Finished Canvas Sizes

Fine art is valued and appreciated in any size by the true art aficionado.  While there are no hard and fast rules for selecting fine art, referring to an art piece size by a name may be helpful when judging fine art piece display areas and uses.  We offer these suggestions to aid you when making your fine art selections and display area decisions.

• Gift Art - Gift Art is frequently smaller pieces with image sizes of 4X5 and 5X7 not  incorporating a typical frame.   Art pieces of the Gift Art size are easily shipped or packed in a suitcase for easy traveling
• Table Top - Table Top art is typically canvas sizes of 8X10 to 12X18.  Add the extra dimensions  for the selected art frame to determine the display size.
• Wall Decor Art - While all art pieces my be displayed on the walls of our homes, some art piece by their  very size demand  a wall space to be properly displayed and appreciated.  Below are suggestions for Wall  Decor Art that demand prominent display space in your home.
  • Classic - Classic Art Pieces are typically 16X20 to 24X30 in canvas size and frequently framed in large, ornate, gold leaf frames.  The Classic Art Piece size is considered by some as the "entry level" wall decor art size.
  • Signature - Signature Art Pieces are usually canvas sizes ranging from 30X40 to 40X50.  With framing added to the canvas dimension the Signature Art Piece becomes a true  wall decor  feature for any fine home.   Framing may be "simple" to very ornate, and is frequently gold leaf. 
  • Master Works - Master Works are very large fine art pieces typically 48X60 and larger with frame dimensions additional.   Master Works, dependent upon style, may be framed or unframed. 

Defining Art Terms

• Art Style, School, Movement, and Era - These terms are bantered about endlessly it seems with each user having his/her own definition, and at times these terms are used almost interchangeably.  There are however subtle differences in the meanings of these terms and since words have meaning we should be able to use these terms correctly.

   

  • Style - Style is a term that can refer to several qualities or aspects of an art piece.  Style can mean the techniques used in the creation of the work, i.e. Pointillism,  the use of colored dots to create a blending of color and shape when viewed from a distance, or Chiaroscuro and Sfumato (see Classical Painting Styles below).  Style may also be applied to an underlying philosophy expressed by the artist in his works.

  • School -  A School on the other hand is usually a group of artist that share some common element like and as simply as geographic area, or the same teacher, or perhaps use the same or very similar style, or painting method.  A school is usually identified by and takes on the name of the common element like the name of a city or the geographical area, the teacher, or the style itself, e.g. Flemish School.

  • Movement - A movement is similar to a School in that it also is a group of artist that share a common element, however, the distinguishing feature is that the group does not necessarily share the same geographical location, e.g. Modernism, Cubism, etc.

  • Era - Era is perhaps the easiest term to understand in that an era is a measured period of time (usually tens or hundreds of years) having a beginning and end.  The Baroque Ear is an example beginning in the very late sixteenth century and ending in the mid eighteenth century.

• Classical Painting Styles - There are two painting styles most frequently associated with the Old Masters; Chiaroscuro and Sfumato.  Fundamentally very different in nature, today these styles are still somehow confused in meaning and by identity of the artists who developed them and used them.

   

  • Sfumato -  Sfumato is a subtle gradation of tone used to obscure sharp edges and to develop the relationship of light and shadow areas, i.e. light shape, shadow shape, of a painting.  Leonardo da Vinci was the master of Sfumato, and perhaps the best example of his style is the Mona Lisa.

  • Chiaroscuro - Chiaroscuro in meaning is literally "Light-Dark" and is just the opposite of Sfumato.  The style makes use of dramatic differences of contrast and color with sharp light and shadow edges with little to no gradation.  The primary subject has what we might call today a spot light on it.  Rembrandt is perhaps the best known user of Chiaroscuro, however Caravaggio and Correggio are credited with the origins of the style.

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Anatomy of Classical Painting*

• Methods and Techniques of the Old Masters - While there is much written about many of the Old Masters and their art works there are but a few (if any validated) scraps of writings or notes in existence today in their own hand that describe the methods and techniques they developed and used.  Most of what we think we know of their practices is gleaned primarily from visual analysis of available paintings, the use of current hi-tech imaging, and the interpretation of unfinished canvases, or partially finished paintings, and available studio remnants. The means of passing on technical information and studio practices was accomplished through the tradition of apprenticeship, the historical method of all crafts and professions of the ages.  Apprentices usually dedicated between four to six years with their teachers and some even longer.  However, analysis of some Old Masters paintings has revealed common elements and clues to the materials and methodology used.  It may be said that the methods and techniques used were more based upon practicality and necessity of the period rather then a dominate philosophy.  The Old Masters simply did not have the convenience of paint in tubes, refrigeration, and technologies that we take for granted today.  Paints were hand made and only in the quantities expected to be used in a days work.  So the step-staging methods used in the creative process was based upon conservation as much as it was on imaginative and creative talent. The most ardent followers and practitioners of the Classical Methods of the Old Master today usually agree on a seven step process that includes many if not all of the following steps and stages: canvas Sizing and Grounding, Drawing (Inventing), Imprimatura layer, Gilding,  Podmalyovok layer, Lessirovk layer, a Grisaille or Dead Layer Under-painting, Live Color layer(s) (1 and 2), Finishing layers, Glazing layers, and finally Varnishing (1 and 2).  To better understand the process, some definitions are in order.

   

  • Sizing - Sizing is the process of sealing a raw canvas support in preparation to receive one or more Grounding layers of paint. Sizing is needed because Oils from the Grounding Layers could damage the canvas if applied directly. Sizing thus creates a protective layer between the canvas and Grounding layers.  Classical Sizing is a glue substance made from  rabbit hide clippings, pig-skin, or parchment.  In its dry form Sizing is a crystalline substance, or thin sheets. The granules (crystals) or sheets are soaked in fresh clean water. The water is heated, but not boiled, melting the Sizing compound.  When properly prepared to the consistency of honey it is ready to apply to the raw canvas using a palette knife being sure to force the Sizing into the grain of the canvas then cooled and allowed to thoroughly dry.

  • Grounding - Grounding (Grounds), the application of base layers of paint, was frequently applied to the Sized canvas in two layers.  The Ground layers usually consisted of a mixture of palette scrapings and brush cleaning jar sediments, and perhaps various remnant pigments producing a rather dirty earthy colored paint.  Conservation of material was always important as the material used were not inexpensive.  The second layer of the Ground, frequently a mixture of lead white and carbon black, is much lighter in tone than Ground layer one.  The purpose of the Ground is to create a smooth surface upon which to begin the actual process of painting.

  • Imprimatura - Imprimatura, meaning "what goes before" is the first true layer of the painting (Layer One in a seven layer process).  The purpose of the Imprimatura layer is to create and establishing the overall tonal value (lightness or darkness) of the composition and may be keyed to a neutral tone or mid tone relative to the subject and it's lighting condition.  In addition, the Imprimatura layer works as a harmonizing layer for the subsequent upper layers.

  • Drawing (Inventing) - Drawing is the laying in of the basic shape and form of the subject directly (a line drawing) or by Cartooning on to the Grounded and Toned canvas in order to establish the various elements of the composition in perspective and placement and to serve as a guide for the subsequent stages of the work.  The Drawing is frequently a transfer of a full size drawing on paper from the paper to the canvas by a tracing process (Cartooning) and worked up to the desired detail.  The drawing may also be a loose sketch of the subject directly on the canvas using paint, chalk, charcoal, or ink.  The use of chalk or charcoal facilitates making corrections as these materials can easily be whipped away as needed.

  • Under-painting - The Under-painting techniques of Grisaille, Verdaccio, and Dead Color are variations of the same or similar technique with subtle differences.  Grisaille (meaning "all in gray"), Dead Color (also usually in grays), Verdaccio (mixtures of gray/greens), and a two part under-painting, Podmalyovok and Lessirovk, that is frequently in mixtures of Burnt Umber but applied with subtle differences of brush size and paint stokes, complete the Under-painting layer, or layers.   In its simplest form an Under-painting is a monochrome version (or nearly so) of the final painting (a mass drawing) intended to establish the tonal detail (the tonal dynamic range) of the composition, give volume and substance to it's form, and to establish and create the illusion of illumination.

  • Live Color - The Live Color layer (also known and the Body Color layer, and Work-up layer) is a striking contrast to the Dead Layer in that it is not monochrome, but rather is the full color stage of the painting that gives each element of the composition its correct color and rendering, and completes final details of subject form.

  • Glazing - Glazing is the application of a thinned paint layer over an already existing dry paint layer.  The sub layer may be opaque or another glaze layer.  Glazing creates the unique quality that is best described as the illusion of translucence; this quality is impossible to create using the direct painting technique, or alla Prima method.  Glazing at first thought is very simple to do, but in practice is rather complex requiring personal patience, study, and practice.

  • Finishing -  The Finishing layer is the layer that the artist lays in the final textures of the composition, applied highlights, bright reflections, additional glazes (glaze, semiglaze, scrumble) as needed, and finally the artist's signature.  Addition color (pure) may also be added and minor corrections made to finalize the artist's vision.  The completed composition is set to rest for a period of not less than six months so that all layers may become thoroughly dry and mature (cured).

  • Varnishing -  Varnishing is the final application layer.  A Damar varnish is applied in two layers, brushed on with a wide varnishing brush in opposite directions, and allowed to dry in a lint free environment until fully cured (three to six months).  At this stage the completed composition is ready for framing and display.

  *Editor's Note:  While this is a rather short description of the Anatomy of Classical Painting, the methods of the Old Masters should not be interpreted as a form of religious dogma that must be explicitly followed without question.  There are many differences of opinion, taste, and understanding among artists today just as there was in the period of those that we now call the Old Masters.  Vermeer, Rembrandt, and da Vinci (to name but a few) all experimented with their methods, techniques, and materials.  To say or insist that all Classical painting today must be executed in a seven step process and then in exactly the same way each an every time is to be myopic in our seeing.  Remember the story of the great-granddaughter who when making a roast cuts off the it's ends each and every time only to learn that great-grandma cut off her roast ends only because she had a small roasting pan and the cutting had nothing to do at all with the taste, quality, or look of the roast when finally finished and ready to eat and to enjoy.  The Classical art of the Old Masters is beautiful to see and appreciate not necessarily because it was done in five, seven, or even nine steps.  Rather, I think, it is beautiful to see because the creators of Classical art were people of exceptional talent, creativeness, and imagination as well as masters of their craft.  We  inherently appreciate such qualities as artist-observers, and as growing artist we strive to reach those same heights of transcendent beauty, quality, and craftsmanship that we lovingly observe.

  D.M.E.
   

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Classical Realism: A Living American Tradition*

By Stephen Gjertson and Kirk Richards
Publication: American Artist
Date: Wednesday, September 1, 2004

• The term Classical Realism originated with Richard F. Lack, a Minnesota artist who studied with Boston painter R. H. Ives Gammell during the early 1950's.  In 1969 Lack established Atelier Lack, an influential studio-school of fine art in Minneapolis that was patterned after the ateliers of 19th-century Paris and the teaching of the Boston Impressionists.  He coined the expression to differentiate the realism of the heirs of the Boston tradition from that of other representational artists.  It was first used as the title of the 1982 exhibition "Classical Realism: The Other Twentieth Century."  Lack knew that within the context of art history, Classical Realism was an oxymoron.  Throughout history, the schools of Classicism and Realism  have opposed each other.  Classicists believed that the art of ancient Greece and Rome set the standard by which all art should be judged.  An idealization of nature for the sake of beauty and proportion and a clear and logical expression of their subjects through refined drawing, form, and technical methods characterized their work.  Realists on the other hand, distained beauty of both the subject and methods.  They preferred the depiction of common themes, with little or no idealization.  When historical themes were depicted, they were rarely idealized for the sake of beauty.  Nevertheless, Lack combined the tenets of classicism and realism with the principles of Boston Impressionism to describe an artistic point of view characterized by an overall love and respect for the great traditions of Western art.  He grounded his concept in the subtle representation of nature, a representation that is only possible by a person with a trained and sensitive eye.  Classical Realists often idealize or stylize their work for the sake of beauty and harmony.  Their work is classical because it exhibits a preference for order, beauty, harmony, and completeness; it is realist because its basic vocabulary come from the representation of nature.  The American Society of Classical Realism (ASCR) was founded in 1989 by Lack and several other artists, educators, and connoisseurs devoted to the promotion of accomplished artists working within the tradition of Western European academic and American Impressionist art.  Broadly speaking, within the Western tradition there are five fundamental artistic categories: still life, landscape, portrait, genre, and imaginative painting.  Members of the ASCR Guild of Artists are practitioners of these disciplines, some specializing in one or two, others working within several  or even all of the genres.
  
  *Editor's Note:  The above article is presented here to define the term Classical Realism, to  explain the origins of the term, and to give credit to Richard F. Lack, the originator of the term.  We also thank the writers of the original article, Stephen Gjertson and Kirk Richards for their fine work.  And we thank the American Artist magazine for allowing our website to use the article.  The article is presented here in a truncated version.  Not included here are photos of paintings by Lack and other ASCR members along with descriptions of each painting by the artist.  While the descriptions of each painting were available from our source the associated pictures were not, therefore that portion of the original article is not presented here.
  
  D.M.E.

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My Personal Painting Philosophy
by Deborah Elmquist

• I am often asked by those who purchase my paintings, or who are painters themselves, how do I paint?  What do I think about when I paint a 'picture'?  What is the meaning of my work?  To answer these and other questions that my audience has expressed I offer these foundational words about my work and painting in general:
  
  Creating a painting is a visual editorial process.  How I practice my editorial process is my personal style (or method) of oil painting and it is as much a part of me as is my personality and the quality of my character.
  
  While I am firmly grounded in and appreciate the methods and techniques of the Old Maters of the Flemish and Venetian Schools of oil painting, (and I include the French Academy painters here too) I do not practice an absolute seven step process each and every time I create a painting, nor (when I teach) do I teach an absolute step, stage, method of painting.  However, as a firm believer in  learning the fundamentals of the craft of oil painting---including drawing---it is the fundamentals of the craft of oil painting that I teach not a particular "religion" of oil painting as the one true way to paint.   And, it is the fundamentals that I practice when painting.
  
  When teaching oil painting, it is my roll as teacher to assist my students to develop strategies with which to view the world as artists, but firmly grounded in the fundamentals of the craft of oil painting, again, beginning with drawing.  It is one thing to break the "rules" in ignorance; it's another thing to break them with purpose of concept.  Once a student has mastered the fundamentals (and that may take quite some time) the student is free then to become the artist within him or herself, to think for ones self, and to view the world as differently as he or she wishes, and finally to grow in his or her own direction and to do it with passion.  As a teacher of the art of oil painting, what better mission can there be!
  
  Now, for me personally as a painter, I am first and editor of light!  As a painter I do not just paint what I see, but rather I interpret what I see through the language of Shape (light-shape-shadow shape), Tonal Value (that is the range of, or the gradation of, gray tones ranging between the lightest light and the deepest dark black; this is the dynamic range of the subject), and Edges (sharp edges, soft edges, lost edges); a fourth element, Color (in all its forms---temperature, hue, and saturation), is the 'frosting on the cake' if you will, but it is not an element that is necessary in order for us to identify or to recognize the subject for what it is.
  
  Second, I am an editor of visual concept!  Remember, I do not paint everything that I see.  I do not paint every object that is in my field of view, nor do I paint every detail of the objects within my field of view.  Rather, I interpret what I see using the language of Selective Focus, Spatial Relationship, and Light Path to complete and to tell my visual message or story.  (I might add that because all good art has a message or story, that all good art is fundamentally narrative.)  At its best the editorial process creates a harmony between the techniques used to create the painting and the subject matter of the painting that transcends both and speaks a language of beauty that hold the viewer transfixed, returning again and again, as if by some magical energy, to understand its story and to learn its secrets, moving the viewer emotionally as well as intellectually.
  
  Finally, Brush Strokes: I am an editor of brush stokes!  Brush strokes are like fingerprints; they are individual, personal, and unique to each painter.  Brush strokes too have qualities of form, texture, shape, value, direction, density, and counterpoint among other qualities.  At times there seems to be a kind of mystical communication between myself, my subject, and the vision I have for the completed painting and the direction and weight of my hand and the movement of the brush when applying paint to the canvas.  I again interpret what I see through my brush strokes communicating the characteristics and qualities of my subject to the viewer of the painting through the language of brush strokes.   This "process" is deliberate and automatic all at the same time.
  
  In essence, because of and through the editorial process, all painting is abstract!  This fact is difficult to grasp perhaps, but it is directly affecting the depth and meaning of a painting as a work of art.  And yet another fact:  As artists the less personal and the more universal our motive becomes in the creative process the more compelling and sublime our visual story becomes.  This is the fundamental difference I think between just a painting and a great painting---it is the universal truth that is found in our best works of art, and it is the reason that compels us to paint in the first place.  It is not a process of a painting that makes painting art, but rather the journey of the mind of the artist working the brush.
   

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