Watercolor on 7×11″ Arches paper
In did this in preparation for a painting demonstration in my watercolor class tomorrow. Even though it’s not finished, I thought it was pretty just as is and decided to post it.
Thoughts and questions about art kept me awake all night last night after yesterday’s evening trip to the California Watercolor Association annual national show and the SF Museum of Modern Art so I thought I’d share some of them here.
First a quote I heard on NPR this morning:
“I think balance is overrated. Creativity comes from excess.”
Annette Benning, said this when asked about finding balance between being a mom of four and an actor. I think this is a fascinating statement, though I’m annoyed since it would never be asked of an actor/father.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the CWA show was a disappointment to my painting group and me. We had submitted slides to the show but didn’t get in, assuming it was partly because the juror’s style and preferences weren’t a good match for our work AND that he had to pick 90 pieces out of 600 slides. A few were stunners, but we thought many seemed mediocre, unfinished, or amateurish. After several weeks on display in a great location, only two of the 89 pieces had sold, and both, though watermedia, looked more like oil paintings. (I hope this doesn’t sound like sour grapes — we really wanted the inspiration of seeing some great work.)
Then we went to SFMOMA and Sharon raised an interesting question while we were looking at some of the early works of Matisse and other early modern artists — “Would we have thought these were bad paintings too, if they were hanging in the CWA show?” I know the art world certainly thought so at the time Matisse and his colleagues were painting, but they were struggling and sacrificing greatly to break through to a whole new world of artistic expression.
In looking at the Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Willem de Kooning, Georgia O’Keefe, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko paintings (in two adjoining rooms), I thought about how each of them created a new and unique way of expressing their vision. Is that what “real art” is — work that creates a new view or means of expressing one? Does it have to be new to be good? What about work that is beautiful, but doesn’t express a unique view or style? Is that art? Can there possibly be anything new after everything that’s already been created?
When we were walking back to BART in the dark, I noticed a brightly lit window on the second floor of the University Extension building where a roomful of art students were diligently painting at their easels. For a moment I felt overwhelmed — so much good art already exists…so many people striving to make art…and for a moment I thought, “Why bother….it’s all been done before, by people way more talented than me…”
And then I immediately knew the answer! Because it’s the joy in making art that matters, whether it’s good art, bad art, real art, or not art at all. It’s the process, not the product…the seeing, the investigating, the learning, the pleasure of color and line and design.
I’m guessing that was true for those artists whose work hangs in museums, many of whom were never appreciated while they were alive. They painted, drew, sculpted because they had to. They painted because balance didn’t matter to them, just their inner drive to create and express what they had to say.
And there is still the possibility of new voices and styles…I see them every day just on the artblogs I visit. Each person has their own recognizable style, their own way of seeing the world and it shines through their work.
Jana Bouc, Artist 