I take the same photo over and over, it seems. I have to come up with creative names so I don’t overwrite older files. How many times have I photographed this marsh? I paint the same painting over and over too. I came home with a new batch of crime faces tonight, mugshots from the morning paper.
Our painting teacher came in with three quotes printed on a small pieces of paper. He gave one to each student first thing. And as much as we would like to think we are all painters, we are “students” in Fred Lipp’s presence. The first quote was from Juan Gris. “You are lost the minute you know what the result will be.” The second from Degas. “Only when he no longer knows what he is doing, does the painter do good work.” And the third one was from William Baziotes. “Each painting has its own way of evolving. . . when the painting is finished, the subject reveals itself.
No wonder I have to take this class over and over.
3 Comments
I think you should take at least a year off from portraits. You’d get a big perspective shift.
“And as much as we would like to think we are all painters, we are “students” in Fred Lipp’s presence”
Amen
..ah..great quotes!.. ‘seem to define ‘life’ as well as painting..if either is indeed definable..