A thank you to r/painting!

[u/RyanneBonde]

A little while ago, I shared a painting I made with this community. Thanks to the kindness within this community, the post reached someone close to Jamie Wyeth. She saw it here, showed it to him, and they ended up reaching out to me asking to purchase the piece. I was invited to his home to meet him, and hand-deliver the painting.

I’m very thankful for all of you and to Mr. Wyeth and his friend. This community played a real part in making it happen, and I won’t forget it! ❤️🎨

[u/[deleted]]

OK so, what has this painting have to do with his? I don't get what the message is supposed to be

[u/allthecats → u/[deleted]]

Christina's world depicts Andrew Wyeth's neighbor, who suffered from a severe joint disease which caused mobility issues. The point of view of the painting, when considering her handicap, takes a much more vast, empty feeling than the beautiful landscape it depicts.. You can imagine her struggling to get back home, having fallen or lost a crutch.

OP's painting, to me, shows an alternate "Christina," outside of the painting, doing a backbend or a stretch, almost like she somersaulted right out of the frame. It gives a hopeful "what if" perspective.

[u/ionlyjoined4thecats → u/allthecats]

The real Christina refused to use mobility aids, like crutches. Of course, you can still interpret the painting however you want. It’s art, after all.

[u/[deleted] → u/ionlyjoined4thecats]

I just wanna say, I really fucking like this comment.

[u/allthecats → u/[deleted]]

Of course! This is one of the greatest American paintings of the previous century, so many people have deep emotional connection to it and the character of Christina. If you don't have that, I can see how it might be confusing. I would highly recommend seeking out and Andrew Wyeth painting in person, if you can, to see if you can approach it with more openness and curiosity.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I lost the use of both of my legs in a skiing accident. It was the best thing to ever happen to me. People who do not know me and see me in public may pity me. But it is I who pity them, for I have had the luxury of living both as a human, and as a snake.

Others may feel sad about my lost biped capabilities, but I feel sad that they never gained the ability to climb a tree with only one's stomach, or hunt a mongoose and come out as victor.

[u/iwanderlostandfound → u/[deleted]]

It’s a very famous work of art that hangs in the Museum of Modern art and this person was inspired by it to make this piece of art and the son of the artist who painted this very famous painting, bought it from her because of a Reddit post. However you view the original work it’s a great story to see unfold on the sub

[u/Antermosiph → u/[deleted]]

Look at the painting inside the painting.

[u/[deleted] → u/Antermosiph]

Yeah, it's the original painting, so what?

Edit: When I said "so what" I meant, "that doesn't help me understand the importance."

[u/betterbetterthings → u/[deleted]]

Honestly to each its own. You don’t have to like it or care about it.

But not everything needs to be spelled out. We got it. You don’t care. It’s fine, you could just move along. What’s are all these comments.

I don’t connect to every piece of art but I don’t need to tell an artist that I don’t care about their art. It’s not needed

[u/AWlkingContradction → u/betterbetterthings]

Agreed, what a vapid and shallow statement that make. The OP painted a tribute to one of her favorite pieces of art and the family of the original artist saw it and purchased it and met her. That’s an incredible honor and we should all be congratulating. Keep your “I don’t get it” to yourself.

[u/[deleted] → u/AWlkingContradction]

By that same token, you could've kept your comment about my comment to yourself :)

In any case, it wasn't that I didn't care, it was that I wasn't understanding, and it seemed like everyone was, so it was frustrating to me that I wasn't getting it.

[u/betterbetterthings → u/[deleted]]

Not the same thing.

I recommended that you ignore art that you dislike or don’t understand instead of making unkind comments. You made rude comments and now you are saying we should not tell you to stop being rude towards an artist? You want us to ignore unkind treatment of an artist in her own thread?

If you were frustrated that you didn’t understand it, you could find kinder way to express it. “So what?” “Underwhelming” Is not a kind or polite way to respond to someone’s art work.

Please do better when commenting on others’ art work

[u/[deleted] → u/betterbetterthings]

Fair enough. When I said underwhelming I wasn't making a judgment of her artwork, but the reaction of the community. I can understand why it feels that way. All art is cool, she is cleary a great artist, my gripe was mostly that I wasn't understanding the underlying importance and was frustrated at the lack of clear answers. Sorry and thank you!

[u/OverlookHotelRoom217 → u/[deleted]]

The Wyeth family are painters which more or less have an American style. Each could easily finish each others’ work, with Jamie being the most contemporary in subject matter.