The Elusive Magic…
“It’s the elusive magic… the pure statement… (the stuff you sometimes see in the paintings of a child) that almost always inspires and excites me in a painting! I think in it’s purest form… art making (and viewing) is meant to be fun”
But as most artists already know… the elusive magic is not easy to capture… and the pure statement… most difficult to achieve. It’s deceptive really… what looks so easy and effortless is very often hard to do… and more often than not… the pure statement is (contrary to what we may have thought) the product of considerable prior thought… coupled with measured restraint (and a healthy dose of gay abandon)… all delivered with an economy of means… and with clear and precise action! phewww!
In short… we must think… plan… prepare… get in there… and then get out as fast as we can!
FUZZY LOGIC
I had an art teacher once who would continually shout “STOP FIDDLING” - she was sooo right!
“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties” - Ray Bradbury
March 17th, 2007 at 7:10 am
Aaahhh Jean….it is that eluisve magic that I crave. Those moments where your thoughts become visual on a board and it is all working….you can see the end result before it is complete. I have not painted for 6 weeks (aagghh I was truely having withdrawal symptoms from my addiction to painting!) until yesterday afternoon. Even though all I was doing was preparing my boards for a series, that elusive magic blanketed me in simply choosing the colours for the backgrounds. I am beginning a new phase - tropical gardens! I still adore my old faithful cottage garden menu, but this shall be a real challenge for me to reach out and touch the petals of frangipani and hibiscus.
March 17th, 2007 at 10:52 am
This makes me think of the analogy of the duck. If you see a duck gliding across a pond it looks so serene and easy-going, but look beneath the water and you can see the legs paddling away like crazy. The hard work lies beneath the surface, unseen.
March 17th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
speaking of ducks they and canada geese are returning to my melting pond. and speaking of elusive magic those wonderful free flowing lines in the al hirschfeld drawings were done bit-by bit in pencil first
March 20th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
I am hoping that Jean is just really busy and that everything else in her life is ok…. I am missing her!
March 21st, 2007 at 8:31 am
Sorry guys… I’m back! I took an unscheduled road trip to drive my daughter back to university. We drove for two days straight - 8 hours the first day (we left after lunch Saturday) and 13 hours the next. I am so tired of that monotonous black ribbon of highway… but we sure did see some countryside! LOL She would normally fly but we wanted her to have the car down there with her… so there was only one effective way to get it down there and that was to drive it! I flew home last night.
Thanks for the comments everyone. Jools… the tropical gardens series is going to be fabulous! There are so many varieties and so many vivid colours to explore! I have an exquisite pink ginger in my garden which was planted several years ago… this year it is rewarding me with continual blooms. The flower is the palest shell pink and the petals are thick and waxy… but the shape of the flower is not unlike a rose (of all things) LOL
Ducks… yes… a great analogy! John… you always seem to just “get it”! LOL
Roger… I am so pleased your pond is finally melting. That means you will soon be able to get out with your sketchbook once more. Was it Al Hirschfeld who did that painting of the telegraph wires (literally) waving. That image was “alive”. He (if it was him) used the line as movement… fascinating stuff.
March 21st, 2007 at 11:26 am
Al Hirschfeld did theater drawings mostly for the New Yurk Times. He died at age 99 still drawing. Even Hokusai only made it to 90. There is a fine documentary of him ” The Line King” When I visted Italy with John Crowther he told me A.H. had come to a show he was doing but the drawings didn’t make the paper.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:38 pm
What a shame Roger… that would have been a terrific collaboration! I wonder what happened to the drawings? Does John know?
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:52 am
Yes I am excited about the “tropicals” Jean. bright vibrant colours are just what I need right now!
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:17 am
Jean, I imagine it exists somewhere, but as AH originals cost upwards from $5,000 when he was still alive, it would be slightly out of my budget. The show was my one-man performance as Einstein, and I can tell you it was a thrill and a shock to look out into the audience that night and him sitting there drawing me.
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:55 am
Wow! Super claim to fame, John (as if you only had one). Al probably felt it a great pleasure to be drawing YOU. Jean, I’ve been on the road a bit myself recently. A bit too much, that is, but I have enjoyed my recent drives across parts of Texas with the wildflowers starting to bloom. I’m really loving your new paintings. Between your text and your paintings, you really know how to brighten a person’s day. Nita
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:53 am
Jools… you’ll be feeling better in no time… and back painting up a storm!
John… it must have been such a thrill for you to see him there in the audience… but I concur with Nita that he must have also been in awe of you and your one-man performance… for would he have been there otherwise? I wonder if fate will conspire for you to someday see the drawings he did that night… wouldn’t that be something!
Thanks for dropping by Nita… and for your encouragement. That cheers me on no end! These drawings are only small… around 8 x 12… and aren’t meant to be anything serious… just a bit of fun to illustrate a point! LOL I’m still recovering from the road… but it was fun… even if also a very loooong way! LOL
March 24th, 2007 at 3:56 am
Sometimes Jean, I browse through the old children’s books I’ve saved since forever. The illustrations rekindle that sense of profuse creativity that was a prevalent and expected constant in my childhood. Where does that spirit go?! What makes us afraid? I know that I could grow tremendously as an artist if I could just severe the fetters of self doubt and criticsm! Alas, that seems to be a typical attribute of growing older. Some say I make it look easy…but, like John’s duck, (fabulous analogy) I’m paddling harder than ever underneith the calm to satisfy my own expectations.
March 24th, 2007 at 5:19 am
Mary I didn’t startmaking pictures until i was 70. perhaps a second childhood?
March 24th, 2007 at 7:24 am
Roger, I don’t think you ever grew up! And I mean that in a great way!
March 26th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Mary… you do make it look easy! But I know that it must be anything but! The older I get the less other people’s opinions bother me… (not that they DON’T bother me AT ALL mind you) but it gets easier to just say “oh hang it all… this is what (I) want” It may seem arrogant… but then let’s face it… as children we rarely asked if it was okay to paint the sky yellow. If we felt like using yellow we just did… and that was okay because kids aren’t judged by anyone.
March 26th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Roger… you have probably been making pictures all your life… it’s just that now you are putting them down!