Monday, April 14, 2008

WORDS OF WISDOM, ONE DAY AT A TIME!



I spent some time today working on this painting. I wanted to finish it and move on. The surface is so liftable that it is easy to lose something you like while trying to correct something you don't. I had to really analyze each area I was contemplating changing and decide it it was important enough to risk the change. I hate when paintings become "precious" because you lose the fearless attitude of "go for it". It still bothers me that the face seems slightly skewed but I don't want to go any farther with this one. I learned a lot in the process and want to continue exploring painting on this surface. I have posted the original version and then the corrected version. It's truly amazing that one can make this much change in a watercolor.

There are people who express themselves with words that say what I feel and think so much better than I ever could. In my wanderings around the internet, I find some of these great bits of wisdom and save them in a file. I would like to share the "Incomplete Manifesto" by Bruce Mau. Who is Bruce Mau? I have no idea, but I like what he has to say. The Manifesto is quite long, so I shall post a little each day.

"1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Paying attention to details vs painting with fearlessness...yes...the tension between the two!

I'm looking forward to more words of wisdom.

Anonymous said...

The 1st one shows incredible ambivalence. The left side of his face pulls back and the right is coming forward. It reads as a person struggling within himself. Excellent.

Anonymous said...

One more comment--scroll up and down one face #1 and see what the eyes do.

laura said...

Thanks for posting so many versions of/approaches to the painting of this head; it's fascinating and inspiring. Really makes me want to paint people!

RH Carpenter said...

Wonderful eye candy and words of wisdom. "Allow events to change you." That cuts to the quick for me because I often get into a comfortable place and don't want to move out of it. If events don't change your concretized thinking patterns, you don't grow. Thanks so much for this - looking forward to more!

Nick said...

I like this a lot, and also the Charlie Parker pic on your site. Great work!!!

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