The philosophy of these lessons: Look, Learn, Practice
Chapter 17 of "The
Way To Happiness" deals with Competence. I've found that
too many limit their own progress as an artist with the concept
that they "haven't got the talent." 90% of being
a good professional artist is about looking for yourself,
learning (including good study habits), and practicing what
you have learned to become Competent. If you are interested
in a free copy of "The Way to Happiness", please
email me for one.
Lesson 7
1. GOALS
If you have done any of the lessons I have posted so far,
let me know how useful
they have been to you in terms of your goals. This will
help me improve future lessons.
Please think about the following questions:
- What progress (if any) do you feel you have made?
- What do you feel are the areas in which you need work?
2. Word for the week:
ARTY: adjective. colloquial. Showily imitative
of art; aspiring to be artistic; -- used disparagingly.
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary,1949.
A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage by
Bergan Evans defines arty along with Art, artifice, artful
and artificial. I think the explanation is interesting so
I'll quote the whole thing:
"The ordinary man mistrusts the skilled man, assuming
(probably with full justification) that he will employ his
skill unscrupulously to his own advantage. And the man who
lacks a skill has a tendency to revenge himself upon anyone
who has it by despising him. Hence, although art keeps its
primary meaning of skill or the product of a skill, it has
a secondary meaning of wiliness or trickery, and in most
of its derivatives the derogatory meaning has come to predominate.
An artifice is now almost always a cunning or crafty stratagem.
(Both cunning and crafty were once quite innocent words,
meaning simply knowing and able.) It was not always so;
formerly God himself was often called the Great Artificer
of the universe. Artful is now definitely condemnatory,
suggesting one who takes unfair advantage, though it once
meant wise or admirably clever. Dickens' Artful Dodger seems
a more proper expression to us today than Milton's artful
strains. Artificial, as opposed to natural, has always been
condemnatory, though, amusingly, handmade (which means the
same thing) has come in our machine age to be a term of
high approbation with much of the estimation attached to
natural. Arty is slang. The suffix expresses contempt. Sometimes
the contempt is just for art itself but there is usually
at least a pretense that it for exaggerated or deliberately
contrived effects that are more obvious than true skill
would have made them."
3. Practice : "Learning bears fruit when it is
applied."
 Exercise:
"Contrast" and "Key"
Use of strong contrast is an means to get a composition
that sparkles. However, low contrast is also permissible
in a painting.
There is also the "key" of a painting.
Here are some definitions:
High Contrast - means the painting uses a full
range of values (as on a bright, sunny day);
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Low
Contrast - uses a more limited value range.