Hawthorne On PaintingPublished by Dover Publications, INC . New York
It's just a short book but it has a powerful message for the painter. I hadn't picked it up for awhile and did so the other day. I've been focusing on the landscapes section. His words bring things back around to very basic truths.
"The weight and value of a work of art depends wholly on its big simplicity-we begin and end with the careful study of the great spots in relation one to another. Do the simple thing and do it well."
You can still find this book in stores or online. And if you've lost track of your copy, pick up another.
I sometimes collect extra copies and give them away to deserving art students with that determined gleam in their eyes, hungry for knowledge and understanding. In many ways I'm still right there with them. I have explained many times that we've probably forgotten more useful techniques and working methods than we'll ever be able to use in one lifetime. We are constantly absorbing information and ideas, coming up with new "swing thoughts", to use a golf analogy. And we don't always continue the things that are working best. I think back to the work I was doing in my twenty's and in many ways it was stronger then than most of the paintings I'm producing now. I can't tell you why this is so. Maybe I saw things more clearly then, before the weight and struggle of life cluttered my brain with noise.
It may be time to find ways to let some of that clarity return. Go find your voice today. Go paint the important thing. See the big color notes and shapes. See life in it's most basic form.
It's just you, paint, a brush...and the canvas!
"The weight and value of a work of art depends wholly on its big simplicity-we begin and end with the careful study of the great spots in relation one to another. Do the simple thing and do it well."
You can still find this book in stores or online. And if you've lost track of your copy, pick up another.
I sometimes collect extra copies and give them away to deserving art students with that determined gleam in their eyes, hungry for knowledge and understanding. In many ways I'm still right there with them. I have explained many times that we've probably forgotten more useful techniques and working methods than we'll ever be able to use in one lifetime. We are constantly absorbing information and ideas, coming up with new "swing thoughts", to use a golf analogy. And we don't always continue the things that are working best. I think back to the work I was doing in my twenty's and in many ways it was stronger then than most of the paintings I'm producing now. I can't tell you why this is so. Maybe I saw things more clearly then, before the weight and struggle of life cluttered my brain with noise.
It may be time to find ways to let some of that clarity return. Go find your voice today. Go paint the important thing. See the big color notes and shapes. See life in it's most basic form.
It's just you, paint, a brush...and the canvas!
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