Dear readers,
Today I did a small experiment. I wanted to try out what I can do with cheap material. I used simple copy paper, childrens watercolour from Ikea, and a few crayons (the watersoluble neocolor II-crayons. They are artist quality material, but they are not that expensive, and stay long).
I hoped that I would not feel inhibited by the lesser quality of the paint, but I actually was. The watercolours are not bright at all – they are not very pigmented. So my conclusion was that using quality material is important, at least when using watercolour paint. Maybe this is less important when you use acrylics. I think so, but even student quality acrylic paint can get expensive when you want to make a start with it.
I think for many people the cost of art material is a barrier to starting an art practice, and I hoped to find out that even with cheap material you can get far. I have been thinking about it since I would like to develop a course for starting artists, and it would be nice if the ‘entrance costs’ would not be that high.
So: I will be thinking about this!
Still I liked the the paintings. But I think as a little bit more experienced artist it is more easy to work around the poor quality of material: you just can ‘bluff your way out of it’. As you are really starting the results might be so disappointing that you quit. You don’t have the simple joy of seeing colours on paper. Only putting colours on paper can be such a joy already!
Bye, have a good day!
Simone
Dotty, thank you so much.
I think you are right, maybe I am putting my standards too high for now.
Indeed: very good to go back to Jane Davies. That might be a fantastic entry for rethinking what an ‘absolute beginner’ can start with. Not as a ‘curriculum’ that you have to go through, not as something academic, but as exploring all the possibilities that exist.
And indeed: art is a fantastic gateway to selfexpression, to growth, to creativity in a wider sense, to liberation even. (I might get over the top here ;-) – But I know art has been transformative for me).
thanks!
Terrific experiments!
I wonder if some of the objective observation work we did with Jane Davies might be useful here—if I look at what you painted today, I see color! shape! marks! scribbles! self-expression!
You and I know that the colors are not as bright or as saturated as what you usually create, but IN AND OF THEMSELVES, they are—color! shape! …
When you woke up this morning: white copy paper. Now: art!
Imagine someone who wants to start making art or who wants to use art as a metaphor for other creative ventures. Paintings such as these are manifested creativity where just a few moments earlier there was none.