I teach a lot about differences in art making. Differences between colors, shapes and textures, values and even emotions. The thinking being, that a bright color will look even brighter if paired with its opposite. A dull color. A light shape will look even lighter next to a dark shape. It also relates to states of being. Being careful, cautious in parts of our art especially looks good when paired with an area that has been made by being slightly out of control.
Interestingly, this juxtaposition of opposites, this enhancement of things also works in life too. For example, I can’t stop thinking about this fabulous ice cream cone I had this past Sunday right after crossing the finish line of a particularly, grueling running race I do every year. The sweet, cold ice cream cone and the dry, extremely tiring, 7 mile cross country race, for me, were truly opposites. And experiencing them together improved both. They each become more, in the presence of each other.
This play of opposites enhances not just Art but also Life. Both sides of the equation are positively affected by the richness and variation of differences.
On the last painting I made I used a tiny dental picking tool. I used a #2 pencil and brushes that make fine lines. But then I also used 3 and 5-inch paint brushes. I used a 13 in roll of paper towels along with rags to smear and adjust paint. I have a car window squeegee that is about 13 in wide. I have a 7-inch paint scraper. I builder’s scribe for making large carved circles. I used a 6-inch orbital sander with 60 grit sandpaper. I used 16-inch wide x 5 ft. sheets masking paper to apply paint and adjust its texture. And I also used a house brick to gouge the surface. I have a box of greasy pastels that I constantly use in addition to oil paint.
When I laid out all the tools on the table I was kind of shocked at how diverse they all looked. Just the tools alone are interesting. In fact lining them up against each other is in a way just like a painting. Combining the small with the large. The delicate with the rough.
I realized you could tell a lot about someone’s art by looking at the tools used to make it. Maybe if the tools are varied, if they are gathered over time, discovered one by one based upon the differences in marks they each create greatly contribute to the potency of the final art.
Maybe some of the richness in our work can be discovered before we even begin.
Maybe by making an effort to push our awareness about the kinds of mark making tools we use, we can more easily create art that not only moves us, but everyone else too.
13 Comments
Hi! I’m
Nicholas Wilton
the founder of Art2Life.
With over 20 years experience as a working artist and educator, I’ve developed a systematic approach that brings authenticity, spontaneity and joy back into the creative process.
Join me and artists from all over the world in our Free Art2Life Artists Facebook Group or learn more here about Art2Life.
You knocked it out of the park with this one! You had me with the good result of the differences between fine detail and control paired with loose rough brushwork, a contrast I had always thought indicated weakness and inconsistency. What a breakthrough! Of course you are right. It just adds to the sizzle and brings it to life.
Fabulous. Thanks for the push of my limits. Keep going.
Your thoughts constantly inspire and amaze me…thank you for sharing so much!
Thanks Nicholas..
You have really inspired me to take a new “risk” with a work that I’m stuck on.
I really get so much from your blogs.
Hopefully some day I can take one of your workshops.
You are a saint, sharing all your trade secrets with us!
Very cool Nicholas! I never thought about the differences in the tools itself. Thanks for that perspective. 😉
Thank you for this reminder… YOur post took me back to an open studio class I took a number of years ago. The instructor took me outside to select grasses and weeds, sticks other natural items to use for mark making. It was one of the best courses I took. With this brought back to mind, I’m going to go on a scavenger hunt to find some new tools for my paint box!
Appreciate these beautiful, practical, unique insights, Nicholas. Recently started receiving your regular words of wisdom and find them most inspiring. Especially like your range of perspectives from philosophical to very practical and granular.
Took a photo of one of your pieces that I loved through the window of a closed gallery when in S.F. this spring before I matched it with others of yours I’d been admiring for some time. Thanks for sharing who you are and what you know about art.
Thank you for sharing your insights and guiding my awareness of oppostes also towards my life. As you might know, I have “retired” now from work. This I thought is the phase in my life to really focus on making art. We have moved and travelled. I have not painted seriously since January . I miss it a lot.
Your insights helped me understand, that sweet moments in life are enhanced by struggles which move me forward in my art. I need both! I am highly motivated to start my painting practice again upon my return. Thank you!
What a great approach and concept, Nicholas!! I love this. Thank you.
You are amazing. How you approach your art clearly relates to how you approach your life. You are expansive, generous, daring, challenging, and open! I have benefited so much from your blogs and videos. Thank-you!
Such a well written article. I always enjoy reading about your approach to art and life in general. Thanks for sharing.
Really interesting subject Nic. When I returned to my studio today, I laid out my tools to see what was there again, and seeing them there next to each other gave me new ideas for the painting I had in progress. A new Idea, a new mark!
Thanks Again!