Will you recognize Art if it calls?

Can’t you just smoosh paint around on a surface and arrive at art? That seems to be a good question. For a beginner, who hasn’t really mastered any understanding of the dynamic field, the answer is both yes and no. Will you recognize a great passage if one appears on your canvas or paper? Maybe. And what will you do with the rest? Yes, you might stumble upon some great passage, but maybe the rest of it is shit. Even in the most abstract work by William de Kooning , or Diebenkorn, we see structure, hierarchy, substance, order, risk.

We need both accident and intention. You’re better off trying to paint something like a still-life, or a landscape, where you can learn all the rules of the surface. This process teaches you how the surface works, how to create space, how seeing works.

What is meaningful for you will emerge over time. It takes time to make great art.

Below, watercolor and paper collage.

detail, Orange and Blue Beat

This is an older piece, and it shows more of a direct influence from Stuart Davis.

It was made by severe restrictions on what I would do. I would lay color side-by-side only. It could have a few larger shapes, lightly penciling in the borders. I would pre-mix all the colors., including neutrals mixed from complements. I would start with nothing in mind, just adding shapes at will. I would think about music.

Where do my ideas come from?

People often wander in during First Friday (before covid) and ask where do my ideas come from? It’s easier to point out specific connections when people come in. Most of my ideas come from looking at art, from my own work, from observations of nature. In this one below, this started as a large non-objective ink drawing, just random marks (although one could argue this point) in india ink on a large page. Then I would crop and review the page, looking for any areas that seem to suggest something larger-like a bit of landscape. Two points to consider here- this process takes practice. And what I would see in a bunch of shapes and lines is likely not what you would see. In many ways this process relies on my experience as a artist, my training and perception. This manner is much like psychic automatism, a Surrealist method for creating imagery not based on observation, but seen by the artist in something else, like when you see animals in cloud formations.