A friend of mine and I spent the day at the National Gallery of Art, looking at “important” works of the 19th and 20th centuries … most of it modern. This was a valuable experience since she’s been through art school; I dropped out.
I’m not a great fan of abstract expressionism, but I am tolerant and have tried to develop an understanding of it. That said, the first room we went into had a bunch of Rothko, Manet and Pollock. Yikes! Those were some disturbed individuals!
One of the other things we discussed was the Golden Mean (a Classical system of distribution of aesthetic elements), composition, and path of the eye ... ie. focal points. These are some things I’ve worked with since high school art, and I’m sure there was a passing mention in the 101 level college classes I went through. So in some ways, it’s old, and some ways, it’s new. And hopefully, you are always learning new ways to approach old problems.
With this painting, I tried very hard to incorporate the expressionism, the proportion, etc. Personally? I hate this painting. I hope someone gets some enjoyment out of it, otherwise, I’ve wasted paint.
But you have not wasted your brain -- it doesn't matter if you like it or hate it, so much as if you learn from it.
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