Educating Your Gut and Other Choice Quotes

Sketch of the final rose from my garden this year

Recently I have been reading Harold Speed's The Practice and Science of Drawing. It is a wonderful book...more about that later when I do a proper review.

But for now, a few quotes from the introduction:

On art education...
"Great things are only done in art when the creative instinct of the artist has a well-organized executive faculty at its disposal." (p.18)

In the past, I have referred to this as: "Always go with your gut. And always educate your gut."

On the difference between reproduction and art...
"The same fact accurately portrayed by a number of artistic intelligences should be different in each case, whereas the same fact accurately expressed by a number of scientific intelligences should be the same." (p.20)

This is an interesting perspective on the debate of photo realism.

On the perspective of an artist...
"The artist is capable of being stimulated to artistic expression by all things seen, no matter what; to him nothing is amiss. Great pictures have been made of beautiful people in beautiful clothes and of squalid people in ugly clothes, of beautiful architectural buildings and the ugly hovels of the poor." (p.22)

I find that "stimulated...by all things seen" a little challenging! I certainly have favorite subjects and dreaded subjects.

On seeing deeply as an artist...
"The commonplace view is not the true, but only the shallow, view of things." (p.22)

This again is interesting in the debate about style and communicating in art...you aren't just painting a pear and pepper, you are creating a view of the pear and the pepper.

It's a wonderful book, lots to think about...you'll be hearing more about it later. :D

A Great Quote

This past weekend I picked up a copy of Outdoor Sketching by Ernest W. Watson. He begins the book by cautioning the reader that learning to draw in the outdoors is a difficult thing.

He then says, "Is the prospect, then, disheartening? It might well be so for the weakly intentioned; for those in whom the fire of desire burns brightly the quest is full of high adventure, rewarding at every step along the way. The enlargement of one's power of expression and the awareness of new beauties in nature are great sources of delight."

That sums up the art adventure pretty well, I think.

My wonderful husband came home the other night with arms full of flowers, ice cream and chocolate! I am so blessed.

Here are some quick sketches I did of the flowers during family movie night.

They Knew What They Were Talking About...

Flowers for Lisa, work in progress
8in x 10in, colored pencils on vellum

Lately I've been rather discouraged with my work, I see more problems than successes I suppose. There are days when I think, I just don't know enough about CPs to make them really work. Then there are days when I think, I just don't know enough about color to do anything but monochromatic work. Then there are times when I think it's my drawing skills that are lacking. I'm sure that all three of these are true. But to actually admit that all three areas (and a few more that I can't even recognize yet) need work is more overwhelming than productive!

However, tonight, I read a great post by Vivien Blackburn, some of her favorite quotes. Go read her post, it's very good. I'll just put a few here that appealed to me.

There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun. -- Pablo Picasso

A man paints with his brains and not with his hands. --Michelangelo

If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all. --Michelangelo

One must really love to paint, to be driven as it were, to put in the time necessary to really get proficient.... Many people would like to paint, but not enough to paint those endless failures necessary to get to the good work. If it were otherwise, we'd be overrun with painters. --William Whittaker

Picasso gives me the direction, I want to turn a yellow spot into the sun, and Whittaker and Michelangelo tell me how: work hard, think hard, and then keep hard at working and thinking.