I've always felt like I had some significant gaps in my skillset whenever it came to anything resembling the arts. Even back in the New Paltz ceramics studio with Mary Roehm (*sigh*) I was talking a good game of filling in the gaps in my art education. Unfortunately, that wasn't the kind of nurturing space or the right audience for it then, and I probably wasn't ready for the kind of efforts which are involved in backtracking on skillsets.
Come to think of it, that was pretty common for a while. I could sense that there was something I was missing, something that needed to be filled in, some gaps that needed closing in my education (whether it was in the music world of clarinet performance, ceramics, Spanish Literature, and yes quite frankly, Graphic Design) but there was never any way for me to actually fill them in. I think it was a good deal of me just not being in the right head and heartspace, but I also think that it was a lack of a decent teacher, too.
What's different now
Aside from being 10+ years later, what I find that has changed is that as Dave presents each technique, I feel like a gap is filled and closed. I'm beginning to see the 'middle part' which is putting it all together. He was showing me colored pencil sketching this weekend and put a color down on the paper which was rather clashing and out there, but I could see that it was a color which 'bridged' two others in the composition. It might have looked very much out of place, but the tiny spots of that color were halfway between the base color and the background color. The result was that it helped to tie the sketch together tighter and helped to unify the overall underlying tone.
But see, I get that because you can play similar tricks in design. CRAP principle. Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. Those are the four cornerstones of design, which in painting gets called 'composition'. It sort of applies to color. In its own weird 'makes sense to Adam' way.
It's a good pairing for me to be Dave Gulotta's apprentice. It's one on one training, there's plenty of space for independent exploration in the time between training weekends, and he seems to understand intuitively the kind of teaching I need. I think I'm a peculiar mix. Advanced in certain areas, woefully unprepared in others.
Dutch Masters painting project
Well, of course not to become a Dutch Master. I'm not Dutch. ;)
But we're now beginning to approach learning how to paint in the method and using the techniques which were pioneered and perfected by the Dutch Masters. Vermeer. Egads, if I can get halfway toward Vermeer by the time I turn 99 I will have succeeded in these creative endeavors beyond my wildest expectations. Odd that I'm crowing about Vermeer when until last month I had never heard of him before. But Vermeer is phenomenal for his work, yet almost nothing is known about him.
So the first stage of this project is to select a concept. This is the deliberate style of painting. Everything planned, worked out, and constructed slowly. Deliberately. With care, with time, and with patience. Patience I think is going to be the key to making any sort of progress within the world of oil painting. Letting the materials be what they need to be.
And I don't know... there's some kind of inner resonance to the Dutch Masters style. If an Art Historian reads this they'll probably roll their eyes or cringe at my sheer ignorance of Art History terms and concepts... one step at a time, folks. Besides, I'm not learning how to talk about it... I'm learning how they did it, so that I can do it, and so that I can learn how to adapt those techniques for myself. Dali's secrets... first learn to paint like the masters, and from that point on you will be able to do whatever it is you want.
Inner resonance
Back to the inner resonance. Dave handed me a concept pad and told me to write down the stages of the construction of a Dutch Masters style painting. As he was dictating them to me, I began to feel a rush of emotional identification with the process. THIS was oil painting. THIS to me was what I had been missing – the steps of construction.
It's so strange to me to describe it. I knew (oy, did I know) that this was a colossal amount of effort involved, but I also know that it's this amount of control, this deliberateness which is going to fill some kind of inner need. The need to be able to be deliberate. Yes, I'm happy to experiment with freedom. I'll be happy to paint a la prima, I'll be happy to work impressionistic. But this... this is the idea of what painting is that I've been carrying around with me all a priori-like.
Not just from the amount of effort, but rather because it's a plan which is incredibly comprehensive. It's that comprehensive approach which is enticing. Suddenly, the old classical hierarchy of the arts asserts itself again. Charcoal, pen and ink, ink washes, even pastels... all as the means to work out the details and capture the spirit of the subject. To work through the process of selection, of research and refinement. Yet still remaining firmly in the world of art, where happy accidents are the keys to brilliance, and where the subject matters more than the intention behind it... the interplay of desire and serendipity, the ability to utilize the moment yet still prolong the process over the course that -it- needs to take... yes.
Yes, this is where art is calling for me right now. I'm so absolutely thrilled with this idea that I'm already resolved to complete this project. I guess only three of the apprentices thus far have done so. After hearing the 'broad strokes' stages of constructing this painting, I can totally understand why. When in the midst of labor-intensive steps you write the step "REPEAT AS NEEDED" and then bracket off a good 5 or 6 of those labor intensive steps... well, let's just say that it's a bit daunting.
Concept is king
But it's also a bit envigorating. The concept needs to be strong enough to carry interest, vital enough to engage the artist (let alone the viewers) all throughout the process.
Not to put undue pressure. I'm not. I'm psyching up, not psyching out. I give myself full permission to make mistakes, to change my mind, to be responsive as I need to be.
Ah well. What a grand adventure this is going to be! And I'm happy to share some good news on the blog that started out as more of a testimony of depression.
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