BLOG 004 Critque Group

by Jim Rataczak on 04/04/12

Getting feedback from trusted experts is a great way to improve in any endeavor.  For the past dozen or so years, I've had the privilege to be a part of a group of truly talented artists who gather annually at Gary Moss's great log home in central Minnesota. 

Each of us brings along a handful of current paintings, and we display them one by one for the group to comment on. We all trust each other to give honest advice. Honest.  Really, really honest. Sometimes the comments will make the artist feel a painting is much stronger than he thought.  Other times...

This year, most of the usuals were present:  Ron Van Gilder, Dan Metz, Gary Moss, Greg Alexander, Tom Wosika, and Tom Moen, and we missed Mike Sieve and Wayne Meineke.

One of the paintings I brought was a scene of Buffleheads zipping along a snowy river.  I'm painting it in the looser style I would like to develop, and so was curious to see how it was received by the group.  Happily, they liked it very much, and encouraged me to keep going down this road.  What do you think?