mad moments (and lessons from art - updated!)
At the spur of a mad moment, I signed up for a certificate programme in oil painting at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). Almost 20 years ago, I had done the same thing - completed a certificate in printmaking at NAFA and boy did I struggle to get there after work on time each week! What made me think I can do it now?
Maybe it’s because I never regretted the 6 months rushing from work once a week to printmaking. I love the economy of expression in print, and much of what I learnt has stayed with me. James had also signed up for a design programme that took place on those evenings, so after class at 10pm we would (in our youth) proceed across the road for Roti Prata and Teh Tarik, sometimes with my printmaking classmate C! No weight was gained, no eyebags emerged. Oh youth!
This blog holds 4 older posts from those 2006 printmaking classes that shared the "life lessons". A trip down memory lane pulling them out. The links are here:
- Lesson 1
- Lesson 2
- Lesson 3
- Lesson 4
But back to the now. And back to basics.
For 3 hours in this first class, we worked on drawing a very basic object: a sphere lit under a lamp. We used only pencils - for an oil painting programme, there would no painting till 6 weeks later! Seeing light, seeing shadows, making form emerge… the basics. I learnt many new things still.
The 3 hours represent work that is satisfying and enjoyable because (1) it was focused and purposeful, even if the purpose was very singular (2) there was learning (3) there was a direct connection with the world at present through observation and action, and (4) I was intrinsically motivated because drawing is what I enjoy anyway.
But back to the now. And back to basics.
For 3 hours in this first class, we worked on drawing a very basic object: a sphere lit under a lamp. We used only pencils - for an oil painting programme, there would no painting till 6 weeks later! Seeing light, seeing shadows, making form emerge… the basics. I learnt many new things still.
The 3 hours represent work that is satisfying and enjoyable because (1) it was focused and purposeful, even if the purpose was very singular (2) there was learning (3) there was a direct connection with the world at present through observation and action, and (4) I was intrinsically motivated because drawing is what I enjoy anyway.
Don’t get me wrong - it is still a kind of “labour”, and I do feel physically drained, especially after a week at work! (Plus no Roti Prata or Teh Tarik can be had this time!)
But it made me think that as long as all these 4 “basic” conditions are in place, all work is satisfying - however challenging.
Basics. Not simply of art but of work and living.
But it made me think that as long as all these 4 “basic” conditions are in place, all work is satisfying - however challenging.
Basics. Not simply of art but of work and living.
(From lessons #2 and #3...continuing to understand tones, light, reflection, proportion and distance)
Lesson on being present
Today was such a varied “non-stop” kind of day. What a luxury at the end of the day to be able to stare at a plump slice of pumpkin on a concrete brick that is perched precariously on a red wooden frame, a stray plastic vine floats above the pumpkin.
The composition is random and a little brutal. No one thing naturally relates to the other, yet is made to lean on the other. Nothing makes sense. Yet everything is there - present.
It made me think of this poem by American poet William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) who worked in the day as a medical doctor but was also a major literary figure in his time.
The Red Wheelbarrow
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
I love how this poem always forces me to sit in the thingness of things. A moment - so much. Weighed against a colour. The colour Red. Appied to a shape. A wheel. No, not a wheel - a wheel barrow. It is not only red, it is glazed. Glazed with rain. No, not rain but rainwater. Rain that has fallen becomes just water when the skies are no longer raining. But water is not white. What is clear and pure is not white. The chickens are. So much depends on this. As if in this moment there is a fullness - the universe.
(From Lessons #5&6 - the final drawing composition, drawn from different perspectives.
There are details. And there are details.
This is final composition to be drawn in pencil before we move to oil paints in subsequent lessons!
In a way it’s no different from drawing the sphere in the first lesson: decode the tonal values and planes. Yet with so many elements, you have to decide what details to focus on in those 2-3 hours.
For instance, grapes!
I said to the teacher N that because they were tiny, it’s tricky shading them while ensuring the teeny highlight. His reply to me: “maybe don’t give them too much attention.”
Of course!
For a lazy person who goes by “don’t sweat the small stuff”, I should have gotten this. The big picture is what excites me and I know I will always quickly work out the details along the way, if they don’t already automatically work themselves out!
But it wasn’t that the grapes are negligible details. Rather, they exist in this composition not for their tonal minutia. Instead, their character in the composition is best seen through broad, accurate and clear acontrasts! Details can paradoxically emerge through broad strokes - the human eye or imagination naturally fills in the details.
In life or work, there are also issues that are not “core” but nonetheless needs doing. Like laundry. You must not brush them aside. In fact you cannot live by brushing them aside. But the wisdom is to let go of how perfectly you have done the laundry or being upset why there’s so much freaking laundry all the time and you don’t have a maid like some other people! Get it done. Without disaster or drama. Move on. Over time you may indeed perfect it - or maybe not. Move on.
I wish I have a better example for you than laundry…haha.
On the other hand, as I drew the larger vase, discerning the details do matter! The longer I looked at the vase, the more I realised I need to discern the subtler details of light and shadow on the edges and curves, details that the obvious patterns on the vase’s surface are distracting me from seeing. Although the patterned details on the surface are interesting, they are not the details that allow the form of the vase to truly emerge.
In the same way, with big issues in life and work, we can get distracted by their obvious busyness or difficulties. For example, one could focus on the different personalities of people at work or in the family that lead to conflict. But perhaps the real detail to address is the subtler issue of whether there is trust and clarity of purpose among the different folks. Both are complex. But the latter is probably a more decisive detail than the former.
Since tomorrow is a public holiday, and that bottle of Hendrix in the drawing beckoned. I treated myself to a drink at a cute bar across the road “hidden” behind a wall of fake vending machines. I ordered a “samurai highball” to celebrate the occasion. My toast to you is this: that we all always have the wisdom to discern the details that truly matter in the big picture.
In a way it’s no different from drawing the sphere in the first lesson: decode the tonal values and planes. Yet with so many elements, you have to decide what details to focus on in those 2-3 hours.
For instance, grapes!
I said to the teacher N that because they were tiny, it’s tricky shading them while ensuring the teeny highlight. His reply to me: “maybe don’t give them too much attention.”
Of course!
For a lazy person who goes by “don’t sweat the small stuff”, I should have gotten this. The big picture is what excites me and I know I will always quickly work out the details along the way, if they don’t already automatically work themselves out!
But it wasn’t that the grapes are negligible details. Rather, they exist in this composition not for their tonal minutia. Instead, their character in the composition is best seen through broad, accurate and clear acontrasts! Details can paradoxically emerge through broad strokes - the human eye or imagination naturally fills in the details.
In life or work, there are also issues that are not “core” but nonetheless needs doing. Like laundry. You must not brush them aside. In fact you cannot live by brushing them aside. But the wisdom is to let go of how perfectly you have done the laundry or being upset why there’s so much freaking laundry all the time and you don’t have a maid like some other people! Get it done. Without disaster or drama. Move on. Over time you may indeed perfect it - or maybe not. Move on.
I wish I have a better example for you than laundry…haha.
On the other hand, as I drew the larger vase, discerning the details do matter! The longer I looked at the vase, the more I realised I need to discern the subtler details of light and shadow on the edges and curves, details that the obvious patterns on the vase’s surface are distracting me from seeing. Although the patterned details on the surface are interesting, they are not the details that allow the form of the vase to truly emerge.
In the same way, with big issues in life and work, we can get distracted by their obvious busyness or difficulties. For example, one could focus on the different personalities of people at work or in the family that lead to conflict. But perhaps the real detail to address is the subtler issue of whether there is trust and clarity of purpose among the different folks. Both are complex. But the latter is probably a more decisive detail than the former.
Since tomorrow is a public holiday, and that bottle of Hendrix in the drawing beckoned. I treated myself to a drink at a cute bar across the road “hidden” behind a wall of fake vending machines. I ordered a “samurai highball” to celebrate the occasion. My toast to you is this: that we all always have the wisdom to discern the details that truly matter in the big picture.
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