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Thread: Woodland Scene

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    671
    Quote Originally Posted by Enug View Post
    As usual dear DA there is much to ponder in your comments.

    I'm not aiming to exhibit or sell my paintings - they are just for my personal pleasure. Naturally I want to improve - hence my studying of techniques by reading and watching videos - mainly brushwork. - I would love to be able to paint loosely like our dear friend Pat. Not being able to do this is frustrating and I guess caused me to feel a little depressed about where I was going. I am by nature a perfectionist and this is probably holding me back and preventing me from allowing my own personal style (if I have one) from developing.

    As for copying - sadly my imagination let's me down - I need a photo or painting to give me ideas - I'm trying to let them guide me rather than follow slavishly. If I sit here at my computer waiting to be inspired it could be a long wait.

    I have found the romantic landscapes of the Hudson River School of artists very appealing and might delve into those for some inspiration. I also enjoy painting animals - especially their eyes.

    Well that's enough of the pity party - let's fire up AR and get painting!!!!

    Thank you to Pat and Bobbi, for your lovely comments - they are really appreciated.

    I totally get what you mean about imagination. Funny thing about imagination is although its product is new in many senses, what is new relies on what one already knows, imagination must draw upon content which is known to come up with the heretofore unknown. A centaur is a primitive example of this, two known organisms, a man and a horse, are literally split and re-combined. Although primitive, it illustrates that the basic exercise of imagination, whether it on a concrete level, or a more abstract conceptual or thematic level, relies in application of what is known. For this reason, I believe that exercises directed to technique could actually assist with imagination.

    I am nowhere near as experienced as you having clocked a such a small amount of time (life gets in the way) with my tablet, but I have heard that "studies" are a great way for building up a tool box for painting techniques and ability: I think it also could work for imagination itself.


    For example, say you know you want to paint scenes depicting Greek villas and landscapes, perhaps you want to be able to make 3 or 4 pieces to cherish.

    In the beginning perhaps you don't know what the buildings are like. What the trees and fields, and mountains, are like. What the hazy air and ocean views are like. How these should be arranged into a mountainside scene, or a village scene etc. The idea is to obsessively paint LOTs of typical Greek buildings, lots of olive, Cyprus (or whatever kind of trees?) over and over, from references. This of course builds up your artistic technique and understanding of what these things look like and how you need to paint them. One approach could be to paint things separately first, e.g. 10 buildings, 20 trees, 5 hazy mountain seascapes, and then to start painting groups of these together in compositions taken directly from reference. Imagine doing this so many times you could deal with any of these in your sleep. You also have seen a variety of compositions, real life arrangements, landscapes etc. and in addition to your technique being primed, when looking at a blank page, you realize now your imagination is filled with a multitude of possibility, from which you can imagine something completely new BUT something which still makes sense, in the context of Greek villas and landscapes.

    It's like a artistic playground which once you immerse yourself into it and play around enough in it, you have a certain mastery that supports a freedom of creativity.


    If you have a particular setting or theme I think such an exercise could be effective. Again, I have nowhere near the experience you have and I cannot tell you from first hand knowledge whether doing this works. I think its definitely true that studies work for technique and getting to know what particular things look like and how you have to paint them... I think it is almost unavoidable that such an activity would also be a great boost to creative imagination as well.


    When I have time one day I plan to try doing the above... IF you happen to do so before then, please let me know how it works for you!

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    25,097
    @ DarkOwnt: It does work that way. What you were saying makes perfect sense regarding creativity being enabled through a fuller knowledge of technique and subject matter.

    There was another component in the mix that I was also addressing that hits many artists -- not feeling motivated, where the spark of joy just vanishes for whatever reason and they lose interest (or life happens). That can happen no matter how good someone is. The trick is to reconnect with where the real satisfaction lies in doing art. For some people it's as practical as making money. Others it is esteem, still for others it's communication or persuasion or to get some kind of reaction or in touching people. For others it's in expressing something in a perfected way and bringing something inside to be more tangible outwardly. Plus there are a lot of other motivations not least of which with it being a focused activity that's just fun (until the mystery is gone -- a pitfall of limiting one's self to a simplistic approach to doing art).

    You can look at all of those situations and imagine a moment when an artist just doesn't see the good of doing a proficient painting being worth the bother of mechanically completing what amounts to a technical exercise or simply going through the motions because the artist can already mock it up in their head and have the answer without the bother of painting. (ie. no mystery.)

    The joy in doing Art is still in there to be had, but it may not be in doing things the same way over and over. And presumably because doing something over and over means you're going to get better technically, the technical expertise may not be enough to spark new interest.

    Often finding the next challenge is a way to overcome that, and a change of consciousness about it may do the trick to get the artist to refresh and carry on. And looking for some of the other areas that have been perhaps overshadowed by just learning technique may be the thing that brings the Joy back.

    Technique is really clear cut and easy to get a handle on the steps one can go through to get better. It's measurable. As such all it takes is diligence and hard work and you can power through it easily enough. But then, the next level up can be a brick wall and a stopper because it's about what you're doing with the technique that is really all important. And it may cause the artist to question the worth of why they're doing it all anyway.

    Because they may not have ever really created anything original, or may not have gotten used to establishing essential questions that lead them to being a complete creative artist and doing something based on their own ideas, whether coming up with a new or personal style, or new voice, or whatever. That is one of the ways to minimize the risks of running dry. If the Art is a reflection of one's inner activity, it's an endless fountain. And again, mystery makes doing art a "page turner" like reading an exciting novel. You have to motivate yourself with wanting to find out what is hidden behind the white of the blank canvas.

    But the challenge in becoming that kind of artist is that there aren't so many measurable things to set as a precise goal (unless you're on a roll zeroing in on something you're trying to do). Generally speaking, it's more a direction than an end point. And yes, of course, during all that heady stuff, one can be working on their technique and absorbing how Greek villages look so that when it comes time to do one with some freedom, one is experienced enough to know the components.

    While studying guitar, I once heard that one guitarist's hand is the athlete because of the physicality of it and the other hand is the artist hand because it creates nuance and expression. It's arguable on which hand is which for that illustration. But the concept of dualistic parts is a good one for Art as well. Your technique is the athlete. Your voice and inspiration and creativity is the artist. And you have to keep your athlete in condition by practice so that when you go to express something, you can do so without mechanical snags. And I think that's what you were asking. And that's the context in support of your comment -- with maybe a little more to factor in to the artist's experience.

    "Not a bit is wasted and the best is yet to come. . ." -- remembered from a dream

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Aguascalientes, AGS, Mexico
    Posts
    6,930
    ...and besides all that...it's a terrific painting.
    Appreciation fosters well-being. Be well.
    Thread with bunches of my AR paintings-conversations. Here

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