Sunday, November 23, 2014

Room for Everyone. Period.

Yes, I teach a lot.  I love it.  It is my social life.  Once the kids left home I found that my entire social life had existed because of their high school sporting and social events. That ended with them leaving the nest.  So I increased my schedule over the past few years and I want to share some thoughts.  The enrollment of my workshops has increased and I am so grateful! I see such desire to learn from the people that choose to study with me.  I LOVE it.  They are so earnest.  And I have been told I am a natural born teacher.  
Now to my thoughts and concerns.  I believe there is a small group that may feel I teach too much,  that it hurts my personal work.  And that I may be contributing to the rise of the amount of artists entering the market.  I have no love for "Art Snobs".  First, I don't teach formulas.  The information I teach has been available to anyone for centuries.  And whether a person started their career early or late should not be a concern.  I teach the fundamentals and encourage the student to explore their potential in order to be able to "say what they want to say".  There is no need to worry about the "wannabes"!  That is what they will remain.  It's those artists that put in the time, the 10,000 or 7,000 or whatever amount of hours it takes to become oneself.  And I firmly believe that if one searches with earnest and with quality mileage they will emerge with their own vision and there will always be room for those artists.  Whether it's two or two million.  
         


I teach that you may manipulate the values.  I teach you may use a full palette or a limited one.  I teach that you may vary the surface quality.  I teach that paying attention to "edges" can create it's own statement.  I teach how to paint form.  I teach simple proportions of the figure.  I teach how to draw.  I can teach how to capture a more representational version of an image or one that has a more personal vision.  I hope that I also teach how to think and how to see.  But I cannot teach someone "what to say".  That only comes through ones personal journey through quality "blood, sweat and tears".  There is room for you and me.  








Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Keep reminding myself.

I have to keep reminding myself to keep it simple!!  What's the deal!  Ok already!  How many times do I have to repeat it.  So back to value thumbnails to make things clear again.  I am going to do my best to "say the rest" with color changes in the large value shapes and not  more value changes.  Here's a start.  We will see what happens.  I always try to finish a work from 10 to 20ft back.  I go for that "immediate read".