Paint what you see.
I learn more about my own painting from reading and studying the habits and views of others. For instance, Van Gogh’s views and thoughts can be gathered from the many letters he wrote to his brother and others. These letters contain a great insight into painting. Use of color, form, lines, shading, etc. Although there is no substitute for painting, the study of others is very helpful. Below are more quotes I have saved that help me in developing my own painting.
”Never demand an exact finish for its own sake, but only for some practical or noble end . . . [t]he demand for perfection is always a sign of a misunderstanding of the ends of art. . . Imperfection is in some sort essential to all we know of life. It’s the sign of life in a mortal body. . . To banish imperfection is to destroy expression, to check exertion, to paralyze vitality. All things are literally better, lovelier, and more beloved for the imperfections which have been divinely appointed.” John Ruskin. English critic.
”Art is about emotion, if art needs to be explained it is no longer art.” Renoir.
”Nothing can be expressed except through the force of feeling, that the soul of every masterpiece is powerful emotion.” Pasoda’s advice to Diego.
”There are moments when I ask myself whether I should not do better to give up; you’ll have to admit that there is plenty of reason for dropping everything. I have never been as discouraged as I am right now., and as a result I do very little work, asking myself ‘what is the good of it and to what end?’”. Gauguin letter to his friend Schuffenecker. Post Impressionism, From Van Gogh to Gauguin. John Rewald.
“The only way to find it is to keep painting and hope you find something.” David Lynch. American artist.
”It is impossible to theorize about the ideal of art. In reality, art theory does not precede practice, but follows her. Everything is, at first, a matter of feeling. Any theoretical scheme will be lacking in the essential of creation - the inner desire for expression - which cannot be determined.” Wassily Kadinsky..
“There is no ‘must’ in art, because art is free.” Kadinsky.
”If it’s ‘form’ is bad it means that the form is too feeble in meaning to call forth corresponding vibrations of the soul. Therefore, a picture is not necessarily ‘well painted’ if it possesses the ‘values’ of which the French so constantly speak. It is only well painted if it’s spiritual value is complete and satisfying. Similarly, colors are used not because they are true to nature, but because they are necessary to the particular picture. In fact, the artist is not only justified in using, but is his duty to use only those forms which fulfill his own need. Absolute freedom, whether from anatomy or anything of any kind, must be given the artist in his choice of material. Such spiritual freedom is as necessary in art as it in life.” Kadinsky.
”The normal and final goal of painting, as of all arts, cannot be the direct presentation of objects. It’s ultimate goal is to express Ideas by translating them into a special language. To the eyes of an artist, . . . Objects are valueless merely as objects. They can only appear to him as signs. They (objects) are the letters of an immense alphabet which only the man of genius can combine into words. To write down his thoughts, his poem, with these signs while remembering that the sign, indispensable as it may be, is nothing in itself and that the Idea alone is everything, that is the task of the artist whose eye has been able to discern the hypothesis of tangible objects.” Aurier, Symbolisme en Peinture: Paul Gauguin.
“The artist will always have the right . . . to exaggerate, to alternate, to deform those directly significant characters (forms, lines, colors, etc.) not only according to his individual vision, not only according to the forms of his personal subjectivity, but also to exaggerate, alternate, and deform them according to the needs of the Idea to be expressed.” Aurier.
Cezanne urged painters to make their own artistic discoveries rather than borrow his. “If they try to create a new school in my name, tell them they have never understood, never loved what I have done” Paul Cezanne. The World of Cezanne, Page 172.
“There is only one painter in the world: myself, Cezanne once told his dealer Vollard. This extreme individualism was Cezanne’s great lesson for those who followed him.” The World of Cezanne, by Richard Murphy, Page 182.
DO YOUR OWN THING!