Today’s blog is going to be on design.  When I first approached doing art seriously, my impression was that painting was simply spontaneous.  If one had good drawing techniques, a work would simply “evolve.”

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As I, myself, evolve, I find that this isn’t sufficient.

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When I’d look at a completed painting, I’d come to recognize that what I had in my hands was not what was “in my head” when I began.  Obviously, something was missing.

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As I noted before, I’d concentrated on technique under the assumption that if I had a good set of tools that, in itself, would be enough to execute my vision.

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The epiphany came through an anonymous quote, titled Road to Mastery.

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“Unconscious incompetence

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Conscious incompetence

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Conscious competence

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Unconscious competence.”

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I realized I was on a cusp between conscious incompetence and conscious competence.  A feeling that was both comforting and disquieting, but now I have a goal, “Unconscious competence.”

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Another quote that real resonated with me is from James Whistler, “Talent is the ability to do hard work in a consistently constructive direction over a long period of time.  Many people have told me I have “talent,” but I feel that anything that has turned out good is the result of working hard on it.  Whistler puts it in a perspective that is more comfortable.

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Whistler, himself has been styled as an “art for art’s sake person;” however, for him, it seems the subject was secondary and subordinate to the design.  This is important to me because sometimes, I feel overwhelmed when by  all the myriad issues and techniques: design, competition, color, technique.  Reading, Whistler’s work convinced me to focus on design but I thought it best to begin by focus on one aspect, “Designing with value masses.”

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I love color and am attracted to artists who use color with an intelligent flair.  I was lead to Delacroix considered one of the first artists to study and use color in something of a pre-impressionistic way.  One of his quotes that particularly touched me is “If, to the composition that is already interesting by virtue of the choice of subject, you add an arrangement of lines that reinforces the impression, a chiaroscuro that arrests the imagination, and color that fits the character of the work, you have solved a far more difficult problem and rise superior.  Harmony, with all its combinations, adapted to a single song: it is a musical tendency. ”

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It seems intuitive to me that music is, at its heart, mathematical, but I’m struggling with applying it to art.  Looking at it as pure design helps.

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I’m including in this blog one picture with in which I’ve been able apply this was inspired by a boat trip John and I did in Boston Harbor.   I tried I to compose the view of the skyline by dividing it in thirds and using an “L shaped” armature to add to interest.

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I’m not sure it was completely successful but I was reasonably pleased with the value masses.  It is interested that when I “applied the rules” the picture was improved.    I still think this needs a little drawing help but I’m using this study from my travel journal as a stepping stone for a future painting.  I hope to be able to show the progress.

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