In-class Reflection 3: Select four of Pablo Picasso's quotes and a) connect each to your learning b) connect each to cast c) connect each to sibyl.
Action is the foundational key to all success.
All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.
Bad artists copy. Good artists steal.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.
Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one's bath like a lump of sugar.
He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
I don't believe in accidents. There are only encounters in history. There are no accidents.
Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.
Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.
Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.
Painting is a blind man's profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen.
Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
The people who make art their business are mostly impostors.
To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul, to give it its final blow the coup de gras for the painter as well as for the picture.
We don't grow older, we grow riper.
Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?
You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.
It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.
My mother said to me, "If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope." Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.
20 comments:
“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes”.
I wish I could do this whenever I draw. It affects my learning a lot because I think too much about the drawing and become negative. I start to lose faith that I can do it and become very stubborn with it. With the cast drawing I was so worried about how the block-in looked and how the shading blended together, even though it really did look fine I was just using my brain too much. With the sibyl drawing I defiantly used my brain too much and made myself nervous because of the way the muscles on the woman’s arm was coming out. I kept thinking it looked too big, but in reality it looked the right size. My thinking gets a little too in the way sometimes.
“He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law”.
This also goes along with the quote above. It affects my learning because whenever I tell myself I can’t do something I usually don’t end up doing it well. When I think I am doing good on something it turns out pretty good. I told myself for the first half of my cast drawing that I couldn’t do it. It was difficult for me to start shading and “chase the light”. Eventually, I told myself that it really didn’t look that bad and convinced myself I could do it and it ended up coming out okay. I kind of taught myself not to say I can’t do something by the time I started the sibyl drawing. At first I was really nervous because of all the muscles and bones in the woman’s back and shoulders, but as I went along I told myself that it was okay and I could do it.
“Art is a lie that makes us realize truth”.
Throughout learning about art, there have been times where I had to “lie” to make something look better. It helps me realize that not everything is perfect and that’s the truth. For the cast drawing I had to “lie” about some of the shading because I had to “chase the light”. I also had to lie about how dark some of my lines were, but in the end it made my drawing look a lot better than it would have if I drew it the way I saw it. I also lied about the background for the cast drawing. I made it black when in reality it was not black, but it made my drawing stand out. I didn’t do this much with the sibyl drawing. I did lie a little about the hands because I didn’t know how to do it exactly the way it was originally drawn.
“You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea”.
I learned that I shouldn’t go into a drawing knowing exactly what I want to do just yet because that idea might change drastically throughout the process. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about the shading in the toes of my cast drawing at first. When I finally got a little further into the process, I saw exactly what I needed to do and went for it. If I had an idea of what I was going to do for the whole drawing exactly, I don’t think it would have came out as good as it did when I just went with the flow. I had no idea what I was going to do for the sibyl drawing. I wasn’t even sure if I could do it at all. Once I got it started I just went with it and it came out fine.
-Kendyl Cutler
Action is the foundational key to all success.
This quote speaks so simply, yet so direct. Picasso is trying to say that thinking about something is just not enough, and to accomplish something you have to set your mind to it and just do it. With action, success can be achieved. This quote relates to our learning in class, because to when you are drawing you have to make bold decisions and stick with those decisions. During the cast drawing, sometimes we had to just draw the cast as we directly perceived it. The Libyan sibyl is similar in the sense that you cannot take too much time thinking about how you will draw it, you just have to begin drawing and stick with the basic sketch you began with. This quote is an important one that resonates with every part of life, and it is truly the only way to achieve success.
Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.
This quote shows how some people can think out of the box and perceive things in a different way than others. Picasso was an artist who broke many boundaries, and he he’s asking us, why not break more? This relates to our learning in a way that it is not at all specific, but the fact that people always want to improve their work goes hand in hand with this quote. While drawing the cast, at first I wanted to ignore all of the details that seemed like they were out of my skill level. Mr. Kefor reassured me that I could get it done, and I told myself “He’s right, why not?”. The sibyl was a little different because it wasn’t based on personal perception, but rather copying exactly. Because I had to draw the picture exactly as the original, it didn’t really let me think out of the box.
If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.
This quote resonates with me in many ways with art. I tend to overthink many of the drawings, thinking about how it looks rather than just using my eyes and drawing based off of vision alone. Mr. Kefor has said multiple times to the class, that we should view subject as it is. The cast was a difficult thing for me because I kept wanting to draw it how it looked in my mind, and not how it looked right in front of me. The Libyan Sibyl was different because all I was supposed to do was copy it exactly, rather than draw based on a subject in front of me. I think that many painters incorporate both the brain and eyes, but many need to focus more on how it looks right in front of them.
The people who make art their business are mostly impostors.
This quote seems to speak truth but I’m not sure if it actually is. Although there are probably many people who only want money and don’t actually enjoy art as much as others, I think that a painter who is proud of their work, has every right to profit off of it. This doesn’t really relate to our learning, besides the fact that art should be something you love and you should be able to get many things out of it besides profit. It doesn’t really relate to the cast or Libyan sibyl. I think that if someone is drawing or painting for money only, then there is definitely a problem. If they are just trying to make a living off of their artwork then there is nothing wrong with that.
Jamie Tyree
October 27, 2011
Interdisciplinary Arts E
“Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.”
I can relate to Picasso’s quote with the way this class is structured. Art opens one’s mind to every aspect and detail in a drawing, while also stretching the truth of your marks in some places. When drawing my cast of the foot, I knew what the cast on my paper looked like in comparison to the real foot, but my perspective was not always in the exact same setup as it was the last time I worked on it, therefore I would have to lie in some ways to keep my picture more proportional. When drawing the sibyl, although the real painting is a woman wearing a dress, it is broken down to understand the deeper part of the drawing, although the picture no longer looks like the nude person at the beginning of the drawing.
“He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.”
This quote relates to the necessity of keeping your confidence up when drawing. In this course, if one does not have confidence and an open mind to a difficult drawing, then they will struggle a lot more than if they believe in being able to do it. When approaching the toes to my cast drawing of the foot, I began to stress about the toes and believed I would have a very hard time doing them. I still kept my confidence up and believed if I kept trying I could succeed, which helped me a lot. I remember being given the Libyan Sibyl drawing and everyone immediately began to stress out, but after drawing the block-in and measuring out where all the lines and muscles went, the class began to have a lot more confidence and they came out very nice.
“Painting is a blind man's profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen.”
This course helps break down a drawing and see the deeper shapes of it in order to work around the more detailed shapes, which has helped make my art skills a lot stronger. During the cast drawing, although the shapes I started off with the block-in weren’t physically visible, I felt that, by starting off with those shapes, I could get my picture to come out very close to the real cast. In the Sibyl, I felt that since the painting has so much detail, it was necessary to feel around every individual part of the picture and focus on all of it equally.
“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.”
As mentioned in one of the above reflections, drawing the basic shape, although it seems very simple, is a very complex and creative way of going about a drawing. This relates to the quote for the purpose that, when doing this strategy, it requires thinking out of the box and working around the shape. For the toes of my cast drawing, each individual toe at the beginning had a spherical shape because that’s how the setup of the shadows processed in my head. Figuring out how to correctly shade the certain muscles and bones in the Libyan Sibyl required a lot of deeper thinking as to how to start the block-in for each individual shadow.
In order to perform to your best ability, one must be able to believe in themselves. “He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.” Picasso shows us that confidence in your work will produce the best outcome. In my cast drawing, I didn’t doubt myself and was able to complete it with full confidence that it was to my best capability. At first, I was worried I would not be able to draw sibyl because I had never drawn a person before. Fortunately, I kept a good mind set and completed the project with ease. Mr. Kefor has taught me that I should not give up when something seems too hard, and this is what Picasso has also taught me with this quote.
People are afraid of what they do not know, but living is all about learning new things. “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” I am a victim of disliking the unknown, and the sibyl drawing was definitely unfamiliar. I had some trouble starting the drawing due to my lack of experience with drawing people, but I decided to take a chance. In the end, my drawing came out better than I expected. I’ve had very little experience in art prior to this class, and the idea of the cast drawing also put a little fear in me. After a couple classes I got the hang of what I was supposed to do. Relearning the fundamentals of drawing helped me understand how to block-in, render, and shade my work.
Art deserves to be seen by many eyes but your own to see what is missing. “Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?” Mr. Kefor taught me to get the point of view of my work besides myself because there could be something I’m not seeing that needs to be fixed.
Susan Meyer
October 27, 2011
Period: E
Interdisciplinary Arts
Picasso once said, “He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law”, implying that if one believes they are capable of doing something, they can and that nonbelievers do not succeed. This aspect is very relevant to art, to be successful in a painting, you must succeed with confidence. If one tells themselves they will never be a good artist, they will never try hard enough to become one. When someone sets their mind on something and has total confidence that they can achieve such a task, the task will be achieved. In class, the attitude of the students often reflects their work. Those who are positive about their skills, achieve at high levels, while those who’s attitude seems to be more negative, do not succeed to their best ability. Personally, I know telling myself I can or cannot do something, in every aspect of my life, greatly affects the outcome. It is important to believe in one’s own capabilities in order to be a successful artist, as well as a successful person.
When one faces a struggle, they must strive to become better at whatever it is that they are struggling with. Picasso said, “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it”, explaining that when you at first do not succeed, one must continue trying. One cannot get any better at a task if they give up once they face an obstacle. In class, I often struggle with shading, yet giving up does not solve anything, because the next drawing I will have to shade again, and I will not do any better. For this reason, it is very important to try and try again after you seem to have failed. To learn how to do something takes patience and practice. Art is a prestigious course and takes a lot of effort to achieve.
Picasso said, “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child”, employing that a child’s mind is much more creative than one may assume. Children see the world as it is, they do not assume, judge, or criticize how the world is evolving. They believe in fantasies and think anything is possible. They allow their imagination to run wild. Children see things simply and hold the creativity that every artist longs for. In order to be a successful artist, one must look within their inner child and explore with the same imagination that they once had. Drawing, from my own experience, is much easier when it comes from your own mind and thoughts. Creativity makes a drawing more appealing, learning from the youth and recalling our youth can greatly enhance one’s art work.
We often think too deeply when creating art. If one draws what they see, things may be simpler. Picasso once said, “If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes”, implying that seeing is more accurate than one’s interpretation may be. For example, if one sees a hand that is distorted and tries to recreate it, it may be more challenging because our mind tells us that a normal hand does not appear that way. These distinctions that we make in our mind can often lead to obstacles that we must face when drawing. Personally, I tend to think too much, rather than simply drawing what I see. Picasso was a very successful artist and is very knowledgeable of the arts; his advice opens doors to artists everywhere.
“He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.”
I wouldn’t have agreed with this quote prior to the cast drawing assignment. Art is definitely not my strong point and it shows. Once I understood that I can, everything becomes a lot easier because I have a positive attitude. This is definitely true when I’m learning about art. If I don’t think I’m good at art, I naturally won’t be as receptive to the material as I would if I thought positively about the material. The cast drawing was a perfect example of how this quote rings true. When I first sat down to draw, I figured I wasn’t getting very far. Later, as I applied the skills I learned and kept a positive attitude, the drawing began to take shape and by the time it was finished, it was probably the first piece of art I was proud to call my own. The Libyan Sybil looks very challenging but if I keep a positive attitude and apply what I know, I should be able to complete the assignment with relative success.
“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”
I definitely agree with this quote. In terms of learning, we were taught everything we needed to know to complete the assignments. The trick was taking this knowledge and applying it. All of the assignments and drawings had different phases of construction, and it was crucial that each stage be finished fully before moving on to the next. Such a complex process requires careful organization and a cohesive plan that could be followed from start to finish. For the Bargue assignment, I had no plan. I sat down and rushed through it haphazardly and when I finished it was obvious I had done so. For the cast drawing however, I mapped out in my mind the stages of it: the block in, the building of value, the rendering. Once it was done, I felt proud that I was able to draw something that wasn’t an abhorrent excuse for art. The Libyan Sybil will definitely require a plan because of the complexity of it, but if I follow the steps I took for the cast drawing I’ll be able to complete it.
“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.”
I like this quote because quite simply it’s humorous. Our eyes do seem to know better than the brain, for the brain is evil and it tricks us. I’m a visual learner, so I love to look at images and visuals during lessons. The eyes see the images and accept them for what they are, yet the brain tries to analyze it, assigning a cold, mathematical identity to it. This makes it hard when it comes time to apply the lessons we have learned because you’re caught between your eyes and your brain. You know what to do, but your brain, in all its mathematical evil, refuses to let you do it. I didn’t really understand this concept when doing the Bargue assignment, but it made a lot of sense during the cast drawing, and I’m sure it will be the same for the Libyan Sybil.
“Action is the foundational key to all success.”
I agree strongly with this statement. It’s easier to learn when you think not about what you’re learning, but how you’re going to put it into practice. I didn’t put much effort into the Bargue drawing because I didn’t take much action. I put pencil to paper, but “action” is much more than that. I need to apply what I’ve learned and understand how it affects the drawings. I need to constantly look at my drawing from different angles and perspectives, especially when drawing three-dimensional images like the cast drawing. Many times while working on the cast drawing I found myself staring blankly at the paper, hoping that arcane force would fill up the paper with a beautiful drawing. It took a while to realize it, but that arcane force is actually my own will. The final result may not be beautiful, but it’s better than nothing at all, right?
To know something intimately and understand it on its most basic, fundamental level is to possess it. This can be applied to any aspect of learning, any subject or object. A recitation of facts and figures is not enough; to manipulate the parameters and to apply it in ways that were previously thought preposterous suggests true knowledge. Thus it is the same with art; “bad artists copy. Good artists steal”. The artist who simply translates techniques and styles from another artist to his own canvas or paper is not his own artist. He does not understand why a particular stroke was made. A good artist steals in that he makes the techniques of the greater artists his, in that he understands exactly why something was done. In the cast drawing, I had attempted to “steal” the techniques of the drawings that I had seen before, chiefly the skull, the horse, and the sphere. I do not know how successful I was in doing so but it is my wish that I had created an original work of art, not solely in the image but also in the style and intricacies. Similarly, I wish to do the same with the “Libyan Sibyl”, hopefully with greater success this time than with the cast drawing or other study. With this drawing, I had noticed not only the shading and the lines in detail, but also the reasons why they were arranged and constructed in that way. It was a display of intimate knowledge of the muscle and bone structure and with perseverance, I hope to emulate that.
The physical world is a composition of opposites and it can be argued that one aspect of a concept cannot exist without a polar counterpart. What is “yes” without “no” and what is love without hate? Knowing this, Picasso states that “every act of creation is first an act of destruction”.
Peter L.
Briana Betts, 10/27/2011
Bad artists copy. Good artists steal.
-Just like as we have been learning throughout this class, the best way to learn about art is to make a duplicate of the masters. We are stealing their concepts, to better understand the best ways they have developed over the years on getting a certain form to be as precise as they can get it. Bad artists are those who copy, and project and cheat. Although we are using a projector to do our still-lives it is all within learning as we skip the initial block-in. However for the Cast and the Libyan Sybil had to be Blocked-In by pure interpretation on viewing them. The best way to learn is to steal, and use the works of the masters to learn what they have in many years, in a mere second of interpretation.
Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.
-When a masterpiece is created, it is not as if the picture just came together beautifully and never had mistakes. Everything created in life has its problems (especially when man-made), whether visible or not. When beginning a masterpiece or any work of art, you start with destruction of what you are attempting to produce onto paper. The Block-In for instance, is breaking down and deconstruction what you see into the simplest form of shapes that you possible can get, while being accurate in your proportions. Just as we did with the cast, we stared at it and worked on the Block-In for about three class periods until we were able to move in on the shadow. The same applied for the Libyan Sybil drawing. Before tackling the complexity of the back and other muscles, the artist has to capture the essence of the shape perfectly, before proceeding.
If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.
-By Picasso saying we should remove our brain and only use our eyes, he means that sometimes our brain over analyzes what is portrayed in front of us. When viewing the Cast, I specifically remember how my brain would need to focus on each part specifically to master the details rather than just having one main focal point and blurring what my eyes initially do not see the second I view it. The artists that have the capabilities to draw something so realistically, incorporating the blurred parts of their vision and the focal point, are often the most talented. The Libyan Sybil was a drawing already so therefore it was not necessary to find a focal point and all we needed to do was duplicate.
It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.
-In learning to draw with proper techniques and in gaining a multiplicity of art knowledge, it kind of “cripples your inner child. In art, all of the mastering of drawing forms comes from drawing the simple forms in an ingenious way; Finding how to shade properly, getting the form at a perfect shape, and drawing what’s in front of you. When one focuses so hard on capturing what they’re supposed to capture, and making things as realistic as possible, it almost puts their creative mind in “Sleep Mode”. It’s like working in a cubicle for your entire life and not having to look passed facts and figures, or look too far into things that are in front of you; one forgets how to look beyond what’s in front of them. Even though we are capturing the works of famous artists in the class, we also are looking beyond what’s just laid in front of us in the Cast or the Libyan Sybil because we create our own projection layout, and have more freedoms. To regain one’s inner child, you have to learn to think outside the box again. It’s something that for so long you’re taught not to do but if you want to engage your artistic mind again, you have to.
“Bad artists copy. Good artists steal.”
a) I learned to look at something and try to mimic it in my way than to trace it or copy it.
b) I looked at skull and tried to mimic the shadows and edging of it.
c) I tried to mimic the dark shadowing of the muscles and ribs that I saw in the sibyl.
“Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.”
a) I learned that when you first start a piece of artwork, it will look really bad because you have to do the block-in but it will eventually look like an “act of creation”.
b) When I first started the skull, it looked like an “act of destruction” because I only used dumb lines and shapes for the block-in just so I had a general shape, but then it looked more like a skull when it was finished.
c) When I first started the sibyl, it looked like a really bad stick figure but when I finished it mimicked the actual drawing very well.
“He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.”
a) I have learned that if you begin a piece of artwork with an open mind and you don’t doubt yourself, the artwork will come out much better than thinking the whole time that you can’t do it right.
b) When I first began the cast I thought it wasn’t going to come out looking like the actual skull, and it did.
c) When I first began the sibyl, I started it with an open mind because I knew that maybe it would come out better that way, and it finished looking almost just like the actual drawing. This really is an “indisputable law”.
“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.”
a) I have learned that if we only look at something and try to draw using just what we see; it ends up coming out a lot better than anticipating what it should look like.
b) Halfway throughout the cast drawing, I began looking at it just to see the darks and lights so that it would come out somewhat good.
c) As soon as I started the sibyl, I looked at the darkest darks first and tried not to anticipate what I should draw first and it finished looking a lot better than the cast.
-alex g.
Over the course of the semester I have learned to guide myself by the quote “He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law”. If you believe that you can succeed you will and if you don’t then you won’t. I always try my best and try to see the positives in my work even if I don’t love. I also try to help others and make them learn to love it even if they say that hate it or it’s horrible. I believe the best way to succeed in an art class is to believe in yourself and your work. When doing the cast drawing I had to work hard to succeed with my drawing. At first I hated it and thought my shading was off and it didn’t look “real”. I worked on my edging and shading and in the end it came out much better than I expected.
Over the course of the semester I have learned to guide myself by the quote “He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law”. If you believe that you can succeed you will and if you don’t then you won’t. I always try my best and try to see the positives in my work even if I don’t love. I also try to help others and make them learn to love it even if they say that hate it or it’s horrible. I believe the best way to succeed in an art class is to believe in yourself and your work. When doing the cast drawing I had to work hard to succeed with my drawing. At first I hated it and thought my shading was off and it didn’t look “real”. I worked on my edging and shading and in the end it came out much better than I expected.
A defining quote by Pablo Picasso is the assertion that "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." A large part of Integrated Arts and English is the belief and practice that anyone is capable of artistic talent. Picasso reinforces this by stating his belief that indeed, all children ARE capable of art, as are adults, if they only hone their abilities correctly. As far as the cast drawing and the Libyan Sibyl, this quote encourages students to work past struggles by implying that they are capable of good work in the arts.
When Picasso says "Bad artists copy. Good artists steal," he is stating that in order to be truly great, one must not copy, but reinterpret elements from other artists and works. Although we have been copying things, particularly for the Libyan Sibyl, I believe that this is an important part of learning. With the cast drawing, we are perhaps more stealing the shape of the object, while adding shading and light contrast to enhance the drawing.
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it,” says Picasso. This is highly applicable to our learning of the arts in this class. Perhaps many students in the class believed that they were not an artist, and could not do the assignments given. However, by attempting them with an open mind, they learn how to create, and it is no longer something “which [they] cannot do.” When I saw the skull, I was intimidated by the daunting task of recreating it, but by working through this intimidation, I learned that I was, in fact, capable of it. The Libyan Sibyl has a quite similar vein to it, where I was given a work of an undisputed master of art, and told to recreate it. If I do not try this, I will never learn, and never become a better artist. I must push myself out of my artistic comfort zone in order to discover that I can learn new things.
A final essential Picasso quote is “To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul, to give it its final blow the coup de gras for the painter as well as for the picture.” This has been a recurring theme throughout Integrated Arts and English. With the cast drawing, I am not done, and perhaps never will be. However, the process I went through trying to render it is far more important than completion. To be satisfied would squelch one's desire to continue creating. The same applies to the Libyan Sibyl, particularly since it is, itself, just an uncompleted sketch, a study that fueled a greater work. To finish it would indeed be to kill it.
-Kara Mackie
Chris McCready
“The people who make art their business are mostly impostors.”
I agree with this quote in many ways. I have learned from you that you must feel the drawing while drawing it. When people draw for money or fame they are not expressing themselves into the drawing. While I was drawing the cast drawing I felt myself making every line. I feel if I was drawing this for someone else I would not have the same heart or desire. Art should be something you must enjoy if it does not stay that way it just like another boring desk job. The sibyl drawing feels like a business to me because it feels forced upon. The sibyl is like taking note; copying every line.
“Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?”
You have taught us to see the face in a different way. I hope to learn to see the face just as an object I must draw. Learning this will make drawing much simpler. As I draw the face, it must come out perfect or I will spend forever on it. When I learn to think of the face as another drawing; it will make me a better artist. I have been approaching the face in the wrong way in both the Libyan and cast. My cast seemed a little too big. A little mistake on any face can make the drawing look distorted or awkward. In the future I plan to take everything one step at a time.
“He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.”
This quote has connected to me through art and much more. In running it has affected me. When I say I can do it, I have a better race. When I stride to beat someone I will come very close or even do it. If I put in a negative attitude, nothing would be accomplished. When I hear my friends say they cannot do it while I drawing, they usually rush through it. In my cast you can tell that I was committed in the beginning to get every line perfect. When I got to the shading however I gave up. I was not feeling my lines. In the sibyl I have accounted for the lines pretty well and I am striding to make it perfect.
“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary”
Keeping a diary is like taking notes which I have connected to art before. Every line is mine and I drew it myself. I configured a work of art that I consider decently good, and I am proud of it. Every drawing is unique.
“Painting is a blind man’s profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen” (Picasso). Whether painting or drawing, it is more difficult to paint what you feel rather than what you are seeing. When viewing a particular image, the eye has only one focal point and the rest of the image seems to fade away. However, it is more difficult to transfer those images from the eye to the paper. When painting or drawing, the artist shifts focal points in order to focus more on a certain aspect of the painting or drawing they are working on. Creating a piece of artwork is the “blind man’s profession” because he has the understanding of how this works and can focus more on the way he feels about the piece rather than focusing on transferring the image exactly as it appears onto his piece of paper. This concept applies to both the cast drawing and the Libyan Sibyl drawing. Coming in as a new artist, it is difficult to apply the concepts of drawing in a “blind” manner. You want to draw exactly what you see rather than what you do not see. For example, there is no three-dimensional object with a line around it. As a new artist, it is difficult to perceive this fact as a reality. Both with the cast drawing and the Libyan Sibyl, it was difficult to view them both as a whole, rather than in specific parts, in order to make them look realistic; “painting is a blind man’s profession.”
- David Aranjo
Throughout this course I have learned that you are going to make mistakes that will eventually turn into the artwork you want. “Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.” Picasso shows that you have to make mistakes in order to fulfill a positive outcome in your artwork. When I started off with my cast drawing I was unsure of how it was going to turn out and when I began my block-in I had a very bad feeling. Doing block-ins are one my big weaknesses because I throughout all of my art classes I had never done it before. Eventually though I was content with the final piece one I began shading and putting it together. During the drawing of the sibyl I thought that I was going to have it turn out horrible when trying to make it match up to the same size and block-in. It was a mess at first but once I got the precise measurements it began to look decent.
When I person believes they cannot complete a task they want to achieve they will not achieve it, but ones who feel as though they can they will achieve it. “He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.” This quote from Picasso explains that a person has to believe in themselves to become successful in the end. When I started in this course I was not sure on how I was going to be able to pass, but I knew I wanted to and was going to try my best at accomplishing that goal. Mr. Kefor has taught me and others that you should not give up and try your hardest in order to succeed. I was not sure on the cast drawing when I had to sit upright and draw what I saw in front of me, but I was not going to let the challenge of that affect me, in fact I was going to force myself to try harder at something I was new to. When the sibyl had to be drawn I had trouble figuring out how to draw out the hands, but believe in myself that I would be able to get it completed, which in fact I did after I did it several times.
A person cannot stop their art until they are positive that they can leave it alone, even if they die to not complete it the next day. “Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” Picasso is trying to explain that a person’s artwork cannot be left uncompleted if the outcome is them dying the next day to not finish what they started and them not being content with the end result of it. Starting with my cast drawing I was not happy when I had to leave the class room not able to have my art look as good as I intended it to. Mr. Kefor taught me to always leave off where you think you should stop, and although it is hard to just stop because it’s the end of the class, at least I am ending with what I had achieved during that time. When I did my sibyl drawing I was not happy with the way I had to leave when it look horrible around the rib cage, I made sure that before I left I completed it to where it made me happiest.
It is always good to try your best in what you are new to enable to gain new experiences. “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” When I started off in this class I was not sure how it was going to go. I was new to some of the things we were starting but I was willing to try.
- Morgan Silver
He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.
During all the drawings that I have done so far in this class, this saying has been one of the main things I think about. I am not an experienced artist and many of the things we have done I have at first thought, “I cannot do this.” Both the caste drawing, and the sibyl were no exception. I thought at first that surely I would never be able to reproduce what I was seeing onto my paper. After I began with this attitude, it did not take me long to realize that I could not draw these things. It was not because of my lack of ability but rather because of my attitude. When I realized this I started to tell myself I could and I would draw these things to the best of my ability. Both of these drawings are not perfect by any means but they are perfect in my eyes because I worked as hard as I could on them and, using self motivation produced a drawing that was much better than anything I had drawn before.
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
This quote is very applicable to my experiences with drawing this semester. Before this year I had only taken a half year of art. That is the only formal instruction in art that I had ever had. Coming into this class, I found things very difficult. There were a lot of things that I never learned last year that we began doing this year in a very casual manner which made me feel like I should already know how to do it all. Although I felt behind and lost, I kept doing the things that were assigned no matter how unhappy I was with the result. Doing these things despite my feelings of confusion actually taught me how to do these things. During the caste drawings I was very uncertain about doing a block in. Although we had practiced them before I was still feeling very uncertain. Continuing with the block in and doing it repeatedly until I found one that I liked helped my drawing tremendously and I learned a great deal simply by doing this. Drawing the sibyl seemed impossible at first. I have never drawn people besides when doodling outside of class and I was very nervous. Remembering my experience with the caste, I dove in and began blocking and detailing the sibyl. My drawing came out exponentially better than I thought it ever would because I dove into it without hesitation although I felt as if I did not know what I was doing.
You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
This quote applies to not only my art work but my life. There are many things I know I want to do or am going to do but I never know any details or precisely how I will get them done. This makes me more excited when I view the end result and see what I accomplished from such a vague idea. This also applies to my art work because I do not plan out my drawings or where I am going to go with them before I draw. The block in is the only element of planning that I have before I dive right into my drawing. When I drew the caste drawing I had no idea how I was going to do it. The only thing I knew was the angle of the horse I was drawing and the lines I had laid out in the block in. The sibyl was the best example I have of this philosophy. I had no idea what I was going to do at all when I first began and even when I was still in the middle of drawing. I went with the flow and what I felt and saw and the end result reflects this.
If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.
Before I took this class I would not have understood this quote but I have come to appreciate it greatly after being in this class for almost a term now. Many times when I draw things I draw what I think they should look like. My first details of the horse in the caste drawing were only things that my brain was telling me a horse would have. After I saw that this was not matching up with what I was seeing, I began to think like this. The same thing happened with the sibyl and after I realized this and made my corrections my drawings were so much better.
Neeve MacGregor
You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
This quote applies to not only my art work but my life. There are many things I know I want to do or am going to do but I never know any details or precisely how I will get them done. This makes me more excited when I view the end result and see what I accomplished from such a vague idea. This also applies to my art work because I do not plan out my drawings or where I am going to go with them before I draw. The block in is the only element of planning that I have before I dive right into my drawing. When I drew the caste drawing I had no idea how I was going to do it. The only thing I knew was the angle of the horse I was drawing and the lines I had laid out in the block in. The sibyl was the best example I have of this philosophy. I had no idea what I was going to do at all when I first began and even when I was still in the middle of drawing. I went with the flow and what I felt and saw and the end result reflects this.
If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.
Before I took this class I would not have understood this quote but I have come to appreciate it greatly after being in this class for almost a term now. Many times when I draw things I draw what I think they should look like. My first details of the horse in the caste drawing were only things that my brain was telling me a horse would have. After I saw that this was not matching up with what I was seeing, I began to think like this. The same thing happened with the sibyl and after I realized this and made my corrections my drawings were so much better.
Neeve MacGregor
“Painting is a blind man’s profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen” (Picasso). Whether painting or drawing, it is more difficult to paint what you feel rather than what you are seeing. When viewing a particular image, the eye has only one focal point and the rest of the image seems to fade away. However, it is more difficult to transfer those images from the eye to the paper. When painting or drawing, the artist shifts focal points in order to focus more on a certain aspect of the painting or drawing they are working on. Creating a piece of artwork is the “blind man’s profession” because he has the understanding of how this works and can focus more on the way he feels about the piece rather than focusing on transferring the image exactly as it appears onto his piece of paper. This concept applies to both the cast drawing and the Libyan Sibyl drawing. Coming in as a new artist, it is difficult to apply the concepts of drawing in a “blind” manner. You want to draw exactly what you see rather than what you do not see. For example, there is no three-dimensional object with a line around it. As a new artist, it is difficult to perceive this fact as a reality. Both with the cast drawing and the Libyan Sibyl, it was difficult to view them both as a whole, rather than in specific parts, in order to make them look realistic; “painting is a blind man’s profession.”
“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes” (Picasso). It is easier said than done. For the past three months, all we have been doing is attempting to recreate either casts or drawings by other famous artists. If we had the ability to take out our brains and draw exactly what we saw, the world would be a more artistically inclined place. Then again if we had the ability to take out our brains, we would die. It’s a lose-lose situation. If everyone had this ability, there would be no famous artists because everyone would be able to draw. Most humans have a tendency to overcomplicate everything. When drawing, our thoughts tend to sway us into seeing what we want to see and not necessarily what we are drawing. This is very applicable to both the cast and the Libyan Sibyl because it is nearly impossible to recreate an exact copy because our brain overpowers our eyes. We begin to draw what we think and not what we see.
“Only put off tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone” (Picasso). Picasso is lying to us. He later contradicts his statement by saying, “To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul, to give it its final blow the coup de gras for the painter as well as for the picture.” However, I agree with his second statement more. I do believe that there comes a point when you have to consider your artwork “done,” but it is never truly finished; there is always more that can be worked on. With both the cast and the Libyan Sibyl, I feel as though I could work forever on both of the drawings and would never be able to say that I am completely finished with them. There is still more that I could go back in and fix. No matter how close to “finished” you come, you will still be able to find flaws; there is no such thing as perfection.
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
When I started this class, I had only a little bit of the knowledge of art on my side; now, a term into the class, I feel so much more confident in my ability to create form and value. Learning is essential in art, and in all of life, because every new project is another lesson and another opportunity to better myself. Picasso did not come to be one of the most famous artists in the world by safely sticking to what he knew how to do and never exploring and exhausting every possibility to learn.
While drawing the cast and lybian sibyl, I struggled from the beginning stages all the way to the final product. My favorite kind of art to create has always been more creative; it has been more of a "color outside the lines" way of expression. However, trying to pinpoint the realism of the two projects was difficult for me. Doing what is hardest for me is the most beneficial for myself in the long run, no matter how difficult the task is.
Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?
Realism seems like such a solid concept, but in what defines it? Picasso asks the cosmic question: what is real? Perspectives, angles, lighting, and so many factors define a piece of artwork as realistic, and rendering a realistic picture has been a huge learning experience for me. Personally, I would rather stray from the realistic and create what has not yet existed.
Drawing from the actual cast was a challenge; turning a three-dimensional object into a two dimensional one that resembled having three dimensions was not an easy task. The lybian sibyl, too, was difficult to draw from even though both were just two dimensions. After going through the process of capturing the realism of both projects I suggest that there is no "seeing correctly", there is only interpretation.
You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
One flaw I have when it comes to art is that I am not a planner, I work and live only in the moment. Learning the drawing process is helping me become a better artist, and the organization of the envelope and block-in make a huge difference in the quality of the final drawing. However, having the freedom to change or create something totally different from the original is equally important to a successful piece of art.
The cast drawing required a lot of planning; I spent half the process of drawing on the initial block-in. After the body was concrete, I then could experiment with the rendering of the drawing. I was not working blindly while drawing, but I was not entirely sure about every decision I made. The lybian sibyl was harder for me because of the specificity of the picture, and Michelangelo's mastery of the block-in of the woman. Planning is necessary and beneficial to the drawing process, but the flexibility and willingness to experiment truly makes the piece of art.
Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.
Procrastination is a character flaw that most people have, and in the class I have definitely put off many of the drawings. If I am passionate about a project, or if it challenges me enough that I cannot put it down then I will plow through the process until whatever I am doing is to my standards. However, I cannot help but put off what is uninteresting and poses to opportunity to express emotion or feeling.
Drawing the cast of the horse was by far my favorite art project, and I worked diligently every moment I had to ensure its success. The lybian sibyl copy was difficult and uninteresting to me, and unfortunately got pushed to the back of my sketchbook. Taking breaks in drawing is greatly needed, however, revisiting them is the most important part.
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