Sin or Crime?

Garland weaver in Reverie mixed media by Meera Rao 

The fear of messing up so often means I think a painting is complete before it really is!  Couple of months ago I was surveying my paintings to pick one to submit to the local art league members open show.  One of the paintings  that I had thought was finished, signed, framed and blogged  about suddenly felt incomplete.  I pulled it out of the frame, and added some darks here and there. Satisfied, happily I put it back in the frame and took it to the show.  And here it is on my blog once again. 

Since then I have been mulling  over  how to know when a painting is finished?  Is it "A painting is always finished before the artist thinks it is" (Harley Brown) ? Or is Eugene Delacroix right  when he whispers in my ears :" One always has to spoil a picture a little bit in order to finish it."  Alas there is much truth in what D.H . Harding had to say : " The important thing is not what the author, or any artist, had in mind to begin with but at what point he decided to stop."  Then there is Claude Monet who proclaimed : "I say that whoever claims to have finished a canvas is terribly arrogant."  What did Picasso have to say about all this? : "Woe to you the day it is said that you are finished! To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul – to give it its final blow; the most unfortunate one for the painter as well as for the picture." 

May be it is as Ted Goodwin says: "A painting is finished when to have done less would be considered a sin and more a crime!  "  The trouble is I am not a good judge when it comes to sin or crime ;)

Learning from Great Drawings

Copy of Luca Camiaso's  'Christ leading the Calvary' 

Copy of Luca Cambiaso's ' Group of figures'

The sketches are my attempts at copying of drawings by Italian artist Luca Cambiaso (1527-1585) from the book 'Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters" by Robert Beverly Hale. The book analyzes 100 drawings and defines figure drawing fundamentals. The book looks into the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rodin, Goya, Rembrandt and others and shows in seven chapters  how these artists utilized basic concepts of line, light & planes, mass, Position Thrust or direction, and Artistic anatomy.

I have always had trouble with thinking in terms of simple masses and shapes when sketching.  I am hoping copying like this will help me see light values and seeing the simplest geometric forms in everything.  I noticed in the book there are block like, cylindrical and spherical styles of sketching. The book explains: " You soon realize that there are very few basic shapes in the universe and that there is a geometric relationship between the most diverse objects. the sea is but the skin of a sphere and is related to the spherical head of a pin."   I have had the book for many years but only recently decided I will start copying the various drawings in different styles to get practice -especially on those days when I have limited time and no idea for a daily sketch. 

Have you copied for practice master drawings or paintings? do you find the exercise useful learning tool? Love to hear your experiences! 

Watering Hole

Watering Hole  Photography by Meera Rao 

"One's destination is never a place, but a way of seeing things"

~Henry Miller~ 

Graceful Changes

Fall Fire watercolor on Yupo  5x7" by Meera Rao

Season is changing again - we turned our clocks forward and of course love the signs of spring  everywhere.  I was doing the spring ritual of cleaning my studio, moving my paintings around and realized I never did post this painting of the firey bushes from my backyard.  They greeted me when I got back from my trip to India and I was taken away by their beauty.  The bushes are now once again showing signs of greeting the spring after the cold winter. 

I came across a slide show from NASA Jet Propulsion Lab about Change of Seasons- view from space. Check out the slides for an enlightening view of changing seasons as seen from satellite pictures.

Color My Sunset Sky

Sunset Sky Photography by Meera Rao

Clouds come floating into my life,

no longer to carry rain or usher storm,

but to add color to my sunset sky.

~

Rabindranath Tagore

The Most Difficult Part

Blue Blooms watercolor on Yupo 7x5" by Meera Rao

I don't know the name of these flowers but when I saw them a few weeks ago  in a bouquet I had bought, I pulled out my watercolors, a small sheet of yupo and just painted them free hand. It was very gratifying to just relax, trust my instincts, simplify,  and concentrate on capturing the essence of what I was seeing. Painting a simple blue flower - nothing more.  I liked the resulting Zen like  quality of flower with white space around it.  

Just this morning I was looking for one particular book in my library. I stumbled across "Complete Sumi-e Techniques" by Sadami Yamada. I had forgotten I owned it and had not opened it in years. Sidetracked from my search, I started flipping through it and read about yohaku or 'white space' the unpainted area : "the importance placed on this area in a painting  is considered equal, and sometimes superior, to the actual painted area."  And : ...it is the intimate relationship between the concept of 'color and 'space' that makes perfection  possible"   The 'painted' part is considered as 'fullness' and the blank space as 'emptiness'  with both combined to bring balance and create beauty.  

The author writes: " When asked what was the most difficult problem in painting, Ike-no-Taiga, a great master of the Edo period, pinpointed the importance of white space by simply answering, 'the unpainted area is the most difficult part' " 

I love how an important composition element is explained in spiritual terms and that what to leave unpainted is a challenge experienced by artists all through the ages.  The other thing the book  emphasizes is hours of practice :)  

When I Gaze at Orchids

  Orchids watercolor on Yupo 8"x8" by Meera Rao 

Even though the world is filled with 

confusion 

When I gaze at one orchid

I can forget 

all my problems. 

~ 

Song Sunam

The Orchid flowers blooming on the plant on my coffee table give a sense of floating in the air as they  hang tall on a long stem! They come up to my eye-level (I am not that tall !) and I feel like they are  watching my every move! Painting them on yupo was delicious fun but it took me forever to correct the colors in the photo and make them match my painting! The colors and details are much more subtle, vibrant and delicate in the painting - some day I hope there won't be such a steep learning curve with using the camera and computer.  But today's achievement is that I learned how to work with layers in Photoshop.  I hope I will remember how the next time I want to use it! Tomorrow I should spend as much time in the studio painting!

Honoring Presidents' Day

Flags Reflected on White House Window  Photography by Meera Rao

Lessons From Keeping An Art Journal

India Art Journal Oct 26-Oct 28 2012

This is the last page of my India Art Journal -- four months and 124 sketches later. I am incredibly happy with the way the journal evolved through my stay in India. Now it surprises me as to how  unsure and hesitant I was to commit to such a project before my trip! 

I had finally gotten the courage a few days before I my trip to India in June 2012  to come to keep a journal of my stay there. It then took a few visits to the art store, going through the catalogs etc before I settled on Strathmore Mixed Media Visual Journal (5.5"x 8") 34 sheets/68 pages, 90 lbs wt. paper. I calculated that it would give me just enough space to do 124 vignettes at sketch a day, four sketches to a page and three extra pages in case I mess up :) I still have one blank sheet  at the beginning and end of the journal! I shared one sheet with a young nephew. 

My sketch kit consisted of Koi watercolor sketch box, two  waterbrushes(one Aquaflow and one Koi), pilot G-7 pen , one graphite 4B pencil and a knead-able eraser. All this fit neatly into a plastic zippered bag ( that  pillow covers that I had purchased a while ago came in. ) I added a small box of 12 oil pastels in India. 

India Art Journal Oct 26 2012

By the time this last page came along, I was quite relaxed and confident about sketching. Nothing like sketching each and every day for four months straight to feel comfortable with drawing.  I knew by then not to expect every sketch to be a masterpiece, not to judge but just sketch every single day. I was attempting all different subjects knowing that each only had to fill in a space of 2.5"x 4". My plan was very simple.  I think keeping it small, and not worrying about size or orientation also helped me just draw. I worried and wondered only about the subject each day-That was the only decision I had to make and I didn't follow any theme.

India Art Journal Oct 27-Oct 28 2012

Even with my busy schedule of keeping a house, cooking, entertaining, marketing, caring for my m-i-l, etc... keeping aside time to sketch each day was something I did for just myself and I always looked forward to it. This 'sketching time' was very crucial to keeping an art journal every day.  Sharing my sketches made it special, made my activity legitimate and made me accountable to my intention. In the end it meant a lot to my dear Mother-in-Law too that I had made time to sketch every day!  Looking for subjects meant I was seeing the world around with new eyes and developed a deep appreciation for the beauty in everything.  I noticed things in new light.  In retrospect, keeping an art journal was the best decision I had made as a part of my journey.

India Art Journal Oct 28 2012 (India) by Meera Rao

Since returning, I have tried to sketch or draw or paint something almost everyday. I don't have a compelling reason other than I should and that has not worked very well!  I wondered and worried if I would be able to draw and paint in bigger sizes or even have enough patience to work on a large piece.  I am happy to announce that I did complete a full sheet painting that I am very  pleased with ( I will post a photo soon!)  

India Art Journal Oct 28 2012 (USA) by Meera Rao

Next, I am hoping to combine my blog posts on the sketches with the vignettes from the art journal and put a book together.  Meanwhile I can't wait to dream up another project to work on! The finished journal is a big boost to my confidence and a wonderful memento of my four months in India. 

Beautiful Sounds and Sights!

India Art Journal Oct 22 2012 by Meera Rao

Almost every morning I woke up to various birds singing their hearts out. I really enjoyed just laying on the bed  listening to the songs -- I  didn't need the alarm at all! It took me a while to locate the Indian cuckoo or koyal  in the tree by the bedroom window and catch a glimpse of him with my camera's zoom lens! I didn't know till then how striking the red eye was! Waking up to the birds is one thing I miss here in the US during the winter months.  Here is a link to the cuckoo singing I found on You Tube - enjoy the music! and one more 

India Art Journal Oct 24 2012 by Meera Rao

The bottlebrush tree gets its name from the bright red 'bottle brush' like flowers that hang pendulum like from the tree.  When the tree is full of blooms its a wonderful sight ! The tree in front of my brother's house was filled with the blooms in only a couple of days with very little green showing :)

India Art Journal Oct 23 2012 by Meera Rao

We celebrated 'navaratri' the festival of goddesses for nine days during the last few days of my stay in India.  On one of the days, 'aayudha puja' day all equipment, vehicles, musical instruments, tools, writing/painting implements, gas station pumps, even computers,  are all decorated, honored and thanked for their service to us during the rest of the year. I loved how this ambulance was all decorated with banana leaves and yet ready to take off at a minute's notice. 

India Art Journal Oct 25 2012 by Meera Rao

There is a swing in the balcony that is a favorite place to sit, read, chat or just watch the world go by :)  Swinging slows down the time, and makes one appreciate the beauty of the bottle brush, the birds and squirrels on its branches etc and  meditate about life. 

India Art Journal Oct 22-25 2012 by Meera Rao