Personal reactions to great art. A regular dose of reactions and background to individual works of art. Come on the journey and see what great art communicates to you.
Another wildly helpful video for a budding painter. Thanks, Geoff! In spite of hearing the atmospheric perspective points before, you have really brought them together in a way that clicks for me much more now - and this painting is a perfect choice to demonstrate comparing and contrasting the technique. Such a wealth of great material here. Thank you!
Geoff, just want to say that I’m a huge fan of your channel. As somebody learning to paint (oils) at the moment, I find your commentary and videos deeply inspiring and helpful. Just wanted to say a very big thank you and hope you keep up the amazing work! (Also your comment about the guy taking that really big step here completely transformed how I see this painting and it became so much more visceral - that immediate mind shift was wonderful!)
I think you may have jumped to conclusions here. Maybe he had been gone less than 9 months, hence it could easily have been is his baby. It was not unusual for men to have had quite long beards at that time. She would have been surprised to hear anyone suddenly fly through the door without knocking and the added shock that it was him may have been the reason she didn't lift the iron. Why assume she had been unfaithful. A lot of men in that time who were away from their wives were unfaithful and possibly moreso.
Maybe. But men who went droving were often away longer. She may have thought him dead, rather than technically being unfaithful. But yes, your scenario is possible. To me, though, the clues in the painting as to the passage of time are why I came up with my scenario. It’s one of his more charming paintings, I think.
Excellent Geoff, I really enjoyed your discussion, my ‘thing’ is landscape photography and your analysis of this, one of my favourite paintings, has been really useful, thanks for sharing. Keep them coming 👊🏻👊🏻
It has been associated with paint cracking, flaking and in some cases delaminating. There are articles on MITRA (google it) which speak of this. The amount of zinc is subject to debate, but a few paint manufacturers are phasing zinc out due to this. Annoying, because zinc is fun to paint with.
I hate to break this to you but the glue will ooze up thru the pre primed canvas. So, the lead primer is adhering to the glue which may delaminate over time. Probably sooner than later. I have seen this within just a few years. I would suggest another method. Glue raw linen on the panel using sizing glue, also onto surface of linen. Then apply primer.
Hi, thanks. I got my advice from MITRA. The PVA (must be pH neutral) acts as a barrier (see link below). I think I understand what you are saying, but in the way demonstrated I am attaching pre-primed (acrylic) canvas, and applying a lead ground on top of the acrylic priming afterwards. So, in order: ACM, PVA, linen, acrylic priming, lead ground afterwards, then painting. www.artcons.udel.edu/mitra/Documents/Adhesives-and-Sizes.pdf
@@artmeetsgeoff I need to explain this better. The glue oozes up and over the already dried primer on your pre primed canvas. It will not stay adhered on top of an already dried primer. It will shift and peel off. So you end up applying your next ground, or paint, on glue that is not meant to be on top of a ground. Has nothing to do with ph. If you do not believe me, put some pigment in the glue before gluing on the canvas and see that it creates another layer on top of the canvas. Let it dry. Then see how easily it peels off.
@@artmeetsgeoff i just wanted to add, I discovered this problem after I bought panels made with glued on primed linen from a well known company who specializes in making these. Very expensive. All my paintings, took about 4 years to show up, had issues with the paint layer adhering. I then inspected some unused panels, and sure enough, the glue was clearly flaking on top of the primed surface. It had oozed up thru the pores of the primed canvas. I shutter at the thought what my sold paintings have done. Now, there may be a way to clean the glue off? Maybe sanding. I do not know. But I now stick to avoiding this.
Thanks for this. I’ve got some panels I can test. Three thoughts arise: (1) could the quality of the triple-primed linen mean there are no pores for the glue to ooze through? I can test that with some colour as you suggested. I will do that. Knowing me, that could be weeks. (2) if that fails, I could look into a contact glue method (not wet glue), I avoided this because it makes it harder for conservators to remove the linen if needed. (3) I could bite the bullet and use BEVA film (seems more fiddly, definitely more expensive). I’ll start with (1).
@@artmeetsgeoff Another test is to hold the pre primed linen up to the light. The holes are barely visible but they are likely there. I have tested all I have bought by Claussens oil primed which is the best linen I know of. One thing I have not done is test with linen I have sized and primed on stretchers. I might check it. The holes may show up in the rolling. Probably the best solution would be to glue raw linen onto panels using sizing glue, front and back. Then prime it. I have done that. Is far less work and expense too. Good luck!
Because the long term effects (ie longevity) of painting directly are unknown. It *might* be ok, but nobody knows. The way canvas interacts with paint are well known to conservators and provide a known path to a painting lasting for centuries (especially if on a hard substrate). Not everyone cares if their art will last, but for those that do just hoping painting directly onto ACM works is not enough. 🙂
I first heard about this painting in my early twenties. Last year, at age 58, I finally got to the Tate Museum with my daughter. This painting is just as amazing in person. The colors are exquisite.
320 built as 46BCP 6/9/1915 at Newport Workshops, renumbered/rebuilt to 320M 11/1921, modified with a communication door 30/9/1972, renumbered 478M 18/6/1981, renumbered to 1428M around 1983, placed at current location 1990
I like this painting. Looking at it and thinking this was done just over a hundred years ago it almost feels as if it is in the wrong time period. This painting looks like it came from the pastel era of the 1980s. Some of the shapes look like records and everything relating to music, like this was painted for a music recording studio. When it comes to meaning and abstract I sometimes wonder if it does matter or does it need to mean something. If the color and shapes are appealing than that might be enough. Granted a piece of art that does tell a story is an intriguing one, but sometimes art for art's sake might be better off just existing for the sake of existing.
Great insights. It’s interesting to me that people can get so many different ideas from a piece of art - as if it somehow jogs our own inner ponderings.
As a former master roofer of carriages we did it old fashioned way I have being taught….. strip the canvas and relay it again!!! They used paint the roof timber with bituminous paint to keep the water out of the timbers! But if the canvas seal is not broken or leaking in anyway or rotten painted over with ember clad will do!
Well that is expertise we certainly did not have. Plenty of feeling our way, trying to see what was reasonable and a bit of luck. One drip so far, in heavy rain, but not sure where it began - possibly in sideways rain coming in the whirly roof vents. Thanks.
@@artmeetsgeoff if it was heavy wind blown that day it’s possible that it came through the air vent…. If you can see the water marks near the opening where the air vent is situated on ceiling it has being blown into…. My suggestion is try checking around the edges of the air vent this requires the air vent to remove to check any broken canvas is around that area causing the leak around that area! But if the water mark is isolated to inside the vent opening in ceiling it’s harmless water that was blown in…. But if leaks around the edges of vent open fixture on ceiling the their a possibility a splits or broken seal on the canvas underneath the vent itself…..
Thanks. The one I’m suspicious about was one we couldn’t get off. This makes it more likely as we couldn’t get in close enough to check it like we could for the others. I think I need to get up and have a good look, and see if I can seal it better between the roof and underside of vent. Many thanks!
Thank you so much for an amazing video!! I love all your videos. Especially the ones where you introduce us to Australian paintings but you know how to pick out alot of works that aren't talked about alot as well and I appreciate that. Please keep at it guy you run a great channel❤
Very well done Geoff. Have you been to Steamrail Victoria, at the Newport Workshops. They have a section there called Electrail, where they have, to date, restored 5 or 6 Tait carriages, to there full glory and in Heritage colours. If you haven't been there, try to get down and introduce yourself, they are fantastic volunteers and terrific workers.
Thanks. I have been there - the volunteers are great, as you said. I got the exterior paint colours there and lots of helpful advice that helped me understand the history of my carriage. It was good to soak up the atmosphere of the completed carriages there - inspired me that I could do it.
Not really. We swept it out, removed things that were big bumps and then went over the top. Each sheet goes the entire width, meaning there enough support points on average for each sheet. The old floor is now entombed which, given its state, is kind of fitting.
This video is criminally under-viewed... When I was in animation school at Sheridan in Ontario, there was a class I did pretty poorly in, but would love to take again cuz in retrospect I know they were trying to get me to learn to think...but I was too young, and obstinate to see that...(it IS where I discovered James Burke and "Connections" however). Anyway, there was this one video they showed which was trying to demonstrate the power of context. They showed this Goya painting, "The Third of May 1808". In the video, they show you the image, and you're a kid, and you're just kinda sitting there, "Yeah OK, old painting". THEN they showed a short clip of these burlesque girls doing the can-can set to exciting music, then switch back to the painting. And now you're like, "OK..Where is THIS going?".....You're just perhaps bemused, or indifferent. THEN they show a film clip of real people in Africa being shot by a firing squad, then they show the painting once more...and now?... That painting hit us like a sledge-hammer to the guts.
Great demo! I’ve started to apply my pre primed linen canvas to ACM as well but usually use a ph neutral glue vs a PVA to bind them. I’ve had issues with some peeling away from canvas overtime and wonder if it is because of the glue or not sanding the adhering surface ? Thoughts/suggestions?
I used ph neutral PVA glue because I read (somewhere) that it was stronger. However, more importantly, I think lightly sanding is the right thing to do. By lightly sanding (NOT through to the metal) you create an opportunity for a more mechanical bond. I would definitely be lightly sanding. Then cleaning thoroughly of course.
"You create the meaning in your own mind" I think that's the laziest mentality an artist can have. Because of course we can create the meaning, that's what are brains are designed to do. You job as an artist is to create the meaning. Not off load that to your audience.
I understand your point, but not everything is expressable. Perhaps he was trying really hard, perhaps he was being lazy. That pretty much sums up the whole debate about this painting. Thanks for commenting.
I do it in a similar way. Though I've used raw and pre-primed canvas then add lead oil primer. I'm now concerned If I get pre-primed, who knows what/how they did to prime it, I suspect some of it is not done with "archival" materials. I use Polyflax canvas or untreated polyester canvas. I cant find good info on what polyflax is made with though, it may be a polyester/cotton blend, if so, not sure if that's problematic, so now I'm just using untreated poly from various sources. In theory poly is better than linen, but maybe not, we won't know for sure for a long time. Some are concerned poly may cause delamination issues, not for any specific reason I guess, just cause its untested in the long haul. If delamination is not a problem, then the painting and fabric will probably last a lot longer than natural canvas cause it doesn't really respond to humidity or rot/break down over time. I usually wrap extra canvas around the back and tape it down, that way if it ever gets re-stretched or re-attached to another panel, there is extra fabric.
Hi Geoff, what do you think of the idea of the white sheet over the cradle and the red of the table cloth eluding to the body of another man? Do you think that is reaching?
Maybe. Sometimes artists include details that speak of things they hadn’t even intended, yet arise out of their subconscious in some way. If you see that (and I can understand why), who knows. It’s fascinating how art can describe things just out of reach of “normal” thought.
I don’t make my own due to many reasons. Does anyone sell panels. I have started watercolor on canvas. I would really like to buy ready made. Congratulations on making these panels. Thank you!
Great thing that someone had the eye to invest in such a masterpiece, Australia is a richer country, spiritually and in every other way, thanks to this painting ❤
Geoff - Really enjoy your comments on this and many other paintings. Also ' What is art" and the Art / AI videos' as well. I found your channel through watching Great Art Explained (also immensely enjoyable). It's great to have the history of artists, their paintings and reception - however I have found your commentary adds a lot more to understanding the painting itself. It's like having a contemporary (and perceptive) reading of painting - which makes one realize that the themes described are every bit as relevant today as when the painting was made. Also enjoy having definitions on words used like the note about "Ennui" from '2 in the Aisle" - yes I should look it up - or perhaps I should know this word already -- but I don't, or I forgot...or both. Your commentary (with its fantastic sense of humour) articulates questions I have (and ones I haven't thought of yet, but would hopefully at some point). By offering definitions as video progresses - you make it easier to get into what the painting is communicating. I always have a ton of questions when it comes to looking at paintings - and I so appreciate having such a fine guide -- leaving me wanting to hear more! And titles like "Some Guy at a Gas Station" - pure LOL! I don't know if I have properly described how satisfying these videos are -- I do know if I waffled any longer nothing would ever get posted. Well done.
