Jan 12 Edges

 This is a pic of the waterbulb - you know the ones used to feed plants?  I used it for texture on the canopy pic a few days ago, this time, I added a glowing edges texture to get more of an automatic painting kinda feel.  It reminds me of some of my oils on canvas!

and the original below.

When it comes to painting, as I imagine most art forms, you have to be able to do the real before you can do the surreal. That didn't sound right. Let me tell you a story;

When I was 11, I was over at my Aunty Donna's house, I was taking dance lessons and Joey, my cousin was in grade 8 piano and practicing 'the entertainer' non-stop and he always had the metronome going, tick, tick, tick, in perfect rhythm and harmony. I remember dancing while he played piano. Anyway, my point is, it was always noisy, rhythmic, and dynamic environment. I loved it. One day, I think my Aunt went to the store and Joey wasn't there. I was sitting on the couch, all by my lonesome staring at a decorative chair in the corner. (You know the one, popular decor in the 70's, straight back, small, solid wood that no one could sit on.) No TV, no Radio, no noise, just silence. I decided to sketch it.

I grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and a book to draw on and curled up on the couch and got to work. It took me 4 hours, but I had a perfect sketch of the chair. I think I gave it to my Aunty, but I don't remember. I just remember that when she saw the finished sketch, she said 'wow'.

At 11, was the point in my life when I was able to sketch photorealism, with perfect balance and light, and I did it all the time...fast forward to age 12.

When I was 12, my family and I went to Europe. An 8 week back pack trip through 7 countries. We, of course, visited museums of great artists. They had displays of the processes the greats took to achieve their works. I didn't know before that that you could sketch it out first. I also didn't know that almost all the great modern/automatic/impressionist artists started in realism and then moved to the alternate style. You can see the progression in their work. You can see Picasso’s decent into madness as well as van Gogh, Monet, etc. That's when I realized, that an artist must be able to do the basics, realistic, how the light moves and plays with the colours on a visual level. He or she must be able to see the light for what it is, see the colour for how it is, see the balance of actuality before he or she can start to interpret it into something else, something more. Don't get me wrong, artists who can do realism to higher levels are awesome...but I've always loved the surreal.

My epiphany; I realized that by drawing my technically perfect sketches, I had now earned the right to paint from that part of you that is emotional and not logical.

In other words; you have to be able to do the real, before you can do the surreal.

Oh, and before I digressed, I wanted to say that, I like how in automatic paintings, everyone sees something different.

take care!

George.