people, I will certainly try to shape up more with me oil-painting.
It was really necessary to just focus on me oils instead of keep doing digital on the side, that way I would have never learned the oil medium, and I still have millions of mileage to do with oils.

I saw something about that hand critique I mentioned above, too many things to evolve about that subject but I can tell u I am not afraid of critique given to me these days and I really encourage it when I post so if any of you have any more critique to give I would be really grateful.
I agree about above mention things, they are muddy and the shapes could have been better,*snif, those things are so easy digitally and when it comes to oil I am having hell.

ok I am not singeleing anyone out.
Thanks again for the comments, have a nice weekend everyone.
M

[Bg]

Hi Matthew,

Just dropping by to say that I love the ship on sea painting, brings back warm memories of John McTiernan's 13th Warrior! The film's visuals had that same strong and powerful look to them.
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[[666]Flat]

Hi mate, looks like you still keep going. Maybe you just should spice up the painting themes of yours a lill.


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[Matthew]

Many thanks again there I really appreciate it.

Bg, yea that's a great movie, thanks again for your continuing support.

Flat, u naughty man, thank you for your comment.

see you
M