Bromley Art Society Bringing Artists Together since 1947

On a recent weekend I visited two art exhibitions, one put on by my local art club and the other by a group of professional artists. On thinking about them afterwards I realised that whilst the amateur show had many 'nice' paintings, and showed a high level of painting ability, the professional show had many more paintings that had that 'wow' factor that made more impact. They claimed your attention, even though you might not actually like them. I have tried to work out why the pro's paintings had that impact.
The first thing that struck me was the medium used. Most of the amateur paintings were in watercolour whilst the pro paintings were mostly oils or acrylics. Why do most amateurs paint in watercolour? When I started painting, after I retired, I was told by two retired art school tutors not to attempt watercolour but to start with oils, as that way I would learn to paint properly, and only when I was reasonably competent should I attempt watercolours. I am sure that this advice has paid off. It is much easier to correct mistakes and not get frustrated.
Another factor was size. The majority of the pro paintings were larger and not always on standard canvases, whilst the amateurs generally kept to small standard sizes, which had less impact. This also affected presentation. The club painters were mostly mounted and framed, often the frames or mounts were poor and not much thought had been put into their suitability for the painting. Quite a few of the pro paintings were on deep edge canvases allowing them to be hung without frames or even when not on deep canvases were painted on canvases tacked from behind so they could still be framed or hung without frames. Where they were framed much more care had been taken in the choice of frame to suit the type of painting, even to the extent of painting the frame to match the painting. One has only to look in an estate agent’s window to see that a lot of home owners like unframed or deep modern framed paintings instead of the traditional gilded framing.
The choice of subjects was similar, except there were very few club painters who attempted abstracts. It seems very few amateur painters are drawn to abstraction and when they do they tend to be very stiff. The pro's paintings were generally brighter giving them more impact. Looking at many instruction books this seems to be some- thing that is not stressed and again is possibly caused by the use of watercolours.
Another cause of this lack of excitement in a painting is the use of photographs being used as the subject. It is often stressed in painting articles that a photograph should only be used as reference, and a painting based on sketches will have more impact. One has only to go to any club painting session or even a painting class to see that many people are trying to copy from photographs, often without even making preliminary sketches based on the photo. Even some pro's do this and it nearly always results, even when done with a great amount of painting skill, in a dull and lifeless painting. Possibly the club painters sold just as many paintings, but I do feel that tutors should stress the importance of impact on the viewer as well as just how to paint in a competent manner.
Bernard Victor