There will be one more of these free newsletters, to be sent next Friday, June 30th. After that, the newsletters will only be sent to paid subscribers. Thank you for all of your support for my doing this. The first newsletter in July, on the 6th, will feature a new full length demonstration video for all paid subscribers.
Here are some motivational quotes, and a book full of them, to help you start the weekend. It’s always nice to know that we’re not singularly working our way through this painting life. I especially enjoy reading other’s thoughts about being as true to yourself as an artist, you can be. In the midst of the struggle, the commercial side and necessity of that process, centering myself on the real reasons, focusing on the heart of the “why”, is important.
Bill Withers- “It's very difficult to make things simple and understandable. You ever sit down and have a conversation with somebody who took their formal education too seriously? … And they're speaking and throwing in a bunch of words that you don't have a ready meaning for? You're sitting there nodding because you don't want them to think you're stupid, but what you really think is, there's a lot of easier ways to say it, and you wonder if they even know what the hell they're talking about or if they're just showing off. … So to me, the biggest challenge in the world is to take anything that's complicated and make it simple so it can be understood by the masses. … When I say I'm a snob lyrically, I mean I'm a snob in the sense that I'm a stickler for saying something the simplest possible way with some elements of poetry.”
Try to paint deeper, not clear.
Try to paint rich , not details.
Try to paint the feeling, not the real.
Try to paint the taste, not the style.
- Chien Chung Wei
“The enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink. In painting, I have noticed that overly masterful technicians dazzle us with their skills but perhaps they lack the ability to bare their souls. Pretty is as fake as it is boring. Truth is another thing altogether and should be the aim of any authentic, creative practice.” - Russell Chatham on scaffolding painting Missouri Headwaters for the famous, Seasons Collection.
This week’s book… Artist to Artist, Inspiration & Advice from Artists Past & Present, Jackson Creek Press ©1998.
A good ‘cup of coffee’ book to read and re-read.
“If you worry about how good the art is, you’re never going to make your own art.”- Eric Fischl
“Painting is self-discovery. You arrive at the image through the act of painting.” -Adolph Gottlieb
“I think it takes a long time to work a painting….The more paint you put on, the more alive the surface looks, the more you’re defining what you want. It’s like, why don’t you just do one draft of a short story? Because the content isn’t clear, and the content really is the painting.” - Jennifer Bartlett
Keep your brushes wet!
Cheers,
Marc
Beautiful quotes …especially the Wei!
It’s a fine line between being too concrete or literal and being contrived or inauthentic..
I love the work of Joan Eardley in that her work is abstracted from nature but feels so authentic.
I m VERY excited about this book! Anyone that knows me knows that I am a literary and quote nerd. Thanks Marc.