Our Wednesday evening class is back at it again. I love the diversity in drawing styles of this group. They are going where they personally want to go with their art.
The artist below has been with me for many years. She now is at the point where she has the confidence to assemble various inputs to make her own scenes. Making art is a challenge she knows that she can meet. Isn't this the most delightful chicken you've seen all day?
I love thinking about famous quotations. We'll see if I can find one for each of these artists.
As I work at my drawings, day after day,
what seemed unattainable before is now gradually becoming possible.
Slowly, I'm learning to observe and measure.
I don't stand quite so helpless before nature any longer.
Vincent van Gogh
Below is work done by an artist totally new to our group. She is working on understanding the need to make shadows dark enough so that her paintings look three-dimensional. This will be lovely when it is finished.
I've never heard this quote before. This is true for me.
Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness.
It trains the mind through the eye,
and the eye through the mind.
As the sun colours flowers,
so does art colour life.
John Lubbock
Every artist has their own rhythm. This one knows enough about herself to pace her work. Taking a break from figuring out complicated photos is sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself. And, do you see what tool she has in her hand? The best bargain in art: a tortillon (stomp) (smudger). This $2? tool can take graphite images to places you never knew they'd be able to go.
If I create from the heart,
nearly everything works;
if from the head,
almost nothing.
Marc Chagall
We all get our inspiration from different sources. This artist was blown away by the art of Walter Anderson, when she came across his work on vacation. Right now the image looks a bit confusing, but it will be beautiful when it's done. Beginnings are sometimes messy.
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things,
but their inward significance.
Aristotle
The artist below is quick to pick up new techniques. In last evening's class she figured out how to paint in a wet-on-wet loose style. The dots on the paper are masking fluid. When her painting dries, she will rub them off and they will look a lot brighter. This artist works at an intense left-brain job all day. I have a feeling that making art washes away some of that intensity.
He who works with his hands is a labourer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.
Saint Francis of Assisi
I think all of our Wednesday evening artists are secure in their own styles for this quote to be true:
I have already settled it for myself
so flattery and criticism go down the same drain
and I am quite free.
Georgia O’Keeffe
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