For a very long time, making art for me consisted of drawing something I was looking at just to see how well I could represent it. The first institutional training I got from an educator was Mr. Hiebert, my sixth grade art teacher. He had a system. For years he cut photos from magazines and stored them in boxes under categories. Students could borrow them or they could draw from his sketches that were pinned above the blackboard. Top score for a sketch was a 10.
When I saw classic paintings I found myself baffled about how the artist came up with that before there was a photo to copy it from.
Meanwhile, I turned in sketch assignments. Mr. Heibert gave me the first chance to have someone evaluate and score my work (not counting the matchbook “can you draw me?” advertisements). Numerous full fledge 10’s energized me. One day I got an unheard of 12. Then, a 14. And then I got a 20!
Until I was in my own studio, I hadn’t figured out how an artist could dream up something completely new. But for decades I’d read and pondered published accounts of famous artists whose work I admired.
It came together nicely when necessity forced me to finish a room behind the garage of my house and prepare it with locks, a phone line, heat, electricity, etc.. While I was at it, I built a light table and installed a loft over the flatfile. I had my first studio!
A project there set me on a course I’ve never left. That project brought together all my readings and practical experience to create specialty architectural renderings whose compositions were entirely original, all dreamed up by me. At last the answer began to unfold and I began to realize how original ideas can be incubated, hatched, and grown.
Meanwhile the loft I built in that tiny room with a ten foot cieling was the resort of my two youngest girls who played there while I did the panels. We were happy to escape together to that place. The delightful sounds they made were music with no equal!
Future blogs will detail what I’ve learned that allows me to dream up entirely new art and as always, I welcome comments and questions on the subject. No ranting, please.
