Paul Ingbretson Talks About Painting

Focusing on the articulation of form for planar tonalists and how it differs from nature and from the Boston School in particular. The visible markings of planar impressionists, of broken color impressionists and how nature looks is discussed. In response to Tapia QUESTION: “Australian Tonal Impressionism (Max Meldrum’s School) also sees form as 2D (no tactile 3D).” Tapia

Observations on the work of the very impressive early Twentieth century painter, Sir William Orpen, and some of his stronger contemporaries. Orpen was the offspring of two painters and began studies very early clearly with the soundest of training . In Response to Lost Contact QUESTION: Would you comment on the works of Sir William Orpen, Tonks and Disgustus John?

We are looking at some Japanese art mostly from the 1700’s with a view to appreciating their beauty and then discussing the works of certain Western artists to show influence and compare In response to Sagi QUESTION:I really love you ! you're amazing , the visual order way has changed my life . I have a request , you have mentioned before japanese paintings and their beauty of color , can you talk more about japanese painters in your next video? Sagi

This discussion covers what Gammell refers to when he talks about designing a sleeve or piece of drapery. It is more than just a pretty line or two but, as usual, involves the relationships of the visual components of the material. In Response to Anon. QUESTION: When you speak about design do you mean designing as in finding and improving a line or a shape? Sounds like you mean more than that.

Discussing the “idea” as it pertains to painting. Nothing is done without ideas, concepts, but there are various understandings of what they are and how they are used in impressionist painting. This gives a glimpse of various uses of ideas mostly as it pertains to painting from life. In response to Genius2 QUESTION: But surely, Paul, even with the most naive eye, you are still painting an idea of what you see. Western painting has always been a mixture of both. Vermeer did not purely paint what he saw. I agree representing and understanding visual nature is the most important thing an artist should learn, but that alone does not create great paintings. Genius2

A brief run through of the thoughts of a painter who comes at painting from the exclusively visual approach. It is attempting to summarize the uniqueness of that approach to painting from life. In Response to an “Intensive Class” Student QUESTION: Sum up the essential thinking of a visual order impressionist. An “Intensive Class” Student

A review of the work of the British landscape painter, John Constable, with references to those who worked like him perhaps under his influence followed by comparisons with later impressionistic painters including the Boston School. In Response to Jack T QUESTION: You mentioned how Meldrum is more like Constable than the Boston School impressionist. Would you kindly discuss the difference between constable and impressionists? Jack T

This is to give viewers a chance to see a little of what can be gleaned by memory once you have acquired the ability to see relationally. A short description of what Paul does to help remember and record what he sees and even where they were seen. In Response to Agam QUESTION: I have seen your pastel color studies of fleeting effects from a car window and wondered if you might talk about how you did them. Agam

Responding to several points regarding modern realism this video discusses one of the key components of great Western art which is its rejection of exotically developed drawing in the work choosing rather to paint ‘broadly.’ “Looking in” as compared with “seeing big”, Trompe detail versus largeness of execution. Apparent form versus actual form. Form relations vs isolated forms.

Discussing line drawing showing more clearly what is meant by a ‘floating line” and then some further points about Fechin and Degas. In Response to Jane and Kofi QUESTION: What is a 'floating line'? Susan K What is the innocent line? How do I make an innocent line? What do you mean by a memorized line, virtually traced? Would Degas have memorized a line that described a flat shape, or would he have memorized the forms which he could later draw lines from? Or both? And traced from what? You mention in the video that Fechin fell under the category of using a memorized line that was traced. I'm very curious what you have to say about his drawings, he's another one of my favorites. Kofi

This is a look at and discussion of the work of Meldrum Australian student and artist, Clarice Beckett, extending into further discussion of Meldrum, Sargent, Sorolla, Monet, Benson, Whistler, Twachtman, Harrison and Zorn. In Response to Jane QUESTION: I would love to know what you think of one of his students, Clarice Beckett, who had that vision and heart and compositional ability that Max Meldrum may not have. Jane

This is a review of numerous ideas in Meldrum: Science of Appearances (which Paul finally got a hard copy of) that synchronize with the long time Boston School based teaching of the Ingbretson Studio. The previous videos where we have specifically discussed Meldrum thinking are Numbers 69, 75, and 127: Paul Ingbretson Talks about the Max Meldrum and Science of Appearances - No. 69: https://youtu.be/vNEdHGETUzM Paul Ingbretson Talks One Last Time (hopefully) about Max Meldrum - No. 75: https://youtu.be/k72NHOn4g70 Science of Appearances #127: https://youtu.be/F_PX4QMw-g4 In Further Response to Jas

Part III of an interview by painter/teacher, Alaister Dacey, who was also an Ingbretson student with a view to fleshing out Paul’s later Gammell year or so and the transition to the next chapter of his development working on his own In Response to Alastair. QUESTION:I just listened to your #148 and appreciated how clear and methodical you tried to be in breaking it down and illustrating. I would ask (and I think this is what I mentioned to you on the phone a few weeks ago) what skills in patience, dexterity, shape and line making and systems of assessing proportions does the painter need to acquire to effectively incorporate the system of seeing relationally you laid out in #148? Alastair

This is the second part of an interview by a former Ingbretson student and professional painter and teacher in his own right. It covers the several Gammell years when ‘academic’ thinking began to be incorporated into his base and he was introduced to the Boston School. In Response to Alastair. QUESTION: I just listened to your #148 and appreciated how clear and methodical you tried to be in breaking it down and illustrating. I would ask (and I think this is what I mentioned to you on the phone a few weeks ago) what skills in patience, dexterity, shape and line making and systems of assessing proportions does the painter need to acquire to effectively incorporate the system of seeing relationally you laid out in #148? Alastair

A former Ingbretson student and now Paul’s son-in-law does an interview exploring Paul’s history at the Art Student’s League and Gammell’s atelier, His idea is to attempt to flesh out keys to his thinking and approach to painting today. In Response to Alastair QUESTION: I just listened to your #148 and appreciated how clear and methodical you tried to be in breaking it down and illustrating. I would ask (and I think this is what I mentioned to you on the phone a few weeks ago) what skills in patience, dexterity, shape and line making and systems of assessing proportions does the painter need to acquire to effectively incorporate the system of seeing relationally you laid out in #148?

This is a description of a discussion Paul had with R. H. Ives Gammell about who the greatest painters are followed by a suggestion about the need for such queries when gaining understanding as a young painter. In Response to Anon QUESTION:Some say you can't teach 'taste' but when talking about wines exposure to more and more wines eventually gives your palate the capacity to recognize the better ones. So is there similarly a way to educate your eyes to what is best in painting?

Pictures have a dominant value, an overall value, that must be considered along with darkest dark and lightest light when deciding the values to use in a painting. While the uninitiated think we match values one-to-one experience painting from life soon disabuses one of that idea and we are forced to see relationally after all. In Response to Anon QUESTION:What is the 'general tonality' you refer to and is there a 'general color' as well?

Response to query about going about self teaching art. Some practical advice and suggestions emphasizing the importance of working relationally. In response to Richard II QUESTION:The idea around the importance of studying the visual impression had never been presented to me before and the laying out of what makes up all painted imagery is very useful for me to refer to and use as a base. In relation to the Art fundamentals question and this drawing question I asked, I wonder if you have any advice further for someone who is trying to “self” teach themselves art? Could you offer your advice further on best practices and/or the best ways to practice and structure study? Finally what is the best way to study the visual impression in art practice. Richard II

When R. H. Ives Gammell suggests that the term impressionism really could cover all work done directly from what one sees before him and attempts to express that truthfully he creates difficulties for those who see Impressionism as explicitly the Monet formula. This is a brief comparison of a real Monet imitator, Henri Hensche, with ‘impressionism’ taken more broadly. In Response to David QUESTION:Could you say more about the differences between the R. H. Ives Gammell and Henry Hensche approaches to impressionism? David

A discussion of the work of Benson in the light of his point to his daughter that one is always designing in making a picture. The “impressionist” mind, unlike some imaginative painters does not simply resolve his design at the start and then noodle up the likeness of the components making a few final, if important, corrections at the end. In response to Richard I QUESTION: “You will always get into trouble unless you design all the time you are painting. Stop designing and you are in trouble. “ This bit from Benson’s notes to his daughter got me wondering: Does this mean that one should always be “painting the design” i.e. not necessarily adding, subtracting, or moving parts, though that may be needed, but to always think in terms of painting the arabesque or main features of the design, irrespective of particular objects, using light effects as key elements from start to finish? Richard I

Showing shots from an online video demonstration of what the painter calls the comparative method as opposed to sight-size, this discussion elaborates on how that in using construction drawing and other methods it is incompatible with our and the Boston School way of working. In Response to Richie98

Painting effectively, its mastery depends on knowing the names of what you are working with and then how to be effective in their use. This covers several things that will help you with separating values from colors and then assessing them relationally. In response to Mesut QUESTION: How can I train my eyes to see the value of the colors? İt is easier to make a value study or color study in terms of cool or warm but for me it is really hard to see the value of the color in front of me. Mesut

This is a demonstration of how to review and note the great value Idea of a picture composed visually. We are doing it in the context of an online composition class and using Degas as our point of departure. In Response to A Zoom Failure During my Online Composition Class

This is a continuation of the discussion about drawing from the previous two videos. The question focuses more closely on our thinking regarding drawing contours as distinct from drawing effects and the reasons why and when a Boston School impressionist might do memory drawings of outlines. In Response to Kofi QUESTION: At 15:04 you talk about drawing objects vs drawing effects. What do "objects" and "effects" mean to you? What you call subject is what I mean by object. I'm assuming you're alluding to a type of drawing where marks are used to circumnavigate an imagined conception of the subject's volumes/planes, vs drawing where marks are used to replicate shapes of value seen with the eye. Michelangelo vs Seurat. If that's the case, where would you place your drawings from memory? Lines hardly ever appear in nature, so using lines in those drawings, were you relationally measuring the contours of your imagined forms? And at 10:45 was Degas referring to lines around an imagined object, or was he referring to the flat placement of lines on the paper, derived from 2D shapes observed on the retina? What about your Holbein and Ingres studies? If you agree that Holbein and Ingres both fall into the object camp, what would copying them according to your tradition be like? You often describe the "visual order" and at 14:15 an "order of appearance". This you will have to clarify.How does drawing contours fall into that? Kofi

After seeing our video on Ensemble Drawing a viewer expressed a sensed inability to locate points to help establish the drawing on a canvas. This is a more comprehensive look at the idea with suggestions for how to accomplish this part of the setup. In Response to Shawn QUESTION: Can you possibly elaborate on how to determine where the "right" place to put a point in relation to the whole is? An untrained eye can tell if the placement is not correct simply by way of visual dissonance or imbalance, but does the trained eye use more precise, or specific, methods for determining placement? Shawn