Next Time You Look at a Painting...

Next Time You Look At A Painting...

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: museum painting)

I am so enjoying this SlideShare thing! Anyway, here's a second presentation, this time about the way a painting holds within it the life of the artist. Hope you enjoy it!

The World is Your Canvas....?

A couple years ago, I painted my son's room.
And, we replaced the doors. And had those painted too.
Not long after that, a red pen happened.
I of course, on seeing this, immediately set to scrubbing off the red pen.
Then I looked at it, and thought, "That's pretty good."
And I took a picture. The drawings are pinkish 'cause I had been trying to scrub them off. Red pen plus scrubbing equals pinkish.
Anyway, then I asked my son to explain his drawings. I don't show it here but he had of course continued onto the newly-installed and painted white door too.
He was almost three at the time.
He explained that he wanted space stuff in his room, so he drew rockets and planets and things. This made sense to him.
He didn't know about wallpaper or posters or stuff like that.
Everybody has a story about themselves, or someone they know, drawing on something that they are not supposed to draw on. Heck, paint companies make special paints that are washable just for this purpose. Everybody knows that walls and furniture are going to get drawn on.
What's interesting about that is, why do kids do this? Because the urge to make marks is very, very strong. It is primal. Even kids in third-world countries who have just a stick and a nice patch of dirt will make marks. And of course there's the appeal of a smooth stretch of wet sand on the beach.
This is basic human stuff, not some disaster. So I say, let them draw. Maybe not on the walls, but let them draw. Let marks be made. Lots of them. Get white boards or magnetic doodle boards if you want to save paper.
It's the act of moving your hand, the connection between your hand and your brain, that is so critical. There's lots of kinetic learning going on there - and lots of self-expression that can't happen in other ways. This is especially true for kids who haven't mastered talking yet, or for whom words just don't get the job done.
Let them draw.
Anyway, I did paint over this. And there was swearing. Just so you know.

How to Draw Nothing - Wow!

So, over 1,400 views in one day - thanks very much! Oh, and Slideshare made "How to Draw Nothing" presentation of the day when I put it up which was also very cool. Glad people are enjoying it!

Here's the link again. Enjoy!

How to Draw Nothing: The Super-Short Version

Okay there's this cool thing called SlideShare, where you can make presentations into little readable files and share them. So, I've put up the super-shortest most minimal itty bitty version of "How to Draw Nothing" there.

Here's why: You can spend lots of time working out how to print something up, and publish it, and put a cover on, and all of that -- or you can say, hey, I've got something I want to get out there and here it is. So here it is.

The philosophy behind "How to Draw Nothing" is the basis for my teaching. I think that if you put too much pressure on putting Something onto the paper, you fundamentally change the act of drawing into something different. Just get the pencil going, and see what develops. Don't worry about "results." The results are happening inside your head.

How To Draw Nothing

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: betsy streeter)

Your Brain is a Hardware Store.

Huh? Bear with me.

Suppose you walked into a hardware store, and were told, "You only have enough resources to buy just the 'core' tools and nothing more. So you can get a hammer and a saw and that's it."

So you get your hammer and your saw. Now, you can do hammering things and sawing things. And you get good at hammering and sawing. Maybe.

You know the old saying, "Give someone a hammer, and everything looks like a nail."

Well, this is how your brain works too. The more thinking tools you have, the more kinds of thinking you can do.

But the less thinking tools you have, the more likely you will keep trying to solve new problems in the same old way. And if hammering and sawing just aren't your thing, maybe that's not going to go so well.

Sometimes a hammer and a saw just don't get the job done. You need a wrench or a drill or some funky woodworking tools.

Well, the arts give our brains lots of opportunities to try all the stuff in the hardware store, not just the hammer and the saw.

And it turns out, usually you have to use more than one tool to get a job done. Ever try to hang a picture with a saw? I hope not.

The more thinking tools you put in your toolbox, the smarter you get. You can do math by drawing. You can write a story using music. And for lots of people, there are neato tools buried down there in the toolbox that turn out to be just the thing that's needed to open the floodgates to understanding something - just like when you find some weird wrench or screwdriver that turns out to be the exact thing you needed to fix your scooter.

Put down that Mouse - or, just paint it purple.

I know I've gone on about this before, but I have to say it again...

Moving a mouse or a game controller is not the same as handling a crayon or paper or scissors or glue or a pencil.

Sure, there are lots of cool games and things on the computer that help with reading, and creative thinking, and other neato stuff.

But make sure that you make some time in your day for messy, crumply, smeary stuff. Stuff with no screen.

Because the work your brain does with actual objects in front of you, the experience of how something feels or crinkles, the sound a pencil makes on paper... is unique.

Here's an exercise to show what I mean:
1. Take a piece of paper and a pencil and put them in front of you.
2. Now, close your eyes.
3. Think of a time when you felt really, really mad.
4. Now, take your pencil and make marks on your paper that show how you feel. You can open your eyes for this part. Listen to how the pencil sounds.
5. Next, think of a time you felt really, really happy and excited.
6. On the other side or a new piece of paper, make marks that show that feeling. Listen again.
7. Look at the two next to each other. Notice what's the same and what's different.
8. You can do more for feelings like: Scared, Nervous, Confused... it helps to think of an actual event in your life that gave you feelings - but you don't have to draw the event. Just make marks that let your feelings out.

This is a fascinating exercise to do alone or in a group. It seems certain marks, and ways of making them, connect to feelings in similar ways for lots of people. I'll let you discover that for yourself. Enjoy!

Tour the Louvre!

Check this out - The Louvre Museum in Paris, France has a page where you can see virtual tours of a lot of its rooms and collections.
You need Flash to see it, but it's really cool. You can basically "turn around" in a bunch of rooms, and even look up and down.
There are some paintings where you can't quite see the top, which might make you a little crazy, but overall it gives a great look at this enormous museum and collection. And if you've ever been lucky enough to visit the Louvre, it's really nice to see it again when you don't happen to have a plane ticket handy.
When I was in college I spent part of the time in France - on the weekends we would travel to different places, like Belgium or somewhere, and all of those longer-distance trains went out of Paris. So I would go early, Saturday morning or the night before, and go visit the Louvre early Saturday before my friends came and we would meet up to catch our train. It got to be a routine for me - hop on the Metro, go see some stuff (I had a student pass) and then head back to the station to meet my friends.
It's a truly enormous place, and well worth seeing either in pixels or in person. If you ever have the opportunity, go.

Do Over!

I can't tell you how many times I've seen a kid start a drawing, then decide it's not what it should be, and then crumple it up or try to erase it.

Stop!

Just set it aside. Sheesh! It's not necessary to totally destroy something just because you're not happy with it at the moment.

You might change your mind. Or, you might just want to use the back of the paper!

All art is a mystery. Nobody knows exactly how a picture is going to come out. If you did, you would be a computer printer.

So, art is not just making something. It is everything that happens between the first mark and the last one. That's quite a journey! Some people work on the same piece of art for years. Some people complete a drawing in a couple of minutes.

So don't destroy your work! Just set it aside and let it sit for a while. Later, if you decide you really really think it's best suited for the recycle bin, fine. But give it a minute okay?

How to Draw Nothing

I'm working on a book called, "How to Draw Nothing," and here's why.

I think if people spent a lot more time drawing Nothing instead of trying to draw Something, the world would be a better place.

Here's the problem:

Most of the time, people confront a pencil and paper with the idea that they are going to draw Something. For example, maybe your kid says, "Daddy, could you draw me a cat?"

There are a couple of not-so-good reponses to this:

1. "Honey, I can't draw. You know that."

or,

2. "Okay, well, it won't look like a cat, but I'll see what I can do..." - this is generally followed by a very frustrating process of trying to get some rendering of a cat down on paper, which may or may not look like anything, and which gets even worse when someone walks by and comments, "I like your dog."

What's wrong with #1? First of all, it's a great way to show your kid how to quit. You say you can't do something, and then you move on. Also, it's a great way to show yourself how to quit, and to reinforce your own misgivings about your drawing skills.

What's wrong with #2? Well, it is zero fun. Zero. No wonder people avoid drawing.

So, what do to? We need to draw more Nothing.

Here is how to draw Nothing:

First, find a pencil and paper.

Next, make a mark.

A line, a blob, a speck. Whatever.

Then, look at your mark. Maybe it is angry, maybe it is happy. Maybe it zooms off the page. Perhaps it needs eyeballs, or legs, or a skateboard, or a tree.

(When I draw Nothing with a group of kids, generally there is a lot of armpit hair, or hairy noses, or drool, or fangs, or... you get the idea.)

Spend some time with your mark, and see what it turns into.

If you've got a friend, or a group of friends, you can have great fun drawing Nothing by making a mark or a blob and then passing it around.

Go back and forth, or around the group, as many times as you want. Surprise each other!

Give everyone a piece of paper and have everyone pass to their left after a minute.

This process often gets silly and ridiculous, and that is just great.

What is happening here, and why is it so wonderful?

Drawing Nothing is a very pure form of visual thinking. Art is a mystery - nobody knows exactly how it will turn out. Not even professionals. Okay, some artists plan better than others. But mistakes get made, pencils break, ink bleeds. Some artists incorporate these things right into the finished product. Others will change their idea midstream. Even on a computer, the unexpected happens.

The point is, art is a journey. And drawing Nothing helps you get started on that journey, too.

In addition, drawing gives us access to a vast landscape in our minds that often gets shut down too early in our lives. It is the place where we say, "I wonder what would happen if..." That is where so many great ideas are born. No matter whether you are a scientist, a writer, a manager, a chef, it doesn't matter - great ideas come when someone asks, "I wonder what would happen if...," or "I don't know, let's see what happens..." Galileo asked, "What if the Earth isn't the center of the universe?" We unlock that mode of thinking when we engage in the open-ended process of drawing Nothing.

For kids, this is profound. In our schools these days, we are really into Something. Test scores are Something. Correct answers are Something. Charts and graphs and school rankings and evaluations and state budgets are Something. And while mastery of language and numbers gives students the building blocks to succeed, we've got to ask, what do they want to do with those words and numbers?

Next time you see art in a book or museum, think about the very first mark that artist made to get started. Then think about all the marks and blobs and lines and everything that came after, until the very last bit of ink or pencil or paint went on. That is what the painting is, not just the object you see hanging there.

Then, give yourself - and your kids - a chance to draw Nothing. The benefits are endless.

The Puppet Production Studio is Born.

We've been really busy at the theater down the street from my house, making a movie called "Sockzilla." This picture is of our narrator, Buck. Named after his teeth of course. We shot the video on a Flip video recorder and dumped it into my computer - then I emailed everyone the edited movie. I'm going to give them the rough footage too so they can edit themselves if they want to. We also have lots of outtakes of course.
This second picture is of our bad guys - Cyc (a one-eyed fellow), Travis who is a hippie with a pipe cleaner guitar, and our main villain, Sockzilla. At this point the bad guys have been sentenced to community service and are cleaning up bird poop in the local park. Sockzilla is missing an eye that fell off sometime during the last scene.
This has been a great class - the kids made the puppets and then we did "screen tests" with them, to get their personalities going. Then one student wrote a script, they all made scenery, and we were off. The last day was jam packed since we had to shoot the whole script in one session.
There are so many things you can do when creating theater in miniature like this. You don't have to memorize lines since you can read while your puppet "talks." You can plan scenes - in fact we found out quickly that having too many characters on screen at once became physically impossible for all the puppeteers crouching out of camera range.
I'm looking forward to doing more of these - they are just full of possibilities!!