Speaking of Art Blog

Cactus Wren, pastel, 11x14"

This is my latest pastel painting, Cactus Wren.  It was a challenging piece of artwork.  The wren was hard enough, but the hollowed out, dried up cholla cactus was really a challenge in rendering detail.  Then there was the background.  While it may look like it was way easier for me to create than the wren or cactus, actually it was not. 

I used to struggle with backgrounds even more than I do nowadays.  And here’s the interesting thing about my background rendering skill:  I never really took a class or received art lessons specifically focusing on rendering backgrounds.  What I have learned about creating them has all come from blazing my own trail through lots of trial and error.  And it’s not because no art instructors out there know how to create backgrounds.  They do know how to do it, and many are extremely accomplished at it.  But what I’ve come to realize is that creating backgrounds is very hard to teach.  Why?  Because every single artist has their own unique background preferences and so they need to find their own way to create them.  It’s almost like set of fingerprints, if you will.  No two artists will render them alike.

So how does an artist go about learning to create backgrounds in a portrait or a still life painting?  Practice, lots of practice.  Many years ago, I started to take note of the backgrounds in artwork of artists who I respected very highly.  What I was drawn to were backgrounds that were blurry but with suggestions of some real-life stuff back there, like some plants or leaves.  So I started to play around with trying my hand at rendering out of focus plants and leaves on scratch paper.  No pressure, just fun.  What I realized while playing is that I was afraid of it mainly because it smacked of abstract art and I knew nothing at all about how to create something abstract.  But the more I played with the fuzzy edged shapes the more I liked the results.  Thus I was discovering and developing my own signature background style that has a lot of abstract undertones to it.

A Slice of Autumn, pastel, 10x20"

My first serious attempt at creating an abstract leaf background in a painting was in A Slice of Autumn (2015).  I went way beyond my reference photo.  It was both scary and fun, but I loved the results.  Since then, I’ve gotten braver with my implied, out-of-focus plants behind my center of interest.  I lay down shapes in muted and bright colors, and then finger blend the heck out of their edges.  I keep an eye on the composition as a whole while I work on the background, and I’m not afraid to occasionally turn up the volume on my color saturation back there.  While the background needs to play second fiddle to the center of interest, that doesn’t mean it has to be dull or boring.

Is that the formula for how to create backgrounds in portraits or still lifes?  Heavens no.  It just happens to be my style.  Every artist needs to figure things out for themselves.  How?  Through lots and lots of practice.  I know of no other way.  Or maybe it can be thought of as colorful playtime.  That sounds like more fun, doesn’t it?  What you need to remember to do is experiment and follow the lead of artists whose background work you respect and love.  Then go play with shapes and colors and remember to have fun.  Soon enough you'll uncover your own signature style hidden there in the background.