This is one of my favorite pages. I love the dancing girl image. She didn't fit on the page, so I chopped off her legs and saved them for another page.
"Just be yourself."
I see a lot of artists imitating other artists. I'm not one of those artist teachers who puts that kind of thing down. Imitation is good when you are learning something. In fact, it's what the old masters taught. They understood the benefit of learning the techniques and the tools of the trade. They understood that this is a process and something that is not learned overnight.
Learning takes time, patience and understanding.
Time to perfect your skill. We are forever learning.
Patience to work things through and to understand that things aren't always perfect. Nor should they be.
Understanding when you have to take what you've learned and make it your own. Understanding that life is all about learning and changing. We are not a stagnant lifeform. We are always growing and changing. We are always becoming something new.
Our art should reflect this as much as our lives reflect it.
Something to ponder and to think about. That's the great thing about keeping a journal. It's our place to experiment with all of this stuff and to express ourselves. It's our place to be and become better people and artists. It's our place to simply be our unique selves.
"Just be yourself."
I see a lot of artists imitating other artists. I'm not one of those artist teachers who puts that kind of thing down. Imitation is good when you are learning something. In fact, it's what the old masters taught. They understood the benefit of learning the techniques and the tools of the trade. They understood that this is a process and something that is not learned overnight.
Learning takes time, patience and understanding.
Time to perfect your skill. We are forever learning.
Patience to work things through and to understand that things aren't always perfect. Nor should they be.
Understanding when you have to take what you've learned and make it your own. Understanding that life is all about learning and changing. We are not a stagnant lifeform. We are always growing and changing. We are always becoming something new.
Our art should reflect this as much as our lives reflect it.
Something to ponder and to think about. That's the great thing about keeping a journal. It's our place to experiment with all of this stuff and to express ourselves. It's our place to be and become better people and artists. It's our place to simply be our unique selves.
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12 comments:
I never tire of looking at your pages, they are simply very real and moving . I also never tire of learning new things and you are doing a great job at teaching us!
Beautiful comments tonight! Thank you, Kelly.
very true and well said.
I love pj days, too!
Kelly! I love, LOVE, LOVE this post! Awesome thoughts!
I love this post.
That's all.
- Jazz
patience is often a difficult, probably why it is designated a virtue. I do like your take on imitation. It is like following patterns, once mastered you can branch out.
Thanks, everyone! I appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to comment!!
This is something I am trying hard to root in my own brain...just.be.yourself. Sometimes even us old dogs can learn new tricks. :) Oh, and I love the dancing girl, too.
Peace & Love,
Barb
Wonderful post (again) Kelly. I hope you don't mind if I share it with AFA members (Art Journal-ers), as well as post your classes.
I don't mind if people repost with links! Thank youuuu!!!
Very insightful post, Kelly. Thanks. I've finally more or less come to peace with my AJ style which is a combo of what you and others have taught me, SoulCollage, and scrapbooking. I'm pretty OK with that. When you write your book, this post has to be part of it!
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