Interior paintings and closed threads

[bnguffey]

Larry. I understand what you are saying in my thread you closed. But what about all the other interior paintings that get posted here in landscapes? Do those need to be placed in the Oil, Watercolor, Acrylic, etc. forums? I've seen many posted here from very well respected members of the community.

Thanks

[sundiver]

I'll jump in here:).
Because the Landscape Forum has become so busy of late, we have to be a little more specific about what gets posted, so the genuine landscapes don't get pushed off the page.
We'll likely just leave the past threads which fit into that category unless they get bumped up or something. This is a "from now on" notice.
This situation has come up in many of the other WC forums long before this, but it's just the last while that Landscapes has been so busy that it would matter. Landscapes is after all a subject forum.
We know members become comfortable in the forum where they frequently post. In other forums where members want to post images that are counter to the forum subject or medium, they post a link and invite their forum friends to look at it and comment there.

[bnguffey]

Thanks Wendy. Just wondering.

[beejane]

Because I just recently posted an interior landscape as well, I hope it's all right, Bill, to add a comment.
I didn't realize that interiors were not considered a form of landscape, and was thinking of doing more of them to post here, where I have been getting so much help. It is hard to move to another forum where people don't know your progress or lack of it, and might judge you differently. I felt that landscape was a "scene' and it didn't matter whether it was indoor or out. I can understand that in a busy forum, pictures sometimes fly by quickly, but it all seems to even out in the end. Usually, somebody will haul a painting they wanted to comment on back to the top of the list for a second view. But there do have to be rules and I'll stick with the moderators point of view. They do a good job of keeping these forums civilized. It just might get a little tricky, because what do you do with something like this?
http://www.johnctraynor.com/exhibit/land18.html
which I found thanks to a link from a blog from quietstorm's post.
And since I had a window in my painting, with trees and grass, is that a landscape? Should a truck and car be a stil life? And what about Larry's hunter with dead deer? Is that figurative? I've also painted a few front porches. What should they be? And actually, Bill, looking at the photo you were using, isn't the painting within the painting a landscape?
Bill Wray awhile ago was suggesting we have a figure in the landscape section, which I thought would be a good idea. So maybe, although I don't really recall too many interiors in the last while, we could add an interior section. The Artist's Magazine combined landscape/interiors in a recent contest so this must be a situation others have had top cope with;
http://www.artistsnetwork.com/article/2008-LandscapeInterior/
Just my humble point of view:).

[objectivistartist]

Yes - find something of the same with my "Stoned Wall", which I took to be a still life, but which others said was landscape because it was out of doors...

perhaps what this forum could have is something like the Quick Dry Cafe of acrylics forum, Outside the Lines of the colored pencil, and The Ink Well of the pen/ink - an open thread for each week [or month, as in some] to cover stuff not of the forum proper...

[ZanBarrage]

Great idea Robert. It is hard to make friends here and once you have made them you want to share more with them.

[bnguffey]

Because I just recently posted an interior landscape as well, I hope it's all right, Bill, to add a comment.
I didn't realize that interiors were not considered a form of landscape, and was thinking of doing more of them to post here, where I have been getting so much help. It is hard to move to another forum where people don't know your progress or lack of it, and might judge you differently. I felt that landscape was a "scene' and it didn't matter whether it was indoor or out. I can understand that in a busy forum, pictures sometimes fly by quickly, but it all seems to even out in the end. Usually, somebody will haul a painting they wanted to comment on back to the top of the list for a second view. But there do have to be rules and I'll stick with the moderators point of view. They do a good job of keeping these forums civilized. It just might get a little tricky, because what do you do with something like this?
http://www.johnctraynor.com/exhibit/land18.html
which I found thanks to a link from a blog from quietstorm's post.
And since I had a window in my painting, with trees and grass, is that a landscape? Should a truck and car be a stil life? And what about Larry's hunter with dead deer? Is that figurative? I've also painted a few front porches. What should they be? And actually, Bill, looking at the photo you were using, isn't the painting within the painting a landscape?
Bill Wray awhile ago was suggesting we have a figure in the landscape section, which I thought would be a good idea. So maybe, although I don't really recall too many interiors in the last while, we could add an interior section. The Artist's Magazine combined landscape/interiors in a recent contest so this must be a situation others have had top cope with;
http://www.artistsnetwork.com/article/2008-LandscapeInterior/
Just my humble point of view:).

Some good thoughts there, Barbara. Since coming to the landscape forum a few months ago I have seen numerous wonderful interior paintings. So I too thought it was okay. I agree that rules should be followed, but I do think they should be consistent across the board.

A while back I put a self-portrait up here, and knew it was in the wrong forum, even said in the original post that the mods could pull it if they wanted. But I like the people here (not that I don't like the people in the other forums as well) :) , and wanted to show what I had worked on.

But with this new one I had no idea it was wrong to post here. As you said, it does have landscape in the painting; horses, cow, sky, rocks and water. I looked at Larry's last thread regarding the man and buck, and there really isn't much landscape at all. Looks like a portrait to me. That's not a dig at Larry at all :) , but just an observation.

By the way, I think the painting that got locked on this forum is close to finished. I posted on Figures and Oils forums.

[objectivistartist]

Indeed, looked at yer blog, it is nicely along... :thumbsup:

[sundiver]

Wikipedia 's definition of landscape works pretty well here:"Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including physical elements such as landforms, living elements of flora and fauna, abstract elements such as lighting and weather conditions, and human elements, for instance human activity or the built environment", and it's inclusive , but, as has happened in many other WC forums that become busy, lines have to be drawn somewhere.


perhaps what this forum could have is something like the Quick Dry Cafe of acrylics forum, Outside the Lines of the colored pencil, and The Ink Well of the pen/ink - an open thread for each week [or month, as in some] to cover stuff not of the forum proper...

This is a good idea that has worked well in other forums. It's also a good vehicle for other off-topic information to be shared.

[LarrySeiler]

some might study the landscape minus ducks, deer, cars, houses, the figure (etc., ) for a good long while to get a sense of light, atmosphere, proper color and so forth. Then of course, taking on your genre of interest like the figure you may now wish to have a convincing background or environment that comes from the fruit of working hard studying the landscape.

If there is one gripe I've had about wildlife art, for example...over the many years which honed my earlier reputation...it was that the landscape was thought of as a resented foil that was necessary to prop behind the subject. But...if one studies the work of Carl Rungius...he painted many plein air landscapes from horseback travels into the mountains...then produced very large paintings nearly duplicating those studies but placing moose, elk...bear in them. The animal form treated as existing within a believable environment...both form and background equally important, none as a foil.

To see what one having studied the landscape can do placing say a figure in a landscape environment is still I think within the scope of a landscape. A person may be a subject minus one additional tree...who knows.

Recently...my deer hunter with the deer was redirected and removed from the Portrait forum. Their guidelines say no animals. Now...I'm presuming why that guideline had to come up was that people were loosely interpreting portrait and thinking "animal" portraits as well. Its possible the idea of posing a figure/person as a legitimate portrait subject with a harvested fish or deer never came to mind as such guidelines were being put together.

So...I cropped the image of Tim's head and shoulders and submitted that as thread in the portrait forum minus reference to it as part of a larger painting.

In the beginning...less than 1,000 people...we maybe had three or four main forums. The cafe was one of them...the others quite broad, and over time of course a gazillion forums and subforums. We felt this thing could grow get big...and it has proved over time to outgrow most the original people even that had a hand it WC's birthing.

Its ultimately about community...and doing what is best for community.

I encourage while you get comfortable here in Landscape forum...don't hesitate to post an interior landscape, for example...in the oil forum...or the acrylic (according to medium). You'll make new or additional friends for one.

But...forum flow is a concern for the overall community.

I think the idea of a banter/rant/share & care type thread is becoming more the norm in a number of forums where off topic paintings can be shared, and may fit the bill for folks comfortable with those they know better. One stickied thread that might be stuck for a period of time...maybe a week, or a month that can then be unstuck to start the next period of time. Would keep the forum front page then free from clutter.

As for the confusion of an interior qualifying as a landscape, I think one gets an immediate feel if you type landscape paintings in google, then click on images. The search engines generalities will show you have to get to about the 4th page before you see a figure with a hoe and a landscape background. Similar perhaps to my figure with the deer and landscape.

Got to the 7th "Next" page before a woman lying on a carpet was depicted, but clicking on it you see that google picked up on the artist's statement talking about landscape paintings AND representational art works. Clicked about the 9th page on a vase with flowers and see that google picked up on a link of the page that was "Landscapes" while the page that came up was florals.

But...I didn't see anything to suggest an interior represented LAND'scape.

Wendy and I will talk, Rich too...and we'll see if we cannot begin a stickied thread. In the plein air forum...we used to call it the "Daily Daub" which lasted about a week's time.

Thanks for everyone's understanding...but too, of the 150,000 artist members that belong to WC...many new members join all the time. Imagine their confusion if they should read forum guidelines for the first time but get the idea that no order is really adhered to. Or feel anything goes.

Its like...next summer I travel to southern England, will probably rent a car. Since in my community I drive on the right side of the road...shall I complain I can't just continue to do so...and insist upon it? Certainly wouldn't contribute to the flow very well...and might ruin one's day. ;)

We'll get it hammered out here. We're volunteers as staff, and we value friends we've made here as well.

take care...

Larry

[sundiver]

Wendy and I will talk, Rich too...and we'll see if we cannot begin a stickied thread. In the plein air forum...we used to call it the "Daily Daub" which lasted about a week's time.
Larry


Already up and stickied. Most of these types of threads have names that are wordplays or puns. Feel free to suggest a name that's better than "The Scenic View!":cool:

[Bill Wray]

How about a Sub- forum to landscape called Landscape Variants, where we put in all the paintings that don't have a home, but are closest to landscape in categorization? All the ones spoken of couldn't support a category by themselves, but together it would make sense.:angel: I have to say killing a thread is really not very nice.:( Create alternatives, not hurt feelings.:crying: If it's to busy a forum, fix the problem construtivly or leave it be.:)

[sundiver]

How about a Sub- forum to landscape called Landscape Variants, where we put in all the paintings that don't have a home, but are closest to landscape in categorization? All the ones spoken of couldn't support a category by themselves, but together it would make sense.:angel: I have to say killing a thread is really not very nice.:( Create alternatives, not hurt feelings.:crying: If it's to busy a forum, fix the problem construtivly or leave it be.:)


If there's anough interest in that we can take the request to admin and staff for consideration. In the meantime there's a thread (http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=536242) for that purpose. Many other WC forums have similar threads and they work very well.

There was certainly no intent to hurt anyone's feelings; it was just time to do something about the situation as it has been on the increase.
Larry gave an example of his thread being removed outright in another forum. Here's my example: I used to work mainly in soft pastels and was "comfortable" in that forum. Allergies prompted me to switch gradually to oil pastels, which I use basically the same way, or to a combination of both.
Then the Oil Pastels Forum was created and I had to move there. New people, nice people. But if I combine the two mediums I can't post in either forum unless the "other" medium is less than 20%. Now the O.P.s might let it go, because it's a quiet forum and threads stay on page 1 for a week. But the SPs are way too busy and would have to remove it. It would bump down the genuine soft pastel work. So I started posting it in Landscapes and guess what? New people, nice people.
And that's what has happened in Landscapes: it has become too busy to let things slide. bnguffey's thread just happened to be the one that was there that day, and we apologise for any disappointment. But he can pop that great image into the dedicated thread now for all to enjoy and comment!

[objectivistartist]

well, since on the subject, what's a dog portrait doing in landscape? :eek:
[dang mutt's leaving droppings all over the place...:rolleyes:]

[sundiver]

well, since on the subject, what's a dog portrait doing in landscape? :eek:
[dang mutt's leaving droppings all over the place...:rolleyes:]

hehe
Well, that's one of yer gray areas, isn't it? :angel: There's a carefully executed landscape behind the little guy, attention paid to light and foliage, soooo....

I think this covers it:
some might study the landscape minus ducks, deer, cars, houses, the figure (etc., ) for a good long while to get a sense of light, atmosphere, proper color and so forth. Then of course, taking on your genre of interest like the figure you may now wish to have a convincing background or environment that comes from the fruit of working hard studying the landscape.
The animal form treated as existing within a believable environment...both form and background equally important, none as a foil.

To see what one having studied the landscape can do placing say a figure in a landscape environment is still I think within the scope of a landscape. A person may be a subject minus one additional tree...who knows.
Larry