Love, Drawing, and Traveling Your Own Road: My Takeaways from Todd M. Casey
One of the great things about art is that there are so many different ways to approach it.
“You have to find what works for you,” says my February guest Todd M. Casey (Episode 24). And I’m so struck by that truth as I listen back through the conversation.
Here are my biggest takeaways from my talk with Casey. I’d love to hear yours below!
LOVE WHAT YOU’RE PAINTING
A full Casey painting takes hundreds of hours. He has to know he will love spending that much time on a very particular subject. He doesn’t leave this to chance. He does love checks (my words not his) along the way. Sets up his still life. Does he still love it? Yes! Great, move forward. Paints his studies. Does he still love it? Yes? Keep moving forward.
By the time he’s ready to start the big painting itself, he knows whether or not he SHOULD paint it.
Let your gut tell you. Are you interested in painting the things you paint? If you are, great! If not, give yourself permission to try some other subjects and see if they spark that love.
FOLLOW WHERE YOU’RE CURIOUS
Casey likes information. He likes to know the physics of how light moves. He’s fascinated by the technical nitty gritty. Talking to him is a treasure trove of information. And it’s because he’s curious about those things. He has an abundance of great quotes from artists through time, because he reads about them and listens to his mentors talk about them.
A huge part of his learning is clearly to get curious and then dive in deep. Give yourself permission to follow those sparks and follow them far. It will all benefit your art. Every study, every line drawing, every grisaille, every book on anatomy or art. It’s all part of it. And isn’t that wonderful.
LEARN TO DRAW
There is a type of struggle that happens when an artist doesn’t have the fundamentals. Casey spent a year working primarily in black and white mostly through drawing with graphite. It trained his eye to really see value, which is the main way to create form.
He worked hard on something deeply fundamental so that it wouldn’t be a stumbling block every painting forever.
Drawing can be a huge obstacle for artists learning to paint. Drawing is legitimately hard. Physically. Emotionally. For those of us who love PAINT it can feel like a chore.
And yet, listening to Casey, I’m struck by the things he CAN do because he put in that focused time to learn. He isn’t chained around the ankle because he can’t draw.
Even with limited time, you don’t have to give up painting for drawing practice. But you might discover painting becomes more joyful when you've spent a little bit of time each week sketching. Not only will you have more control of your shapes and lines but you’ll have a better familiarity with your subjects.
THE ROAD ISN’T ALWAYS STRAIGHT
Looking at an artist like Casey, who is fairly young, it can feel like, “Well, he knew what he wanted and he did it.” Not so. Casey’s path to art was a large circle. 5,600 miles wide in fact as he actually crossed the country with one set of dreams and crossed back with another.
It takes time to know who you are and what you want to paint. It’s never too late to start to paint. No matter our age, It is however, way too late to be wasting time wishing we had gotten where we are sooner. Sure, a longing is normal, but let’s get to work. Todd M Casey sure is.
What were your takeaways from the conversation with Todd M. Casey. I’d love to hear them below in the comments.
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