Tuesday 6 November 2007

A Barn in Carinthia revisited

For quite some time I am trying to translate my plein air paintings into bigger studio versions. The problem is that looseness and spontaneity get lost. Here is one attempt I am fairly happy with.

Seit einiger Zeit versuche ich meine Plein Air Bilder in größere Studio Versionen zu übersetzen. Das Problem dabei ist, daß die Lockerheit und Spontanität auf der Strecke bleibt. Dies hier ist ein Versuch mit dem ich einigermaßen zufrieden bin.

The studio painting

A barn in Carinthia, Oil on Canvas, 40 x 53 cm

The PA

A barn in Carinthia, Oil on Canvaspanel, 30 x 40 cm

18 comments:

Ed Terpening said...

I know wha you mean! i have found it very useful to work up incrementally. I recall my first big commission, which was to produce a 6'x8' painting from a tiny 6"x8" plein air study. i painting two more studies working up to the larger work. This approached works for me.

rob ijbema said...

stefan,i think your studio effort is very succesful and must look very impressive in real life...
i've been trying more studio work too,not bigger but just to try and put more of a personal mark,getting looser...standing in front of nature can be so intimidating...all you can do sometimes is copy

ANDREW JUDD said...

Too bad everyone can't see the original. This is a beautiful painting just full of fresh passages of cour and looks as if it were painted on the spot!

Glad you posted this one Nue.

Cheers... Andrew Judd

ANDREW JUDD said...

That word I spelled so badly is..... colour!
sory bout hat!

Cheers.... Andrew :)

Michaela Werner said...

Mir gefallen beide Bilder sehr gut. Ich wäre froh ich könnte so malen, aber ich arbeite daran :-)

Werner said...

Hi Stefan.
Ein starkes Bild, und ein interessanter Vergleich. Eine kleine Beobachtung, mit Verlaub: Ich sehe einen frappierenden Unterschied in der Behandlung des Verhältnisses zwischen den Bäumen links im Hintergrund und dem dunklen Stück Himmel, das sie umgibt: In der plein-air-Version heben sich die Bäume deutlich VOR dem Himmel ab, während in der Studioversion der Himmel deutlich an Substanz gewinnt und sich stellenweise vor die Bäume schiebt (fast wie der dunkle Dampf einer hinter der Scheune vorüberziehenden Dampflokomotive). Am rechten Bildrand verschwindet das Buschwerk in ähnlicher Weise hinter dem dunklen Himmelsstück. Interessant deshalb, weil es zeigt, dass in der plein-air-Version die tatsächlich in der Natur gesehenen räumlichen Verhältnisse in die Malerei übertragen werden, während in der Studioversion dann einzelne Farbfelder plötzlich ... ein Eigenleben entwickeln!
Schönen Gruss,
Werner

Werner said...

Not sure if I can say that in English... the relation between the trees in the background on the left side, and the piece of dark sky that surrounds them, has found a very different solution in the two versions: In the plein air version, the trees are clearly standing in front of the sky, whereas in the sudio version the sky partly overlaps the trees (almost becoming some kind of dark steam, as if a steam engine was passing by behind the barn). In a similar way, the bushes on the right side tend to disappear behind the piece of dark sky. This is interesting because it shows that in the plein-air version, the spatial relations observed in nature are directly transposed into the painting, while in the studio version, single zones of colour develop some kind of "life of their own" ...

Jared Shear said...

Nice job Stefan!....it is hard like you say to transfer that energy from the smaller plein air into a studio piece. Bravo though on your results.

les lull said...

both of these are great. Both communicate very well. I find that I paint quite differently in the studio that in the field. I figure the more I paint the more I will see influences back and forth.

Stefan Nuetzel said...

Sorry for my late reply, but I have been busy!
Thanks Ed, for your advice! I try to do the same, because I started making studio painting in the size of 40x50cm (16x20in). My goal is to make real big ones. :-)

Stefan Nuetzel said...

Hi Rob, one thing I tried to do in this one, I had spent aproximately the same time painting than with the PA one.

Stefan Nuetzel said...

I thank you very much, Andrew! You are always so encouraging and your advice and critique are so helpful to me.

Stefan Nuetzel said...

Hallo Michaela, schön, daß Du wieder vorbeischaust. Mein Freund Andrew sagte mal zu mir, daß es ca. 20 Jahre dauert, bis man ein Maler wird. Ich habe schon auch das Gefühl, da sich langsam bei mir eine gewisse Sicherheit und Selbstverständlichkeit meiner Malerei gegenüber einstellt. Das soll nicht heißen, daß ich selbstzufrieden vor mich hinpinsle, sondern selbst wenn die Bilder nicht so gut werden, habe ich das getan, was mir viel bedeutet und Spaß macht.

Stefan Nuetzel said...

Vielen Dank Werner, daß Du so genau auf mein Bild eingehst. Es ist klasse, daß Dir das aufgefallen ist, da ich versuche, wenn ich im Atelier die größere Version male, die Skizze, meiner Auffassung nach, zu verbessern. Ich wollte mit dem von Dir angesprochenen mehr Tiefe, Farbharmonie und Atmosphäre erzeugen.

Stefan Nuetzel said...

Thank you, Jared!

Stefan Nuetzel said...

Hi Les, I have the feeling that the more I paint outside, the more I learn about the behavior of light and how to transfer it into the studio works. Thanks.

Tom Kidd said...

Oh, have I been away a long time. The stages on the coffin were really quite amazing to see. Thanks for that.

Jumping to the present: If I read this correctly you've increased the size of the studio version by one-third. At first I thought it was a huge difference in size. Still, it is a huge success, just about one of the hardest things to do. I rarely will exhibit my color sketches next to my finished paintings. The sketches always get comments like, "I like the looseness of the little one better." If only people would pay the big prices for the little works.

Stefan Nuetzel said...

Hi Tom,
nice that you dropped by. Your observation is quite right. The studio paintings require some other approach and it is difficult to compare the study and the bigger version.