THOUGHTS ON PAINTING

"There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others, who, thanks to their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun." (Pablo Picasso)
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Someone said, very succinctly "When you paint you are everywhere and nowhere and everything and nothing at the same time". 

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"Good judgement comes from experience, and  a lot of that comes from bad judgement!"
Anon.
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"My hands were too soft.. I had to find some special occupation,
some kind of work that would not force me to turn away from
the sky and the stars, that would allow me to discover the
meaning of life."   
Marc Chaghall

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Painting/drawing etc.,  is just like another form of  diary.
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"The artist himself is often surprised at the finished work of art. He cannot tell 'how it happened', nor could he repeat the feat at someone's bidding." John F Carlson
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I was somehow under the impression that  Picasso envisaged an image/ subject and then just committed it to the canvas. That may be the case with some of his work but this video shows the evolution from a the beginnings of simple outline drawing to a powerful archetypal image which is very much "Picasso".

SORRY VIDEO WAS DELETED

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“I dislike a picture that is too suave or too skilfully done. But, contrariwise, I also dislike a picture that looks too inept or blundering.” Robert Motherwell
So do I feel, the same about my paintings.  Somehow one needs to find the balance.
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"It doesn't really matter so much what you paint - what matters is how you paint it." (quoted to me by a  rather beautiful Romanian stage/set designer whose name I don't recall.
I think I was more interested in how she spoke than what she said. (No, not really -  or I wouldn't have remembered her words.)

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"Be prepared. Have your painting materials organised and to hand, so when ideas and inspiration comes, you are ready to deal with it and use the precious window of time." Patrick Dolan (Cardiff)
An important tip, I recall from a talk I had with Patrick walking in Roath Park. 

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The biggest bursts of speciation that we know about in the history of the earth are soon after great cataclysms, like the extinction of the dinosaurs, which create new opportunities, and all sorts of new forms spring up... So, quite often, the reasons for creativity depend on accidents or disasters that prevent the normal habits being carried out. (Rupert Sheldrake) 
This  unpredictability somehow rings very true with art and painting.

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