Dumb question
 

Why would an art critic (gallery owner) look at the surface of a painting at an angle? I mean a very sharp angle, almost skipping across the image sidewise under a very bright light. This happened to me today, she said "The Rose" was "beautifully executed" after this inspection. What was she looking for?

Jean

The texture of the paint - like how thick it is? I've never seen that myself before.

Checking out your shadow and highlight areas - I doubt she was looking for numbers under the paint! HA!

Maybe she wanted to see if your stretchers were warped.

Thanks for the feedback, I felt really strange while she was looking at it across the face instead of directly at it. There are multiple layers of glazing on her face and I felt like she was seeing all the layers and peering into my soul.

I thought maybe it was a common teechnique of inspecting for "something"?

Marvin, it was painted on a cradled wood panel, so no warped stretchers.

Beth,if you look really really close the numbers just barely show. ;)

Kim, maybe she was looking at brushwork, can anyone really tell how much paint is on a painting?

Jean

Jean it's funny to me you found it odd. I start each morning turning my work every which way and smoothing out the strokes I don't want yet.

Sometimes I go a bit too far and scratch, but I have become a painting plastic surgeon - practicing the art of botox on linen.

I would have been a bit intimidated. Sometimes when I'm pushing paint around, struggling with a color or shape, I feel like I've applied paint with a hammer.

The critic probably couldn't comprehend the quality of your work and was checking for trap doors or mirrors.

Beth, we're all plastic surgeons (but our patients suffer no pain)!

John, she declined to carry my work, so I don't think she was that blown away. But she will recommend me for portrait work and in particular my dogs! Said that she gets more call for dog portraiture than people (although very little of both). And I was intimidated.

Jean

Gallery
 

Gallery folks can do some odd things. You have to remember that most of them no nothing about art history, design or method. This sounds like some parlor trick that she was taught at some seminar. I've shown in 37 galleries and numerous additional shows and I have never seen this done. I don't do it. I can read the surface without doing a side scan. If you can't see this stuff straight on then why look sidelong at it?

Jean just from listening to others, I wouldn't feel bad if I was you about the gallery. From what I understand they rarely accept artist who do primarily portraits.