Tag: art

FRONT DOOR Week 44: 2020

Only a Mother Would Hang This

demonstrates the use of Illustrator Shaper Tool
Only a Mother Would Hang This

I love it when I wake up laughing out loud, as I did this morning. Last night I created a picture using Adobe Illustrator’s shaper tool; a tool for the artistically challenged, such as myself.

It was so much fun building this picture. Between you, me and the gatepost I was pleased to discover what could be done using only circles, squares, and lines. I am absurdly happy with the outcome.

Nevertheless it is a picture that only a mother would exhibit. What made me laugh this morning was the idea of opening a gallery called ONLY A MOTHER WOULD HANG IT, dedicated to the exhibition of paintings, drawings, and sculptures created by the artistic klutzes of the world whose skills are limited to stick figures, and clay snakes. When I win the lottery, I am going to open that gallery and have oceans of fun with it.

One another note, I am passionate about Turner. Owning one of his paintings is at the top of my bucket list. If you are thinking about a birthday present for me next year keep it in mind. This year the starting price for a small Turner is probably about fifty million. But next year with Brexit, and the royal family expenses, the Tate may be holding a fire sale.

You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it.

A. Einstein (I think)
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THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR WEEK 16, 2020

Playing the Artist

So, I open my front door one morning and a fairy grandmother is standing on my porch with a question. Given what I know in my elderhood, if not my dotage, what gift would I give myself as a teenager to carry forward throughout my life.

This is how I would answer today and maybe tomorrow as well. If there is something that I really want to do, then do it although you have no talent and less skill. Along the road, never compare yourself to anyone else.

In fourth grade, art class was every Tuesday and Thursday morning. My assigned seat was next to Bob Standard (Yes! I still remember his name, although I can’t remember the name of my first date.) Bob had red hair, a mass of freckles, artistic skills and over the top. He was drawing fully rendered 3-dimensional illustrations, while my best output was stick figures. Comparing my work to his work, I decided once and for all, that I was not an artist, could never be an artist, and never would be an artist.

       In college, I discovered “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards.  This book was written from the point of view that anyone can draw, and that learning to draw was simply a matter of perception and learning to how to “see” what one is looking at.  After completing the exercises in the book, my drawing skills expanded way beyond simple stick figures.  Sadly, the need to study for finals took me away from my artist explorations.

Housebound, I have returned to artistic endeavors and I am having a lot of fun!  Some days, I sketch with paper and felt-tip; others, I use Adobe Illustrator. Will you ever see my work in a magazine advertisement? No: neither will you see it hanging in a museum, nor will it auction for a thousand dollars.

My skills are limited: they always will be.  But day by day, the imaginative ways in which I can use these limited skills is expanding day by day.