Eye of the Beholder

[kerravonsen]

I've been doing a bunch of clicking at Art Face-off (which I found thanks to maximumverbosit) and it's been interesting more for the way that it's been clarifying for me what I prefer in art. As a general rule: landscapes more than portraits, and either more than (yawn) still life. I prefer the exotic to the mundane; give me turbaned warriors rather than little rich girls. And I'm not that interested in buildings, I'd much rather see wide open spaces in my landscapes. Water attracts me: seas and clouds and mirror-like ponds. I find it hard to pick between rough dynamism and still, detailed clarity, especially if the latter catches the light. I love deep blue and green (with a soft spot also for reds and golds); muddy, washed out landscapes are dull.

Maybe that means that my ideal painting would be of a stormy battle on the shores of Faery, at sunset.

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I did that too for far too long and spent a lot of time looking at larger versions of the more attractive ones. I think my taste is very similar to yours. The top picks are an odd lot though.

[kerravonsen]

The nicer pictures were very hard to pick between.

The top picks are an odd lot though.
I wonder how they do their calculations? I mean, picture A may be nicer than Picture B, but not as nice as Picture C, but people may not see Picture C... (shrug)

Oh, and rivers. I forgot to mention rivers.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I love water most of all in its different forms. Unless it's falling from the sky of course.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Have you seen The Battle of Alexander at Issus? One of my favorites, and it has just about everything you mentioned. Unfortunately none of the webscans are really big enough to do its gorgeousness justice... but I had part of it as a desktop for quite a while.

[kerravonsen]

Thanks... though it doesn't quite make my heart lift like some things, maybe because it feels a bit too busy rather than dynamic, and because it doesn't capture the light like some of my favourites. I've downloaded anyway, though. 8-)