Look at these seven shapes. Close your eyes for about ten seconds and take a deep breath, then open your eyes and notice what single word comes to mind for each of them.
What kinds of words came to you? Were your words labels or names of symbols or descriptive of a feeling or did you just draw a blank? Where did those words come from?
Now look at this painting by Paul Klee.
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| | Paul Klee. Senecio. 1922. Oil on gauze.. |
You see some of the shapes in this painting. Do they have for you the same meaning as you gave them in the first exercise we did?
Whether or not we are aware of it, shapes communicate to us. They have their own language. To some extent the language they speak comes from our own experience--we project onto that shape according to our history with it. But that's part of what art is all about: our expression of our experience.
TIP: How we read shapes and interpet them with our brush (or whatever tool we're using) expresses something of our own inner relationship with the shape and how we use the brush to communicate that shape. Learning to use our tools to express shapes is one route through which we express our own essence in our work.
Happy painting,
Dianne
NEWS & UPDATES
___In this week's video tutorial, I focus our attention on how the brush can be used to express shapes.
___ Are you a plein air enthusiast who also prefers to paint on canvas? In this week's Quick Tip, I show you my favorite system of avoiding lugging around canvases or those dreaded canvas boards while at the same time, painting on "stretched" canvas.
___ Our Facebook Forum has more than 1300 members! Join us, if you haven't already done so. You can get feedback on your Video Lessons or just lurk in the background and enjoy the conversation between others doing the lessons and me.
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