Jan27

New Dylusions Inks Available at Joggles

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Dylusions Ink Sprays; After Midnight, Calypso Teal, Cherry Pie, Dirty Martini, Funky Fuchsia, and White Linen Are In! Click the picture to order.

Apr28

Thought on Flow and Direction in Art

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Deli

 

I was at a local eatery the other day and they had remodeled and in the remodeling they changed everything around. All they did was add a new counter but now, instead of starting at one end of the counter, ordering there and going right to pay, you start in the middle and go to the left – which used to be the place to order – to pay. And now you go clear across the room for cups.  There’s a bottleneck of people trying to order where the tables are and a big empty space where we used to order. Phew. It was exhausting – though entertaining – to watch people figure out what the heck to do when they entered. Phew.

While I was enjoying the show, I got to thinking about flow and direction. Part of the confusion in the eatery is based on the fact that that the way it used to be reflected the way so much is in this country- left to right. We read left to right, we drive on the left hand side of the line and the cold water faucets are always on the right to avoid burns as most people are right handed and are just naturally tuned into the right as weird and ethnocentric as that sounds. If rightocentric were a word, it’d be that to.

Then I thought about flow in art – any kind of art, whether painting or dimensional mixed media.  No matter how avante garde your art, this is one of the conventions, this left to right thing we are wired into, you must stick to. Our eyes – and brains – are used to the left to right flow.

So if, for instance, you are creating a piece of art and want to convey pattern – or even just a thought about patters in art or in life – remember if you attempt to lead the eye from left to right, the eye – and mind – of your viewer is more likely to be able to follow your idea or theme easily, thus understand any underlying meaning.

Jan29

Imitation is Good for the Soul

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If imitation is the sincerest for of flattery, could it also be the kindest way to teach yourself a new art technique?

Contributors to Somerset Studio invite readers to use the techniques they demonstrate in order to reproduce their creations.  For artists who use the instructions, assemble the necessary tools, and try to re-create what the published artists have done, is this the best, most non self- judgmental way for them to learn and appreciate their own talents?  When we try to recreate or copy what has been created by another artist, we might feel a little less like our very heart and soul depends on the outcome if the piece comes out differently than the original than if we create something that is not what we had hoped, planned, or intended.  We may in fact actually learn something about how we choose – maybe subconsciously, maybe consciously – to work with certain tools.

As kids when we first learned cursive – at least when teachers used to teach it – we learned by copying letters above the chalkboard and in writing in lined tablets.  We traced, we imitated, we learned.  Is it like that in art?  Perhaps to learn, and feel comfortable that when the learning process is done what we have is truly our own, we need to imitate others first.

When we sat in class in a Zen like trance and traced letters, the teachers knew that eventually our letters would take on their own – our – personality.  And so it is with art.  When we use methods of artists with morePicture 001 experience than ourselves, we learn things that will serve us in many ways throughout our lives.

So feel good about copying for learning or self-satisfaction what has been created by others, it will help you relax into nonjudgmental learning and ultimately, develop you own style.