TODAY'S FEATURED POST

“How do you know when you’re finished?”

Vanessa Lemen

This is answering the question “How do you know when you’re finished?” when it comes to a painting or creative project, especially something that is without a deadline and/or is not using a reference but is invented or from imagination. This answer is the way I tend to think about it, and expands on the concept of that answer that is based on a feeling of being finished, which of course includes being sufficiently satisfied…

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EVERYDAY ORIGINAL

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YESTERDAY’S POST

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Rückenfigur

Lauren Panepinto

September 4, 2025 - I didn't know there was a word for this until recently, but of course there is, and of course it's German. Rückenfigur (literally "back-figure") is a compositional device in painting, graphic art, photography, and film. A person is seen from behind in the foreground of the image, contemplating the view before them, and is a means by which the viewer can identify with the image's figure and then recreate the space to be conveyed. (from Wikipedia) The textbook example of this is this image is Caspar David Friedrich's Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog: And in fact, I only heard the term Rückenfigur at all because there was just a Caspar David Friedrich exhibit at The Met. He loved this device and it shows up in his work a number of times:   Obviously Friedrich…

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