Recently I was asked how I learned to paint. The answer is that I haven't learned to paint, I'm learning to paint which is a lifelong process. I wish I had started a little earlier but it is what it is. Having not had the benefit of a formal education in art, and not being geographically located such that I could study with those I'd like to study with, the real answer to the question is; via videos. It is amazing to think that today we are able to watch and learn from living masters who we can paint along with in the convenience, privacy, and comfort of our own homes. Imagine if Monet, Rembrant, Manet, Pizarro ... pick your master, could link up with you via video and allow you to paint along with them brush stroke by brush stroke. That's how I'm learning. Below is a phot of one my today's masters, Jeff Legg, painting in my studio (sort of) and allowing me to stop him whenever I feel like it so I can learn by mimicking, replicating, feeling, ... painting right along with him. I'm not sure how Jeff feels about this but what he and about a dozen other artists are doing for me is invaluable. Clearly I cannot call such a finished painting done in this manner my own. But I can keep it, learn from it, and study it. What I do is try to apply the things I learn from working by video with today's masters in my own work, which I have seen evolve and grow since 2009 when I started. I am nowhere near where I want to be as a painter, not even close. Most of what I'd like to be doing is being hampered by what I think is probably fear. Oddly enough, the best paintings I do (in my opinion) are those that I just let go on and try to tap into something that just feels right... but I'm always afraid of screwing something up, of wasting paint, of wasting canvas, of failure. I know intellectually that I should let that go, but it's there. I suspect that with time it will get easier. If you are interested in learning to paint there are so many great artists sharing via videos and DVDs. They are too numerous to mention but if nothing else I owe a debt of gratitude to them, some are (and this is not an all inclusive list) Kathryn Stats, Jeff Legg, Elizabeth Robbins, Morgan Samuel Price, Mark Carder, Dan Edmondson, Quang Ho, Joyce Ortner, Buck Paulson, Hall Groat, Matt Smith, Scott Christensen, Richard Schmidt, David Leffel, Morgan Weistling, Zahoming Wu, and many more. I have spent time with each of them and appreciate what they are teaching me. Each has something to offer that will improve your work. I think we sometime take for granted the privileges that technology can bring us. There is no way that my work would be 25% of what it is today without having had the benefit of these videos. Similarly there is so much at our fingertips making almost anything we want to do possible. I can only imagine it will get better in the future. So I guess the real answer to the question, how I'm learning to paint is, I study with all of those people listed above. My hat's off to them.
Took advantage and just looked at Jeff Legg YouTube.
ReplyDeletethanks for info. Enjoyed your blog
Wnjoyed reading your blog this morning. checked Jeff Legg You tube
ReplyDeletegood stuff thanks
Enjoyed your blog this morning checked out Jee Legg great stuff
ReplyDeletethanks
Garry, I am doing the same thing and loving it. Totally agree with what you said here. Happy painting and passion creates talent.
ReplyDeleteHelga
Garry,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. Your comments about fear especially struck a chord with me--I have those same trepidations and have never heard anyone else express it in quite the way you have. I've thought much regarding my deep-seated, irrational fears of wasting supplies or messing something up, and have concluded it's a mixture of things--always saving and reusing, yet never having enough money when I was younger; a perfectionist tendency; afraid someone will see my mistakes before I'm finished and pass unfair judgment on my work. These are all things I kept to myself (until now :-), but this little "impling" sits on my shoulder and whispers sour somethings in my ear that whip up those fears sometimes.
Anyway, when you said "I'm always afraid of screwing something up, of wasting paint, of wasting canvas, of failure. I know intellectually that I should let that go, but it's there," I thought you were reading my mind. Thanks so much for your candid remarks--it helps to know I'm not the only one!
All the best,
Marsha
Garry,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. Your comments about fear especially struck a chord with me--I have those same trepidations and have never heard anyone else express it in quite the way you have. I've thought much regarding my deep-seated, irrational fears of wasting supplies or messing something up, and have concluded it's a mixture of things--always saving and reusing, yet never having enough money when I was younger; a perfectionist tendency; afraid someone will see my mistakes before I'm finished and pass unfair judgment on my work. These are all things I kept to myself (until now :-), but this little "impling" sits on my shoulder and whispers sour somethings in my ear that whip up those fears sometimes.
Anyway, when you said "I'm always afraid of screwing something up, of wasting paint, of wasting canvas, of failure. I know intellectually that I should let that go, but it's there," I thought you were reading my mind. Thanks so much for your candid remarks--it helps to know I'm not the only one!
All the best,
Marsha
Garry,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. Your comments about fear especially struck a chord with me--I have those same trepidations and have never heard anyone else express it in quite the way you have. I've thought much regarding my deep-seated, irrational fears of wasting supplies or messing something up, and have concluded it's a mixture of things--always saving and reusing, yet never having enough money when I was younger; a perfectionist tendency; afraid someone will see my mistakes before I'm finished and pass unfair judgment on my work. These are all things I kept to myself (until now :-), but this little "impling" sits on my shoulder and whispers sour somethings in my ear that whip up those fears sometimes.
Anyway, when you said "I'm always afraid of screwing something up, of wasting paint, of wasting canvas, of failure. I know intellectually that I should let that go, but it's there," I thought you were reading my mind. Thanks so much for your candid remarks--it helps to know I'm not the only one!
All the best,
Marsha
Garry,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. Your comments about fear especially struck a chord with me--I have those same trepidations and have never heard anyone else express it in quite the way you have. I've thought much regarding my deep-seated, irrational fears of wasting supplies or messing something up, and have concluded it's a mixture of things--always saving and reusing, yet never having enough money when I was younger; a perfectionist tendency; afraid someone will see my mistakes before I'm finished and pass unfair judgment on my work. These are all things I kept to myself (until now :-), but this little "impling" sits on my shoulder and whispers sour somethings in my ear that whip up those fears sometimes.
Anyway, when you said "I'm always afraid of screwing something up, of wasting paint, of wasting canvas, of failure. I know intellectually that I should let that go, but it's there," I thought you were reading my mind. Thanks so much for your candid remarks--it helps to know I'm not the only one!
All the best,
Marsha