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Why is critiquing art important for a painter?
Art criticism has a long history. Critiquing art is the best way to develop as a painter. Once you understand how to critique art and the key factors that master artists apply in their work, you will be able to create great artworks of your own. But critiquing art is a very confusing and often controversial topic. I created a special Visual Music & Poetry® course, to teach a much more objective and simple approach to critiquing art.
The Virtual Art Academy® Program is based around teaching you, in a systematic way, each of the components of this model. By mastering each relatively simple component, you will see your work steadily improve, month by month. This is a much more logical way to approach the task of learning how to paint, compared to trying to learn everything at once by copying a master or instructor painting. Copying other people’s painting without a deep understanding of how and why they work teaches you very little.
How to critique art
Step one to critiquing art is to understand how a painting gives your viewer pleasure or enhances their lives. For the purposes of this discussion I am assuming that these are the criteria by which you can judge the quality of a painting. A master painting will do one or both of these things. There are other potential more personal criteria, for example self expression, but that is not my purpose.
Only when you are clear about these goals can you evaluate a painting for its quality. And only when you can evaluate a painting for its quality can you understand what makes a great work of art, know which artists you can learn the most from, and ultimately improve your own work.
Goals of a painting (or any artwork)
The two key elements that give people pleasure are actually quite simple. These are the goals of your painting.
A painting does two things.
- It communicates at a human emotional level: This is what I call its ‘Visual Poetry’, and
- It gives us pleasure by creating order out of the chaos of nature: and making it interesting to look at. This is what I call its ‘Visual Music’. It is the aesthetic component of the visual experience.
The Visual Music & Poetry® course combines these two ideas in a unique way to help you understand painting better.
The basic model for critiquing art
- Illusion: how well the artist represents something to express the concept of the painting.
- Concept: what the painting is about – its emotional and intellectual content.
- Far Music: the abstract design of the colors and shapes in the painting when viewed from a distance.
- Near Music: the abstract design of the painting when viewed close up.
To Learn More
Read some of my blogs to learn more about Visual Music & Poetry, and learn from some Old Master paintings critiqued using the Visual Music & Poetry model:
- The Secrets The Old Masters Used to Create a Masterpiece
- Concept: Why You Need Both Visual Music and Visual Poetry To Make Your Work Stand Out
- Critiquing Art: Frank Carmichael, Autumn Hillside
- Critiquing Art: William Wendt, Saddleback Mountain Mission Viejo
- Critiquing Art: Fra Filippo Lippi, Madonna with Child and Two Angels
- Critiquing Art: Giovanni Boldini, Pencil Sketches
- Critiquing Art: Daniil Volkov, Sunny Day
- Critiquing Art: Armin Hansen, On the Levee — New Orleans
See art criticism on wikipedia.
Thank You
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope you find it useful. If you would like to get free painting tips by email, please sign up for my free tips newsletter.
If you are interested in a structured approach for learning how to paint, take a look at my online painting classes.
Happy painting!
Barry John Raybould
Virtual Art Academy
What The Students Are Saying
A great learning platform
I have been working my way through the Virtual Art Academy for almost a year now, and cannot recommend it highly enough. The Workshops are thorough, structured and substantive. There is a logical and step by step progression that makes the learning process so much easier, with new concepts being introduced and then practiced along… Read more “A great learning platform”
It is wild to see how much I am learning in this course!
Five star rating from me for Virtual Art Academy (VAA)! I retired last year, and decided I wanted to spend my time in retirement learning how to oil paint. But having never painted before, I wasn’t even sure what to look for in an online painting course. However, I did some searches for “Best Online… Read more “It is wild to see how much I am learning in this course!”
comprehensive art education
I wanted to get a comprehensive art education with the freedom to work at my own pace. I’m several years into the curriculum and I feel like my work has drastically improved. I’ve found holes in my knowledge that I didn’t know I had. Critiquing other students posts and reading their feedback to mine has… Read more “comprehensive art education”
Only online learning program I have ever discovered using a training industry best practice
Before repurposing my vocation into avocation, I spent 20 years in the corporate world as an instructional designer and performance consultant creating training curricula for diverse clientele from NASA to General Motors. I know curriculum development and how to guide a learner from beginning to certification. VAA is the only online learning program I have… Read more “Only online learning program I have ever discovered using a training industry best practice”
The small steps are easy to do
I am extremely impressed with the process that Barry has developed for VAA. Learning to paint can be intimidating, but when broken into many small projects it is very do-able. I just did my first live model painting session- a 5 hour, one day session. Thanks to VAA, I was able to break the painting… Read more “The small steps are easy to do”
An excellent foundation on so many aspects of painting
I never had formal training in painting and my style has always been very realistic, slow and not at all artistic, just a copy of a photograph. When I got word of the course available through Virtual Art Academy, I was very excited for the opportunity to learn what I never knew about painting. VAA… Read more “An excellent foundation on so many aspects of painting”
Barry gave me a fishing rod so I can catch my own fish
After weeks and even months of searching YouTube, “googling” and spending a fortune on art instructional books I finally came across the Virtual Art Academy®. When it comes to purchasing online I am always very careful how I spend my money. Especially when I already spent a small fortune on art books. They always seemed… Read more “Barry gave me a fishing rod so I can catch my own fish”
No need to buy expensive art books…. Just do the VAA 4 year course. I still refer to it
I finished the VAA course a few years ago, but always refer to the notes, rereading the course many times. This is not a course the day you are finished, you are done. No, you keep practising the assignments getting better and better over time. When I look back at my work when I had just… Read more “No need to buy expensive art books…. Just do the VAA 4 year course. I still refer to it”
The equivalent of a 4 year art education at a fraction of the cost
This is a great course for anyone who is serious about improving their painting. I have been a student here for several years. When I am finished, I will have the equivalent of a 4 year art education at a fraction of the cost. I can do the lessons anywhere and at my own pace.… Read more “The equivalent of a 4 year art education at a fraction of the cost”
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