Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The difference between a bad painting and a great one is persistence, passion, focus, a desire to create something beautiful or memorable, an understanding of how colors and shapes balance together, and the knowledge that the whole compilation is the sum of small parts and individual brush strokes.
Imagine you see someone painting. They are making tentative strokes...fearful paint dabs...a little bit here, a little bit there...they use colors directly out of the tube, carefully applied..they look to the teacher for guidance, ask others opinions as the painting is formed... they try and fix it according to suggestions, and when it doesn't turn out exactly as they had envisioned they get frustrated and say "I'm not a good artist".
Imagine another artist, if you will. This artist is painting with abandon and confidence, splashing paint onto the canvas, mixing and scraping and blending, freely playing with color and textures....not appearing to be bothered by messy strokes along the way. They listen to opinions, and take suggestions when they think it will add to the beauty of the canvas, but they know ultimately it is their painting and they have the vision to turn it into something beautiful and unique.
Imagine the resulting paintings from these two artists. Quite a difference. Whether the end result is to your taste or not, the difference in the process of creation is marked.
Such is life - are we scared to live it, carefully dabbing onto the canvas, or are we exploring it with wild abandon? Do we feel free to experiment, knowing that the messiness and chaos that sometimes go into creating a work of art is part of the process?
Our lives are a singular act of creation - ours - and have the potential to be a masterpiece. What a gift and an opportunity - beautiful, gorgeous, messy and real. I'm off to go play with some color ...I think it's an ochre and pink day…
Imagine you see someone painting. They are making tentative strokes...fearful paint dabs...a little bit here, a little bit there...they use colors directly out of the tube, carefully applied..they look to the teacher for guidance, ask others opinions as the painting is formed... they try and fix it according to suggestions, and when it doesn't turn out exactly as they had envisioned they get frustrated and say "I'm not a good artist".
Imagine another artist, if you will. This artist is painting with abandon and confidence, splashing paint onto the canvas, mixing and scraping and blending, freely playing with color and textures....not appearing to be bothered by messy strokes along the way. They listen to opinions, and take suggestions when they think it will add to the beauty of the canvas, but they know ultimately it is their painting and they have the vision to turn it into something beautiful and unique.
Imagine the resulting paintings from these two artists. Quite a difference. Whether the end result is to your taste or not, the difference in the process of creation is marked.
Such is life - are we scared to live it, carefully dabbing onto the canvas, or are we exploring it with wild abandon? Do we feel free to experiment, knowing that the messiness and chaos that sometimes go into creating a work of art is part of the process?
Our lives are a singular act of creation - ours - and have the potential to be a masterpiece. What a gift and an opportunity - beautiful, gorgeous, messy and real. I'm off to go play with some color ...I think it's an ochre and pink day…
posted by Jodi at
8:36 AM
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