Get Into the Creative Act
by Robert Maniscalco
I make no apology: I love to teach. Actually, my students suggested that I share with you, my dear friends, some of the "tirades" I tend to go on while teaching. Things can get pretty deep sometimes in class.
The following are some random insights/discoveries my students and I have come up with together. Some of it is pretty nuts & bolts art talk, intended for pure instruction, while some has a more universal appeal that may inspire
"civilians," (regular folks who happen to love art). Here goes:
Only God can create beauty. The artist merely recognizes it.
God is not a mechanical being. Nature has a certain randomness that we must
get hip to. Painting and drawing is about honoring the specific "randomness" of form. If you can't see it when you squint your eyes it has no business being in
painting.
There are perfectly balanced compositions and then there are those which are intentionally forcing the viewer into another place, another view. It is a bit more eccentric perhaps. It says something about the subject, something about the artist.
Painting is about values (lights & darks). When you can master increments of value like musician masters scales, then you can paint anything you see.
God was very good to artists, creating forms in nature, which are beautifully related to one another. Our job is to unwrap these mysteries like a child opening a Christmas present -- ripping and tearing with the urgency of a child discovering the next toy.
Back in the '60s they used to say "everything is relative." It's still true today.
Let's not get lost in concepts or ideas, instead lose yourself in your senses, your perceptions, darks and lights, soft and hard edges, points related on a line, the way forms move through one another. Neutrals set the stage for all the other hues. They set off the Reds and yellows of your palette.
The stroke of paint in its rawest form either describes a form or expresses an emotion. Ideally, it should do both.
Look for dynamic edges. The edges are what direct the eye where you want it to go. White is an opportunity to express a rainbow of colors. Don't color, paint! Put the paint from your palette on the painting. Deposit the paint, trawl it on! Make a statement, "this is who I am," with every stroke!
Most people don't understand art, let alone appreciate it. The true artist has a point of view but recognizes beauty in all its forms. His worldview is unlimited. Please, your talent is worth far more than any amount of paint you may
"waste."
Black, out of the tube, is a non-choice. It is better to mix combinations of burnt Umber, Alizarim Crimson and Prussian Blue. Better yet, place these in juxtaposition with another to create vibration of color in your darker accents. Failure is the only road to success.
Once we have the values straight then we can we have fun with hue. Are hue having fun yet?
Don't obsess, express!
Skill is an illusion that takes years to buy into. And then, after all that, it can rear its ugly head as an obstacle to full self-expression. The artist must learn to walk the line, precariously, between skill and fully abandoned self-expression.
Look for the truth in what I say not in what I don't say. "Smart" people make for the worst students.
First order of business: create an envelope, the outer gesture of the object, into which the object must be inserted. The envelope is the essence, the gesture of the form. It consists of a series of straight lines, intersecting certain "sticky" points at specific angles. This envelope is the structure of the head or the figure or the tree.
Value (light and dark) can express mood or form. Ideally, values must express both. Combine "flesh" color with red of the same value. Don't mix them on the palette. Rather, combine the hues on the painting itself. Don't beat them to death; let the complementing hues vibrate together.
Squint your eyes -- see the form. Don't be seduced by texture, which is superficial. Form is synonymous with structure. Texture is the superficial element in painting.
The creative process is like riding a horse. You want the horse to go where you want but you don't want a dull ride. All the answers to your questions about drawing can be found at the source -- the model. The answer is not in your painting.
It's just as absurd to paint an "eye" as it is to paint a person's soul. You can't paint an "eye" you can only observe and understand the abstract shapes and edges that make up an "eye."
Good drawing is the window to the soul.
The best realists are the abstract artists.
When it comes to drawing, its location, location, location. Make a choice so you can see if it fits. Take a stab. If it's "wrong," you can always "fix" it. Remember, painting is not for sissies!
Shut up and listen with your eyes!
Listen to the right side of your brain. It knows. It doesn't have to decide or analyze. It sees shapes abstractly; it doesn't half to name them or categorize them. In fact, the right brain sees abstract shapes instantaneously if you can get out of the way and let it to its job.
Get hip to the zen of seeing.
Vague notions make for vague paintings. An idea is of no use unless it is crystal clear. Sometimes the process of painting leads us to this crystallization; sometimes it leads us away.
Work with your idea. Be open to it. Be gentle with it until it is ready. Then go after it like there's no tomorrow.
Squint your eyes to see shapes, as if you were cutting them out with a pair of scissors. Squint your eyes as if you were squeezing forms into patterns of light and shadow. Design the shapes with absolute precision.
Think of the brain as your creative bank account. Soul food like theater, literature, concerts, etc. act as deposits. Whereas mindless activities like watching TV or other passive activities are withdrawals.
Another creative withdrawal is attempting to render naturalistic images from the imagination. Without direct input from nature one is forced to at best, to invent and at worst fake the image into being. Nature herself is full of inspiration.
A landscape, an actual human head, the depth of a still life is full of creative material to be deposited into your creative bank account. The spirit of the person is in the play of light. Get the value relationships and you're halfway to the essence of your subject.
Paint with your eyes not your hands.
Be careful of too much unnecessary detail or explanation. The process of creating a work of art is the systematic satisfying of one need after another (which is why it's so gratifying). The self talk goes like this: "I need to move this object over here," or " I need more green," etc. itself talk should not be, "I should. . ." or "I wish I could. . ."
A series of naked strokes can create the illusion of 1,000 details. Choices result from needs. Needs, out of the process of exploration, which comes from a place of openness and freedom, which comes from setting goals and establishing a structure (within which you are free!).
Find the forms.
They lead to character which leads to likeness which forms the foundation for expression of mood and personality. Artists are not detectives, who examine carefully every detail. As artists we have to see in broader strokes. An artist must take pride in what he doesn't see. Sherlock Holmes would have made a terrible artist.
Perfection is dull.
There is no right or wrong in a work of art -- no moral imperative. The artist is someone who can recognize when a "mistake" adds to the painting. The moralist can never be an artist.
As an artist you are under no obligation to explain or justify what you are painting. You are here to paint, to express in paint who you are. Describe if you will but let's not insult the viewer with too much unnecessary detail or explanation.
More info: maniscalcogallery.com
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