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* The Most Valuable Objects on the Planet

* COLLECTOR'S DISCOVERY ZONE

   See the latest works by our artist members!

When you think about it, good paintings are among the most valuable objects on the planet (notice I qualified the statement with by adding the word "Good").  Think I'm kidding? Van Gogh's "Irises" sold for $49 million dollars in 1987.  No doubt it would be more today.  "Au Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir has sold for as high as a whopping $78.1 million.  Now, that's a lot of green for one canvas!  However, not only are paintings valuable FINANCIALLY, but even more so EMOTIONALLY. 

Back when I was in the gallery business, I often saw people moved to TEARS by paintings.  What kind of price tag do you put on THAT?  Usually only those you love (or hate) can move you to tears, but with paintings, we're talking about a tangible object that can move a person to tears.  Paintings can affect a myriad of emotions in their viewers, from happiness and excitement, to sadness and disgust.  Visual art can "take us away" from our hectic lives and daily problems and give us an inner moment of peace, tranquility or joy. 

For these reasons, people become extremely emotionally attached to their art.  I know a lady who has been offered over a million dollars for a particular bronze sculpture that she owns (This is many times what she paid for it.)  Her reply? "The bronze means more to me than the money." I find that even with my own art collection. People often ask me, "Which piece is your favorite?" I usually respond with, "Which of your children is your favorite?" (Along with a sheepish grin.)  Even when selling paintings in the gallery, people would select a painting to purchase and I would think, "NO! I'm not quite ready to let THAT one go!"

Few people have the opportunity to create truly unique, tangible, one-of-a-kind items of high value like visual artists do.  Even other types of "artists" don't have the opportunity to relish in such wonderful physical "proof" of their creations. Think about musicians, dancers, and actors.  To see their "originals", the viewer must be present at its creation (i.e. the performance itself).  And a performance is a re-creation anyway. To reach the audience in their homes (as painters can do simply by hanging the painting on the collector's wall), all other art mediums must rely on duplication techniques:  music (CD's), dance (video), acting (video) ... even photographers must rely on film. 

Indeed, only visual artists have this tangible evidence of the original creation process.  And the value is attached to the work product itself.  Think about it.  Other forms of art have no original and tangible product to store their intrinsic value.  How do you purchase music? You can purchase a recorded copy, you can purchase a concert ticket, you can purchase the score, and you can even purchase the copyrights to music. But none of those things are truly the original. "'What about the concert?" you ask.  Good question.  The original artist may perform it, but even it is only a rehearsed copy.  It would be like watching a painter "repaint" a painting. . . without even having a finished painting at the end!

My somewhat belabored point is that only visual art provides both an ORIGINAL & TANGIBLE product.  Gold can store value, but can't move us to tears (unless you bought it at the wrong time), while music can move us to tears, but can't store value in a physical way.  Paintings can do BOTH.

This is one reason we become so addicted to paintings.  We like experiencing the emotions they provoke and we like the idea of owning the original one-of-a-kind item that nobody else in the entire world owns.  Paintings are like people: no two are exactly alike, but all are gifts from God and are to be cherished.

All of this presents the gifted artists themselves with a wonderfully awful dilemma.  Wonderful because of what they are able to contribute to humanity, but awful because for us to enjoy it, THEY HAVE TO LET THE ARTWORKS GO.  I've often seen FABULOUS paintings in an artist's studio and I ask the artist, "Can I buy THAT one?"

"I'm not quite ready to let THAT one go . . .",  He replies.

I know exactly how he feels.

Warm Regards,

Clint

PS "Every genuine work of art has as much reason for being as the earth and the sun." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

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* Creativity Begets Creativity
   So Get Small for Erfahrung

* COLLECTOR'S DISCOVERY ZONE

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In the art production game, continuous practice and improvement is essential to growth, particularly if you’re looking for rapid growth. Along comes Robert Genn of The Painter's Keys, "We're all familiar with the problems associated with Sunday Painters. Cranking up the old machine once a week may be okay in the vintage car hobby--but it's bad news in the creativity game. The steady worker who applies his craft daily is more likely to make creative gains than an intermittent one."

If this “law” of creativity weren’t true we could all just recline by the pool for four days a week and go to work on Friday and complete our responsibilities with a great blast of productivity. But life doesn’t work that way and trying to work against the natural law of creativity would make as much sense as passing a resolution to skip winter. While we’re at it, why don’t we just make life easier for all those scientists and just round off pi to the next whole number?

Unfortunately, practicing our craft daily can be quite a challenge. Real life intervenes for so many of us. I think for those who are serious about making strides in their art (which probably includes everyone reading this newsletter), the old adage is true, “Practice makes perfect.” The good news is that a little bit of practice will go a long way. If you're currently a weekend warrior, find ways to hone your craft at least A LITTLE BIT during the week. Perhaps it's just a sketch pad during your lunch hour...perhaps just a 30 minute study. Creativity begets more creativity so it's critical to keep your mind in the “zone.”

In painting, experience can be looked upon as a function of the number of paintings an artist has created. In effect, the more paintings you’ve done, the more experienced you are. Kevin Macpherson recommends working small as a way to gain experience rapidly. He writes in his book, Fill You Oil Paintings with Light and Color, “When you step up to a small canvas to try something new every day rather than working and reworking a large painting for weeks, you see progress. You learn to master techniques such as brushwork and texture, which boosts your confidence. Painting on a small scale also forces you to ignore inconsequential details and look for larger shapes, broader color relationships and overall composition. It gives you the ability to look at a scene as a whole.” He further recommends committing to paint 100 small paintings as a means to rapid growth.

Fill You Oil Paintings with Light and Color by Kevin Macpherson:
http://www.kevinmacpherson.com

When you get in the creative “zone” more often, you strengthen the neural pathways that allow you to be creative, thus making it easier to be even MORE creative. It’s sort of like developing a habit to be creative.

Nietzsche identified two different kinds of knowledge. On the one hand you have the things you know from personal experiences and from personal observation, which he called “ erfahrung .” There are also the abstractions you think you know - the kinds of things that you read about in art books and from viewing the works of others - which he called " wissen ."

Although wissen teaches us ideas in the intellectual realm, experience based knowledge; erfahrung catapults us up the growth curve so much faster. Trying to become a better painter through wissen alone would be like spending your Sunday watching home improvement television instead of just fixing that leaking faucet.

Now that I’ve given you a bit of wissen on the subject, get out there and get some erahrung ! And don’t forget to get small.

That’s my fine art view, hit reply to send me yours.

Sincerely,

Clint Watson
Software Craftsman and Art Fanatic

PS: "No one can draw more out of things, books included, than he already knows. A man has no ears for that to which experience has given him no access." (Friedrich Nietzsche)

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* IMITATION LEARNING
   Imitation is a natural tendency, 
   but be sure to work to come into your own.

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Researchers at the Volen Center for Complex Systems at Brandeis University have taken a second look at "imitation learning." It seems that when natural talent is added to one's flagrant imitation of others, what results may be the dual assets needed to gain proficiency. Repeated practice and focused desire come into the equation as well. "We are trying to determine what strategies will optimize imitation learning," says study co-author Robert Sekular. "These strategies are crucial for acquiring many of the skills needed in daily life. A lot of what we do is learned by watching and imitating others." This includes tying our shoes, feeding ourselves and, apparently, creating art.

Humans have a natural tendency--in some cases a necessity--to do things in the "correct" way. Much basic learning is done in "monkey see, monkey do" methodology. This goes for sophisticated procedures as well. Novice heart surgeons, for example, learn order, technique and proficiency by watching seasoned pros. Golf swings are refined by playing Tiger's videos. Complex ballet steps are mastered by observing the legs and feet of expert ballet dancers. It's the honoured principle of the "demo." While some human activities are more formalized than others, "visual recipe gathering" is part of our psyche.

The visual arts present a problem in this area. Time-tested processes and academic principles are, of course, valuable, but when large numbers of artists begin to imitate one another a kind of rigor mortis creeps into the creative landscape. Art often expects and demands that one artist be unique from the next. Artists on a quest to find "the secret" can easily fall into the imitation pit. In art, there's no single, golden way.
Ideally, individualists need to sidestep imitation learning and instead rely on direct observation of either the physical world or the universe of the human mind. That's why self-education is so important in the visual arts. Becoming a student of your own processes and following your nose in the quietude of your workspace can be the most effective route to private bliss and public success.

Many art schools understand and exemplify this dichotomy by teaching little but attitude. This is often a mistake. Those experts at Brandeis say we grab our basics by imitation learning, but it seems it is only later that we get a decent grab at attitude.

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "All education must be, in the end, self-education."
(Robert Henri)

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