Search This Blog

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Discipline is Freedom...

One in Every Crowd   oil/canvas   8 x 24 x .75
said Garth Fagan, the Tony award-winning choreographer of "The Lion King".  "Study the rules before you break them".  Quotes of this nature abound.  Probably because they are so true.  When you study your craft so very much that its nuances become part of your nature, it is then that you can begin to play....true play from which creativity springs forth.  Yes.

A few weeks ago, the program at my local art club was about breaking the rules.  I was unable to attend that evening.  Sometimes, in breaking the rules, we are more able to completely say what it is that is felt.  "One in Every Crowd" is a case in point.  A painting about chicks, sweet chicks.  And also a painting about following the crowd, or not.  I chose to paint my independent chick a different color and to put him facing a different direction than the others.  These changes made the painting more interesting to me, and also made the painting more interesting and challenging to paint.