Secrets 1 - 5

The first secret of Dali's Magic Craftsmanship is rather straightforward. There are five different types of brushes, and he outlines what each brush shape and type is used for. He describes these in terms which match the 'Fat over Lean' rule of oil painting, although his language is a little more colorful. And he describes certain ways of working with each brush.

Secret 2

Very straightforward, until you get to the way he describes using a fan brush (Secret #2) for blending by propping your off arm (being left handed, my off side is my right, but Dali writes from a right-handed worldview) on your off leg which is resting on a springboard so that you can bounce it quickly whilst holding the 'on' arm with your off hand, and allowing only your painting wrist to move, all while bouncing and trying to attain the speed and fluttering of a hummingbird.

Mmm hmmm. I'm not sure where allegory ends and technique begins, so I shall one day have to try this.

Dali also goes into the shape of the stroke that each brush type makes. From a technical point of view, this chapter begs to be returned to and experimented on, because as a single secret, it contains a wealth of technique which must be practiced.

Secret 3

Secret #3 is to pause the passion of creation before beginning so that you may put yourself in the right frame of mind. The kind of pause is the deepest sleep you can attain. "Sleep on it" seems to be the advice. This is pretty much in keeping with sage wisdom of the ages which has nothing to do with painting, but it does establish quite firmly the fact that oil painting is a process where a certain level of patience is called for. That and a painting whose vision will sustain you through the whole process.

Dali further goes on to refine his definition of this kind of sleep by stating that artists need to learn how to use 'slumber with a key'. Essentially, get in a semi-comfortable position and hold something in your hands which will make a loud racket when it is dropped. Then go to sleep. As you relax, you release the object, which falls and makes the racket, and you are now wide awake. That length of time, mere seconds, is the point. You're hitting a 'refresh' button on your brain, not indulging in a luxurious nap.

Secret 4

Here we begin to get "Daliesque". Secret #4 is the slumber of the sea urchins. Dali describes a certain kind of specific meal of seafood which is required, and he singles out a specific type of sea urchin. Presumably this is for the narcotic effects of this particular creature. You then set yourself up to look at your unblemished canvas and to study it serenely, meditating on it almost, with no artificial lights present. Do so for a full afternoon on into the evening just a few minutes past the time that it's too dark to see. You are, essentially, giving yourself the luxury of visualizing the painting which you will embark upon. If a full five hours seems to be too much time, recall that some paintings take excruciating amounts of layers and time to complete, so it is a small amount of time in the extreme.

This reminds me of the athletes and warriors mindset, where a battle or an enterprise is won before you even begin to try. It's acquiring the mindset of the desired result, and getting in the right 'game space', artistically speaking.

Secret 5

Here we begin to enter the bizarre realms, but only slightly. With this secret, Dali begins to have us cast a spell upon ourselves. Or more properly, we've already entered the altered state of consciousness. Now we're supposed to eat a meal of perch and save three of the eyes. (Taking one from your wife's fish with a smile, so sayeth the Master). For western cuisine, we tend not to eat the eyes, so I'm thinking for myself it will be three white marbles instead.

He describes a practice whereby you position two of the eyes so that you 'stereoscope' them together into the optical illusion of one, and you hold the third eye in the Y cleft of your crossed fingers. The point is to fall asleep while being confronted with the fact that your senses are lying to you. Yes, lying. He's aiming for a state of mental dissociation, a sort of mental trance or mental realization that the senses of humans are fallible.

Magically, it makes sense. By that point and time in the process you've built up quite the visualization, and the painting is literally straining to get out. Like putting a nozzle on the garden hose, by restricting things slightly it builds up the creative pressure and the urge of the concept to realize itself in manifestation. It also begins to trick the ego to let go and get the hell out of the way so that the right brain can work without interruptions.

I can relate to what's being aimed at here. There is a brain-wave pattern which I have always associated with "successful" periods of making art. I don't know which greek letter is the proper one to ascribe to those states of mind, but I do know for certain that it happens when you can successfully disengage your Critical mind, your Censor, your Ego, your Left Brain pattern of thinking. And that seems to be what Dali is aiming for, the hypnotic pattern almost where time ceases to be noticed and the channel is opened to the concept coming through. It's that mindset which allows days to go by unnoticed, and is also why many artists have a reputation for not eating... they fail to notice that the body is hungry, because they have stepped out of the way and are allowing creation to happen.

Yeah, I've been there. Not that anyone would accuse me of forgetting to eat. ;)
So far, even with all of the babbling and surrealist writing styles Dali is not completely off of his rocker. Beyond this secret we end up with lots of quotes of babbling folks, but there is a thread of sanity linking them all. He's -not- mad. Not quite, but he definitely lives next door.