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Continue Painting to Silence your Inner Doubt
At the beginning of July, I shared “Inspiring Quotes for Artists” with helpful words by famous artists, writers and designers. For the next few months I will be writing a creative reflection based on each of the eleven quotes.
I hope you find the reflections helpful – and please comment below with your own ideas, inspirations and revelations from the quotes.
Today, we begin with quote #1:
Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh
“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced”
– Vincent Van Gogh
Reflection:
The hardest part of any endeavor is just getting started.
When I was facing artistic block (the visual artist’s version of writer’s block) when I was in art school, I received one of the best pieces of advice:
PAINT SOMETHING UGLY.
That was it. Paint an ugly painting!
Painting an ugly painting has many benefits:
- It gets you started
- It removes expectations that the artwork should be aesthetically pleasing
- It allows you to have fun
- It opens your mind to be free and wander as you create
- You can explore techniques outside your comfort zone
- And, it sets the bar so low so that when you do set out to make your next painting, you feel proud of the progress from that first messy experiment
It is easy to let self-doubt, insecurities, and fear get in the way of making the artwork you were born to create. An important part of the artist’s job is calming the inner-self, nurturing the creative spirit inside of you, and being uninhibited as you work.
What do you do to break free from artist’s block?
Have you ever tried making an ugly painting?
How do you nurture and protect your creative-self?
Best wishes to you as you make your art!
– Alexis Marie
Alex Colville Retrospective at the Art Gallery of Ontario
The woman with the strong arms holding binoculars up to her eyes, the man behind her reclining and obscured…
I will never forget that image. The first time I saw it I was in my BFA undergrad studies at the University of Alberta. The lecture theater was darkened and I sat on a wooden folding chair as the art history professor projected the image, “To Prince Edward Island” by Alex Colville as large as the wall. I never imagined seeing “To Prince Edward Island” in person; that thought never occurred to me back then. When I was in Toronto for work recently, I snuck in a visit to the Art Gallery of Ontario and was pleasantly surprised to find a retrospective of Colville’s work.
The smooth manner Colville painted skin tone, his stylized approach to form and the way his characters seem to float in their environments; the artwork is captivating and timeless.
When Alex Colville died in July of 2013 at 92 years old, it was the loss of a great career artist. He worked at his paintings for more than seventy years, a similar length as his marriage to his wife Rhoda. Their love story can be seen on many of Colville’s canvases. I found it so compelling, and romantic, that the artist used his wife as a muse and painted her at every stage of her life, doing simple every day things. Colville also painted her, and himself, near the end of their lives, their bodies obviously changed from the youthful images found in early paintings like “To Prince Edward Island.”
There is something magical about seeing famous art in person. It is mesmerizing and surreal. I cherish these opportunities to lean in close to witness first hand every brushstroke, each tiny detail. Colville’s fine details seem to vibrate on the canvas, the surface work of the paint so skillfully applied I imagine the artist being a patient man with a steady hand.
The retrospective was inspiring. It runs from August 23, 2014 to January 4, 2015 at the AGO. If you have the chance, I strongly recommend seeing it.
Art Gallery of Ontario
317 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5T 1G4
Call 1-877-225-4246 or 416-979-6648
NOTE: There was an additional $5 fee to access the Colville Retrospective on top of the gallery entrance cost.
