Nimra and Close

There are times where I see another's artwork and just break down. Sometimes it's tears, sometimes it's anger. Chuck CLose is one of those artists. Not everything he does appeals to me, but his work is where I want to be. Another is closer to home (literally) and that's Armin Mersmann. I have worked with him at the Midland Center for the Arts for a couple years now. His insane attention to detail is where I want to be. It pushes me to focus and zoom in on the detail, as does Close's work. You can see Chuck Close's work here and Armin's work here
Then again, I see emotion in others' work whose paintings are looser and more impressionistic as opposed to the photo realism/photo rendering I've practiced half my life. My brush strokes are looser than my pencil lines, allowing a softer feel, but not always intentionally. When I was graduating from college with my BFA, my instructors said flat out that my black and white work has more power than my color work. One of them, after my "BFA exhibit final critique", walked up to me with his hands in his pockets and shaking his head.
"So you're not that good with color" he told me in his Bostonian drawl, "Ya just gotta work more at it, but your drawings and printmaking are very strong. You're good in black and white, but need work in color". Very good to hear the last week of my 4 year stint in the institution giving me my degree in Drawing and PAINTING!!