Lately, I've become aware of a silent but stunting factor that appears to be permeating the field of painting: copying, more specifically-tracing.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO COPY
To copy means to reproduce--not produce, but REproduce. It implies no interpretation or expression. For centuries it has been used to teach skills. We learn by doing, so if
we can replicate what a master or teacher is doing, we can learn a how-to. In fact, much of what we learned how to do as toddlers was by imitating our adult examples. I can recall copying the shapes of letters from a chart when I was learning how to write. Remember this?
Oddly, that same practice by which we can learn a skill can become a mask that stifles growth. That happens when we resort to it because we
don't have confidence in our own skills. For example, some choose to trace their reference for a painting rather than placing their preliminary drawing free hand.
The reasons why they do this vary, but one of them is that emerging artists might think they don't know how to draw so they retreat to devices such as
this.
My question is this: What does one accomplish from tracing? If John Singer Sargent had relied on tracing, would we have his distinct interpretation of
The Little Fruit Seller?
If Andrew Wyeth had depended upon tracing, would we have Christina's World, a painting than began with a rough sketch like this?
The point is not that we should strive to be another Sargent or Wyeth. No, indeed! But it is important that we give ourselves a chance to express
our own voices as painters, even if we never exhibit or sell our work. We are each unique. If we mask that uniqueness by any method, we cheat ourselves of the opportunity for it to flourish.
Bypassing building drawing skills is like driving a car without wheels. Drawing doesn't mean that you have to learn complicated perspective or know anything at all except
how to allow your hand to follow what your eye is seeing. Within this action we can discover our world through our own eyes with the marks we make with our own hands, marks that are driven by the energy of both body and soul--individual uniqueness!
Experience a delightful weekend of discovery!
You can access the archive of all my newsletters at anytime by going HERE. |
|
|
|
