TRADITIONAL FINE ART
William J. Akridge
Thoughts About Art and Tradition
Artist - Photographer- Graphic Designer- Videographer AGED Limited Graphic Designs, Founder
Here are a few thoughts about art in my opinion. Being on this Earth for close to sixty years now, I've found some truths. You have to put these into context, I grew up before computers, when books were the only way to learn about art. Even then it was a very limited view of the world.
Art is very special to me, a part of my soul. The Old Masters spoke to me through these very heavy books without the quality of the visuals we have today. From a young age I would sit and pour over the same few books that was at my fingertips. Dreaming of creating such works with my, sad to say it, non-education of this field.
My parents and others around me had no artistic inclinations. I was alone in my dream. But over time of just putting paint to canvas and honing skills, I keep pressing forward. To this day so many years later I still love to learn something fresh and new.
Looking back, I've learned a lot about fine art especially painting. Learning all the rules then breaking them to make my work unique. To making a few wild strokes of a brush and letting your eye create the subject. Capturing a feeling in the moment never to be seen again until you study my work.
I have learned that there is a second component to my work. It's the people who view and ramble from corner to corner of the canvas. Knowing at the end of the painting I've created something that is alive and breathes and wants to live on. Making it as real as you and me.
I think that a work of art is a child. Here is to put it into a better understanding. When you have a real work not a mass produced or even a limited-edition copy, you have something very valuable and precious.
Let say you buy or inherited a real painting. You may keep it for the rest of your life. When you move the fake copies such as a mass-produced work may not make it into your new home. It will find its place in the dumpster of life, but the real one-of-a-kind work will find its place in your home like a long-loved family member. Staying with you to the end, then becoming a part of another family.
There are a few works I've created that will stay with me until the end. All I can do is hope that it will be loved as it was with me. My old, aged advice is to find real not produced art and let them bring you peace and joy.
Now a little bit about my work.
I have studied and taught many styles of painting. For me the late nineteenth and early twentyth century is where my heart beats and pulse races. The loose brushwork the simplicity of shape and color making a work that is viewed up close looks like a crazy patchwork, but a few feet back the world and life of the artwork tells you a story.
Taking a peek into a moment of mood and time. Dancing to a song that will sing to your heart. Hoping that you can spend a little time with it to share a bond that may never be again. Something you can walk away and remember the time you spent.
I don't produce a lot of work, because I want what I do create to be special. To be the next step in my evolution, not a fritter. So, I paint to find that something in the work, that undefendable quality you can't define with words. Creating something positive for the World and her future. To connect with you and the people who will come after we are long gone. Even if it's a simple painting of a flower in a cup of water as the sun peaks through an old window and a torn curtain with dancing dust only seen in the Sun's rays.
I can only hope you find peace in your world as I do when I paint.
Thank you for sharing this moment.