As a painter, I’ve long felt that looking at paintings may be as important as the process of actually creating paintings.
Strangely, I was reminded of this when going through some old movies and came across “Bean – The Ultimate Disaster Movie”. I’m not ordinarily a fan of Mr. Bean per se, but this movie is a fun spoof on the art world. Mr Bean, a lowly gallery attendant, is mistaken for a leading art scholar. When asked what he does, he replies, quite accurately: “I sit in the corner and look at the paintings”.
This is at once funny and also a bit of excellent advice.
Looking at images is at the core of visual arts. Being intrigued, delighted, disturbed, influenced – directly or indirectly, contributes to a deeper level of seeing and feeling. Relating to patterns, colours and textures drives our creative processes. This is what we remember and as the specifics fade, a new relationship remains.
In our paintings, we then sense which direction to take, which marks to protect, which to work with and which to obliterate. One way, and a very good way, to find your path is to look at lots of images.
Sit and look at the paintings….
How true it is. Every time I reach a plateau, it only takes looking at other people’s creations to be inspired again.
Thanks for the great comment Janet, Indeed for me, getting inspired by others work….oftentimes the more wildly dissimilar the better… invariably brings me back to my easel! David
Absolutely…. And it is even better when observing a painting we like for several minutes and in several occasions…. until… you can discern what and why you liked it… was it the color? was because of the perspective? the composition? was the light treatment? something else attracted our attention? what a better way to unify or contrast our feelings with the author or just have our own experience of the painting than observing?
Great to hear from you! Every time we look at a painting there’s something new in the experience… perhaps that’s the real power behind our metier….David