Sunday, December 27, 2009

Early Bird

I was up early this morning, even for me, and so I did some reading and then I broke out the art supplies. I was lucky enough to be given a copy of The Creative Edge by Mary Todd Beam. My sister picked it out, bless her...though I was the one that placed it on my Amazon Wishlist, so she had a very good chance of picking the right present. I had a Corvette, valued at a little over $150,00 on my wishlist as well, but she avoided that one for some reason. Okay, back to the art supplies; this book has re-energized me. I had a bushel full of paintings that I had abandoned; turned them to the wall because they embarrassed me so much. Ms Beam preaches redemption! Any painting can be brought back to life...a gospel that I knew somewhere in my head, but I wasn't ready to try it. Now I am.

The book is filled with great ideas and I doubt I will put it away any time soon. Some of the text might be described as a little bit 'New Age' but the art and the techniques are rock solid.

How's this for a quote from page 19 "It takes a long time to become young" Pablo Picasso said that...I love it!

3 comments:

  1. Good for you, Steven!
    Every painting should be viewed as a challenge and don't forget to value your own style! You couldn't change it if you wanted to so the trick is to nurture it and make it YOURS!
    Don't ever try to paint like anyone else. It doesn't work that way. So go for it with gusto....as we say in art school, "there is no such thing as a mistake" and I can tell you that some of my greatest works have been "mistakes".
    Yeehaw!

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  2. As always, you have been most kind.

    Ya know, I think 'inspiration' has to be the rarest of commodities and so I thank you for the encouragement, which precedes inspiration.

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  3. Definitely.......too.

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