Tag: artists inspiration
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Crashing Tales
“Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.” Coco Chanel (from The Painter’s Keys) One writer sees the culture of creative people as “crashing” leading him to lament about the state of the current art world. He believes artists are seen as “cultural elites” “idle dreamers” or “self-indulgent parasites.” […]
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Persistence to Transformation
A rubber chicken becomes a beautiful hummingbird! One of the most wonderful parts of teaching painting workshops is when you get to be in on a magical transformation. This past Saturday’s workshop participants, like so many other workshops, consisted of a mix of the never painted before, rusty haven’t painted in years, and experienced artists expanding […]
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The Captivating Amaryllis
Symbolic of success, strength and determination, the Amaryllis’ name means “to sparkle” and so it does!
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Theft or Flattery???
“A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa but people still line up to see the original.” Louis Armstrong (from The Painter’s Keys) Help me out here! When is it okay to appropriate someone else’s work to use for your work? Is it ever okay? Suppose you like to paint in the studio from photographs. Would you […]
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Beautifully Purposeful
“Create we must, and respond to this dark hour.” Makoto Fujimura The artistic process for many can be a compulsion, striving to express an idea, a thought, a feeling bubbling up from deep inside. The expression is often not consciously mulled over before erupting into reality. How much time is spent reflecting on the purpose […]
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Eyes of the Heart
“I shut my eyes in order to see.” Paul Gauguin (from Skinnyartist.com) How can one create with eyes shut? Gauguin’s statement would seem to not make any sense. Does he mean painting with a blindfold on? Many paintings out there look as though they have been painted with a blindfold on. Many more look […]
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Soaking up Enchantment
“I do not understand how anyone can live without some small place of enchantment to turn to.” Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of Cross Creek and The Yearling Do we, as artists, require a place of enchantment? Can we create without a place of enchantment? Do we have to physically be at that place or […]
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Dramatically Simple
“When you lose your simplicity, you lose your drama.” Andrew Wyeth (from The Painter’s Keys) Many of the greatest artists, writers, poets, and creative people in general comment on the importance of keeping it simple. For some artists, this can be a difficult task, especially for those drawn to the dramatic. Although, at times, complicated […]
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Shedding the Cocoon
“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” Richard Bach (from The Painter’s Keys) Change happens to everybody sooner or later, some planned, some unplanned. Planned changes in art take care and timing. It sounds easy but isn’t always. People get used to a certain style from an artist […]