I particularly like this painting. I have my reasons, and as an artist, it may or may not make sense to the viewer.

Sometimes I feel the need to understate. Many of my paintings though, are what I would consider complete to most viewers. But its a fine line between enough information, and too much. In this piece, I didn't want to make evident everything with a clarity of definition to the viewer. Rather, I wanted the mood and overall composition to capture the senses. An ocean side cottage? Perhaps an Inn? .. or beach houses. I don't know, and I really don't care. Sailboats in the distance? Yes. That's pretty evident. An ocean of blue and some sandy bluffs or dunes and beach grass. Its a feeling that I want, not a pictorial account and depiction. I could have taken the suggestion thing, even further, but that is for another painting. Maybe at some point, I'll remove all traces of visual identity and just let the eye assemble the image in the mind.

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"Seascape with Cottages"

7 1/2 x 11"

acrylic on archival paper

russ potak

Sometimes a painting is just a painting. No message. No complex underlying compositional equations, .. and no deciphering meanings.

Sailboat in a tidal pond, is just such an example. I did this last year, and it is really nothing more than a place in my mind, derived from a place I was at, and translated into this painting. I thought it a pleasant scene at the time, and thats all I needed to convey it. Sailboat lazily being pushed by a gentle breeze into this backwater pond on a soft and splendid day.

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acrylic on canvas

16 x 20"