...into October....the weather has changed, with frost just around the corner. Acrylic and pencil on unprimed Whatman paper 10.25 x 13.75 inches, image size 8.75 x 12.25 inches.
"....Or else he could elect an art class. He'd never taken one - art hadn't even been offered at the academy - how hard could it be? During the summer he'd often studied Sarah's drawing of Ikey Lubin's and even wondered what role it might've played in pulling him, against his better judgment, into Lynch World. Would he have enjoyed Ikey's as much if he hadn't seen it through her eyes? He liked the idea of getting people to see things as he did without them even being aware of what he'd done. Now THAT would be a trick worth knowing." 'Bridge of Sighs', Richard Russo
www.harrystooshinoff.com
Harry, I love your work and follow you on FB. As a person in her 60s who has dabbled in paint all her life, I wonder would you, as a teacher of art, respond to this question: what in your view is the single best way for me to take my art forward? Taking more workshops or courses? Keeping a sketchbook? Daily painting? Studying other artists? I am stuck at a rather literal level and aspire to paint more freely. Thank you for sharing your work and your thoughts, and I will look forward to your response. C Simpson.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your question. All of those will be useful but the most helpful is to do some artwork every day, both drawing and painting, and to continually look at a range of artwork from art history and those you consider to be contemporary masters. When you look at artwork it's important that you have a strong positive response to it (just ignore or pass by the work you Don't respond to). You will find that you get in the habit of analyzing this work, and that analysis will become useful in the artwork that you do. Also, as you do the work, hang it all on the wall so that you can look at it every day, and at different times of the day. Look at it when you watch tv, or when you're reading....all of that looking is useful even though it may not seem so.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this, Harry! All of these suggestions are very helpful, especially the practice of looking at work I like and trying to figure out why. I sort of do this already with my own work: hang it, look at it for a few days as you said, and then in my journal, I then try to figure out and write down what's working and what isn't, and what I can do to fix what's not working. So it's good to know I'm on the right track with what feels a bit like artistic navel-gazing. Again, thanks so much. :D Cheers, C Simpson
ReplyDelete