The fear of paint
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Lately, I haven't been in a position where I don't know much about the subject at hand. Mostly, because I've been concentrating in the professional and logical aspect of my life (Work) and not because I know much about anything :) Most of the stuff I've been doing is Java and J2EE development - Really cool stuff.
Tonight, I was put in a position where I knew nothing on the subject: painting.
Perhaps, nothing is a bit of an overstatement, I mean, I've seen painters paint; I've seen paintings in the past; and I'm not entirely blind, so I can still distinguish shapes and colors.
The model took her place and got ready to be painted. The brush felt unfamiliar; the process of mixing paint confused me as I know nothing of the "color wheel." There are three primary colors and I don't know them. Or at least I don't remember them, since I have taken a couple of physics courses in University, and I do recall the Optics section talking about light dispersion and angles of refraction.
I felt like a child again: waiting for the instructor to tell me what to do.
Anyway, after getting through the unfamiliar feel of the brush and accepting that I didn't know what I was doing, I gave it shot and tried to paint the scene in front of me: a clothed model sitting on a chair, reading a magazine.
The canvas below, was the result:
It has a certain Impressionist quality to it, which is entirely accidental. I was actually going for a real depiction (At least in my mind), and ended up with a blob of paint that didn't resemble much.
After a few tries and some guidance, the shape of the model emerged. Not in its entirety, but if you squint and think really hard of a female sitting on a chair, you can almost see her with a crossed leg while holding an opened magazine.
Comments: