This oil on canvas, "Onion braid" is on a 2x3 inch canvas. This is the smallest size I've ever painted. Because it is on canvas and not on a flat panel, the detail must be impressionistic – there's just too much texture from the canvas to do much detail that other styles of painting might allow in such small sizes.
As an artist, I pick the size of a canvas by the style in which I want to paint and by the shape of the composition that I might be painting. By that I mean I might be looking at a subject and seeing it would look good on a strong horizontal or vertical, so I pick a canvas I have on hand that would fit the vision I have for a subject. As for the style. I like to paint more abstractly on canvases 16x20 and impressionistic on canvases smaller. For me, the larger canvases offer a chance to explore the intersection of planes of different color and use broad strokes. If I were to make impressionistic paintings that large, then I would have to create the image using many small strokes – much too tedious for my tastes.
As for what size is right for someone buying a painting; I think any size is right. It's a matter of what space you have to fill. Small paintings in narrow spaces between doors and walls or windows are great, especially if stacked on top of one another. Larger paintings can become centerpieces in walls over larger furniture. Almost anything goes now days – just watch the TV shows. You see small New York apartments with the walls covered almost solid with photographs and art of all sizes. It used to be that a painting was thought to have to be hung centered on a wall with no pictures above, below or beside it. That's pretty much out the window now days.
As an artist, I pick the size of a canvas by the style in which I want to paint and by the shape of the composition that I might be painting. By that I mean I might be looking at a subject and seeing it would look good on a strong horizontal or vertical, so I pick a canvas I have on hand that would fit the vision I have for a subject. As for the style. I like to paint more abstractly on canvases 16x20 and impressionistic on canvases smaller. For me, the larger canvases offer a chance to explore the intersection of planes of different color and use broad strokes. If I were to make impressionistic paintings that large, then I would have to create the image using many small strokes – much too tedious for my tastes.
As for what size is right for someone buying a painting; I think any size is right. It's a matter of what space you have to fill. Small paintings in narrow spaces between doors and walls or windows are great, especially if stacked on top of one another. Larger paintings can become centerpieces in walls over larger furniture. Almost anything goes now days – just watch the TV shows. You see small New York apartments with the walls covered almost solid with photographs and art of all sizes. It used to be that a painting was thought to have to be hung centered on a wall with no pictures above, below or beside it. That's pretty much out the window now days.
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