Merry to all. Gotta head off to work..but wanted to let everyone know I got the best present ever... A Bone Clone Skull to draw and paint and use in the portrait class I am going to teach!!!! I am so stoked! It is awesome. I will definitely post some pics of it for others to use as reference...and maybe I'll even do some portrait tutorials with it!
I am a very opinionated artist. I am not one of those "oh lets all call everything art and say everything is good because everyone is expressing themselves". Thats fine for 2nd graders but you know what, I think art takes skill and craftsmanship and draftsmanship. I think everyone who calls himself an artist should be able to draw representationally and understand tone, color, line, perspective, anatomy, and composition. Learn that and then you can go off and make Cy Towmbly scribbles, although I think once you learn all of those things you won't want to.
I think Universities ruined art. Many art teachers (at least in the USA) cannot draw to save their lives because they were taught by teachers who couldn't draw. This starts a cycle of teachers who can't teach teaching art student who in turn become teachers because they didn't learn anything and thats the only way they can make money. If you really want to learn to express yourself WHY BOTHER TO GO TO COLLEGE?? If that is all you need for art then you can do it on your own. Private Ateliers are the way to go if you really want to learn art. At least their teachers are talented professionals.
That's about it. I cannot wait for art to take a swing back towards the representational. It is going to happen because people are SICK of the bullshit that is modern art.
I recommend the book "The Painted Word" by Tom Wolf for anyone who sees a glimmer of truth in what I am saying here.
I'm gonna go paint now.
happy birthday
