An Intangible Tool…Our Most Important
Much of art is pretty straight forward. Cause and effect clear before you. You can see paint on a canvas. You can feel the brush in your hand. You move paint from here to there.
However, the longer you work, the more you uncover parts that aren’t as tangible. The parts you can only begin to understand after working awhile. You begin to discover that while the materials are an important part of it, there is just so much more to painting. That you are still finding and learning your most important tools.
Design and composition are two of those. You have to muck about in confusion for a while before you catch that first glimpse of understanding.
Glimpses...I had a few of those during my design conversation with Mark Eanes (Ep.28) and I hope you do too.
Here are my takeaways from my conversation with Eanes:
LEARN TO SEE ABSTRACTLY
The first step in seeing design and composition is to begin seeing subjects not as things but as shapes. That’s not a tree, that’s a triangle. Or an oval. That’s not a house on a road, it’s a big white shape snuggled into a large dark shadow shape.
By seeing the abstract nature of things, we can then take them apart and then put them back together again to make better paintings.
Because that is where we owe our allegiance first and foremost as artists. We are trying to make good paintings. And good paintings have good composition and design.
WE ARE OPEN TO INFLUENCE...CHOOSE WISELY
Have you ever been surprised that a color showed up in a painting and then realized later it was on a favorite piece of clothing?
Humans absorb knowingly or unknowingly that which is around us. And we can build our intuitive senses around what is good design by making sure we are surrounded by good design.
This is where Eanes suggests really spending time with the masters.
He tells a story how even seasoned artists have open books holding great images as their inspiration and guides.
Go to a museum. Spend time on the internet looking at museum collections. Buy a big coffee table book and spend time LOOKING.
This will help strengthen your own instincts around good composition and design.
DESIGN & COMPOSITION ARE OUR MOST FUNDAMENTAL TOOLS
A musician uses a piano. On the surface the piano seems to be the most important part of a musician being a musician.
That’s not the case.
Anyone can make sounds from a piano. It’s not very hard.
But to make MUSIC is something that takes understanding. How notes and chords and patterns go together to evoke emotion. And then taking all that knowledge and teaching the body how to physically make it happen on a row of white and black.
Anyone can get paint onto a canvas. It’s also not that hard.
But to make art means to understand what we put onto that canvas (the elements of design) and how we put them onto the canvas (principles of design) to evoke emotion.
And to do that, takes time. Time to understand the concepts and then use them to strengthen our work.
But that work will be worth it. And I came out of the conversation re-invigorated to try.
HAVE A LISTEN
I’d love to know your takeaways from the episode. Tell me over on Instagram! Or leave a comment below.
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