Rob Adams a Painter's Blog painter's progress

Our own taste is always good, that of others is less so. There you have the art conundrum in a sentence. We know good taste when we see it, but struggle to find any way of sensibly defining or codifying the property.

So where does our taste come from? From nurture, education and experience is the simple answer. We absorb a lot of taste from out parent’s decor, then if we take an art course the prevailing trends and wisdoms get added on. Our friends follow fads and fashions, based on word of mouth and the media. We develop interests here and there in historical and practical matters. All these influences come to a head when we look at an object or image and decide where it falls relative to our own taste spectra.

There is in every historical era a taste or aesthetics consensus. Those who have positions of cultural power, academic, communicative, administrative or economic, include or exclude trends as they rise to prominence or decline into irrelevance. An example of this might be the moralistic genre painting of the Victorian period. In an era of concern as to the morals of society (or lack of them in the unwashed) it produced paintings and books that addressed these worries. We see them as in bad taste and overly sentimental now so it is hard to imagine them ever being seen as in good taste, but the fact is that they were.

Is our taste any better? Or will our aesthetic consensus be derided in turn by a new age? The answer perhaps is yes, but probably for the last time. The wholesale availability of imagery from cave painting to photograph means that any individual’s possible choices of aesthetic matter are so broad and inclusive as to make the term “good taste” so nebulous as to be irrelevant.

As an artist you are often on the receiving end of other people’s taste. They will have opinions positive or negative depending on their own received aesthetic. So I might be dismissed as “traditional” one moment and be admired for my free mark making the next. No offence, but I have learnt to take both with more than a pinch of salt. After all a culturally sophisticated Victorian might have said to me that I needed more narrative content and scorned my “want of finish” which was a favourite put down of the time.

So is that it, we cannot assemble any aesthetic consensus? I have no answer to that, now an artist’s work is viewable by billions of individuals at the click of a button we perhaps need a new definition. Perhaps a star rating such as Tripadvisor or Amazon. For my own aesthetic star rating I try my best to make my own choices unhampered as much as I can by considerations of historical style or genre. Is it well or skilfully done of its type? If it is of a genre of which I know nothing then I can just leave it undecided.

What I really try my best to avoid is the liking of a work because it chimes with what I do myself or dismissing it because it doesn’t. A lot of feed back from other artists consists essentially of a plea to “paint as I do or as I aspire to do”.  This one cannot but help suspecting is based on insecurity and a desire for reassurance about the relevance of their own work and perhaps cannot to be considered useful constructive feedback.

Some some of my own crimes against taste now…

Done as a present for a friend Mary. A very risky painting as it was a triple family portrait and the recipient is also an artist. No pressure then. I was pretty pleased with the result, this sort of painting often hits a brick wall when one part will not come good and undermines the rest. 12in by 10in Oils.

This one of Shaftesbury caused me a lot of grief. I repeatedly got the mid ground too light and had to wipe off. Not helped by the cloud shadows zipping over the wide landscape. 12in by 10in Oils.

I have been rather neglecting the plein air watercolouring so as the weather was favourable I set out to explore the chalk uplands east of Shaftesbury. Great skies and the light is improving as the season gets later. 12in by 7in Watercolour.

This is Castle Rings near Shaftesbury, actually painted prior to the previous painting. I had managed to forget my brushes so this was painted with a small workout brush I usually use to add high lights to pen drawings with. I actually took to emptying paint onto the paper directly from the palette and then spreading it about! later a painting friend joined me and I was able to swipe one of her brushes. 10in b y 7in watercolour.

This is the view from Pilsden Pen. Or should I say the rapidly vanishing view. As soon as I started the cloud rolled in obscuring the wide view. You would never know it but the horizon is about halfway up the picture! 10in by 7in watercolour.

Here I am at the top… I waited for the cloud to blow over but it didn’t. I eventually started this to pass the time. As is so often the case once you begin you find more and more interest in the subject. I painted all the dull green shadows first and then laid a wash over the whole lot to establish the atmosphere. The watercolour gods were with me and the risky process worked very well. I had to carry it down carefully in one hand as in the mist drying was just not happening. 10in by 7in Watercolour.

Another day out. This is near Abbotsbury. I boldly took on a whole 1/4 sheet. The washes were drying quicker than I wanted so a bit rushed. Watercolour

Making the best of the good weather. This is another day out. This is Kimmeridge with the Clavell tower in the distance. A great viewpoint from the path that runs along the escarpment. I will be returning here as it has great possibilities. 1oin by 7in watercolour.

This is looking West along the same path. The warmer tones are reappearing in the landscape as Autumn approaches which is very welcome. 10in by 6in Watercolour.

Last one of a lovely day. This is Osmington Mills. The family group out on the rocks were a subject I could not resist. They transform what would other wise be a pleasant but ho-hum scene. 10in by 6in Waterclour.