Evening Shadows watercolor and ink by Meera Rao
India Art Journal 2015
Sunday evenings the roads are relatively empty and I was fortunate to come across this scene on my daily walk. The beauty of this play of light and shadow will remain etched in my memory even if I may not have done justice to the original scenery.
I have realized over the years that, my vision is always ahead of what really ends up on the paper ! Here is a story from the book Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland : More often, though, fears rise in those entirely appropriate (and frequently recurring) moments when vision races ahead of execution. Consider the story of the young student – well, David Bayles, to be exact – who began piano studies with a Master. After a few months’ practice, David lamented to his teacher, “But I can hear the music so much better in my head than I can get out of my fingers.”
To which the Master replied, “What makes you think that ever changes?”
That’s why they’re called Masters. When he raised David’s discovery from an expression of self-doubt to a simple observation of reality, uncertainty became an asset. Lesson for the day: vision is always ahead of execution — and it should be. Vision, Uncertainty, and Knowledge of Materials are inevitabilities that all artists must acknowledge and learn from: vision is always ahead of execution, knowledge of materials is your contact with reality, and uncertainty is a virtue.
To quote Ira Glass about the 'gap' in taste and skill: It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.
So on to marching towards my 10,000 sketches......
Evening Shadows 5.5x8" watercolor and ink on 140 lb Strathmore visual Journal
