The artist statement as art summary

—The art world—

It occurred to me recently that it would help to think of the artist statement as also an art summary. The way I think about creativity, it should be as much about the art as the artist. Maybe more so. And when I think about the word statement, it sounds like it means a proclamation. Personally, I am trying to let my philosophies drive my work as a secret recipe and beyond that, keep my art "ism" viewpoints to myself. We often hear artists protest that their work should speak for itself. Even in the 21st century, I think that's the right insight.

For now, I'm going to keep using the terminology: artist statement. But for me, a good start to writing an artist statement is to think of it as an art summary. That way, I can excuse myself from thinking I need to write a manifesto about me and can focus on the work itself.

Time + Money + Resources, Part I

—The art world—

I'm not a math person, but I've long considered art making to be the product of an equation. It takes time, money and resources to be able to make art.

Time + Money + Resources = Art Career

But the difficulty lies in the fact that it takes time to get the other two parts—money and resources. Likewise, time is money, and it takes money to buy time. In fact, you can take any of the three terms of this equation and see that one necessity is dependent upon having an excess of the other two necessities. If you've got the time and resources, you can make money. But it takes money to buy time and resources. This is why (unless you're a speculator rather than an artist—and some artists are both) people say it takes money to make money.

As an analogy, the equation, then, is what mathematicians and programmers call a recursive function. Each term in the equation adds up to another term. For the sake of mental health, let's call these terms assets.

Mixing Primaries

—Lesson Plan—

Most students know how to mix secondary colors from primaries. I have several lesson plans that set up my younger students to discover the phenomena on their own. The lesson I'm posting here asks the students to try to mix two secondaries into a primary. The result is earthy, muted reds, blues, and yellows. I encourage the students to use these colors in their paintings.

Essence

—Studio Tip—

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Edgar Degas used a technique called peinture a l'essence (painting with spirits), or simply "essence." The method produces pastel-like paintings that feel as much like drawings as they do paintings.

Get a small piece of chipboard to use as a palette. Lay down your oil paints in small piles and let the cardboard soak out the oil for maybe ten or fifteen minutes. Then thin the paints with straight turpentine (or a turp substitute).

For a surface, get a stiff piece of chipboard. For "Portrait of a Young Woman," I painted on a piece of chipboard that I recycled from the back of a drawing pad.

Too many drawings

—Studio Tip—

I found a way to deal with the ever increasing amount of drawings that clutter my studio. I made a pile of drawings I don't want to keep and, one at a time, I tore the sheets in half using a straight edge. Then I turned the used side down and stacked them to make a neat, compact pile of sketching paper.

By tearing the old drawings in half, I've committed to disposing of them, and when I encounter them again, I know they are scraps. It's a great way to move forward, recognizing that their value is in what I've learned. And it's nice to work out ideas on a piece of paper that is no longer pristine. It's a little less daunting; it feels like it's already been broken in with creativity.

On Tuesday nights, I've been grabbing a handful of these scrap papers to take with me to a local figure drawing session. Now, when I've used the blank side for a study or sketch, I can decide whether to keep it or finally throw the paper away. If I do keep it, it's fun to think that someday, someone might ponder what's left of the old drawing on the verso. It's reminiscent of a time when drawing paper was more valuable. 

Exploring the gesture of the eyes

—News from the studio—

Today, in preparation for my MFA thesis project, I'm sorting through hundreds of photos of figure models, choosing shots I can use to represent people lost in thought or reverie. One of the essential elements for this attitude is the position of their eyes. A few years ago, I stumbled across theories of how the directions of our gaze correspond to parts of our brains and reflect particular cognitive and emotional processes. For example, a person looking down to their right is engaged with feelings, while a person looking down to their left is engaged in self-talk.

Using this research, I've been exploring how the gesture of the eyes, the expression of the face, and the posture of the body can communicate the psychological state of a person. By portraying the model staring off into an empty space—in the distance, in a middle ground, or even at her own body—I can portray the model absorbed in her own psyche. With the right treatment of the eyes, I hope to create images of people gazing inward.

Thoughts after a Woody Allen documentary

—Creativity—

I watched a Woody Allen documentary a couple nights ago and was struck by some elements of his success.

He got started by following a suggestion that he write jokes for newspapers. This naturally progressed to writing jokes for comedians. He said it was easy and he could come up with fifty jokes a day.

He did what was natural and what came easily. This makes me think about how often we artists make things difficult for ourselves. We think, if it's easy, it must not be that great. But our talents come easily (that's what a talent is), so it makes sense to start by doing what comes easily. Just get it out there. Allen, to this day, is disappointed in all his films. But falling short of his own unrealistically high expectations doesn't stop him from making film after film, following the impulses that come naturally to him. If he's not completely confident that his work is up to his own par, he is confident that he should be doing his work, and so does it to the best of his ability (which happens to be great).

Five value range

—Lesson plan—

Value is one of the most important elements in art. It's also one of the hardest to master. This lesson prepares students to think about and execute a full range of values.