Creativity and Painting.

N.B., Click on images to zoom.

'Sketch of a Tree Trunk' 
Mixed Media on Panel

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This was a sketch quickly drawn onto a panel, and then worked over in some detail on parts of the image. The underdrawing is done with bistre conté crayon, which I usually fix by brushing over it with diluted acrylic medium. This also acts as a size (if needed) for any overpainting. 

I then sketched in the main elements fairly quickly using acrylic paint. This obviously dries very quickly, and within a few minutes it is ready for another layer of overpainting using oil paint.

In such a sketch I don't think it's necessary to paint everything in. And in fact, sometimes there isn't the time to do that. But it's worth it, if time allows, to have a go at any interesting or difficult details, so that there is sufficient information for when attempting a later, more finished, painting.

Here's a more finished version of the same view.............

N.B., Click on images to zoom.

'Tree, River, Wood' 

Oil on Panel

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This painting is one (of two) which I have put into the summer annual open show at the Royal Cambrian Academy. It will be there until September 7th (open Tuesday-Saturday 11am -5pm)
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I occasionally think about 'creativity'. What is it? How we can achieve it and use it? If it is innate (or primarily innate), or is it something we can work on and develop, like a muscle?

Personally, I'm still thinking about it.

And in the meantime here are some thoughts from elsewhere (some of which I agree with).............

"Creativity has much to do with experience, observation and imagination, and if any one of those key elements is missing, it doesn't work."

Bob Dylan.

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."Albert Einstein

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."

Scott Adams

Top 10 Creative Rules of Thumb: 
1. The best way to get great ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away. 2. Create ideas that are 15 minutes ahead of their time...not light years ahead. 3. Always look for a second right answer. 4. If at first you don't succeed, take a break. 5. Write down your ideas before you forget them. 6. If everyone says you are wrong, you're one step ahead. If everyone laughs at you, you're two steps ahead. 7. The answer to your problem "pre-exists." You need to ask the right question to reveal the answer. 8. When you ask a dumb question, you get a smart answer. 9. Never solve a problem from its original perspective. 10. Visualize your problem as solved before solving it.

Charles Chic Thompson

"It's been very important throughout my career that I've met all the guys I've copied, because at each stage they've said, "Don't play like me, play like you."

Eric Clapton

"The opposite of creativity is cynicism."

 Esa Saarinen

"Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them."

Albert Einstein

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             quiz  quiz quiz  quiz  quiz       “details, details............”    quiz  quiz  quiz  quiz  quiz             

Who painted this arm, and in which picture?

(The answer will be in the next posting.)

And here's the answer from the last posting - 

' Adele Bloch-Bauer 1' 

Gustave Klimt. Oil, silver and gold on canvas. Neue Galerie, NY.

             quiz  quiz quiz  quiz  quiz       “details, details............”    quiz  quiz  quiz  quiz  quiz             

"One reason my paintings have become realistic has to do with my interest in what things really look like." 

Robert Bechtie