Brenda Stankus
STANKUS & COMPANY ORGANIC PAINTINGS
ENCAUSTIC COLD WAX OIL INK WATERCOLOUR OIL PASTEL
MY PAINTING BLOG (little thoughts)
OWN YOUR STYLE, ITS YOU. IT'S OKAY TO FEEL VULNURABLE. YOUR BEST WORK AS A PAINTER WILL BE WORTH IT AT EVERY LEVEL.
"I WORK EXPERIMENTALLY, ON BOARD OR CANVAS, WITH VARIOUS MEDIUMS.
I LIKE TO START MY PAINTING BY CREATING A MILD CHAOS AND THEN RESPONDING TO THE COLORS AND SHAPES AS THEY EMERGE, ALLOWING THE MARKS THAT HAPPEN TO LEAD ME TO THE PAINTING'S CONCLUSION.
HAVING ALWAYS FOUND MUCH BEAUTY IN SIMPLE ORGANIC SHAPE, COLOR AND TEXTURE IT SEEM TO ME THAT THINGS MADE BY HAND HAVE AN IRREGULAR BEAUTY NOT FOUND IN MOST MACHINE MADE ITEMS, AND EVERYTHING MADE BY NATURE HAS A GLORY THAT MAN CAN ONLY HOPE TO IMITATE. WHETHER THE BEAUTY IS RAW OR REFINED, NATURE'S CREATIONS ARE ASTOUNDING...
ARTISTS CALL IT INSPIRATION.
KEEP WORKING AND YOU WILL FIND YOUR MUSE!!
APRIL 20, 2021 #1
WHAT IS A MUSE?
I THINK A MUSE IS INSPIRATION. IT MIGHT BE A TREE YOU HAVE RECENTLY SEEN IN SOME UNUSUAL LIGHT, OR SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ OR SEEN IN A BOOK, OR A PARK OR A MUSEUM, OR A PERSON WALKING HER DOG!
IT CAN BE ANYTHING THAT STRIKES YOU AS LOVELY OR INTERESTING. ANYTHING THAT STARTS YOU THINKING AND WANTING TO KEEP THAT IMAGE IN YOUR MEMORY. ONCE YOU COLLECT A FEW OF THESE IN YOUR MIND OR ON PAPER, (QUICK SKETCH ETC.), THEN YOU WILL BEGIN TO SEE A PATTERN ABOUT WHAT YOU FIND VISUALLY EXCITING OR INTERESTING OR...INSPIRING, AND IN THAT PATTERN IS YOUR MUSE.
INSPIRING FOR ME MEANS GET TO SOME PAPER SOON AND PUT DOWN THE MEMORY AS I SEE IT IN MY MINDS EYE. SOMETIMES, I TAKE MY PHONE FROM MY POCKET AND WITH ITS CAMERA, I TRY TO SHOOT THE MOMENT. THIS IS HELPFUL IN THAT IT KEEPS ME FROM BEING SO BUSY I FORGET THE MOMENT ALTOGETHER, BUT ACTUALLY MY ROUGH SKETCH, ON ANY SCRAP PAPER I CAN FIND, HOLDS THE IMAGE BETTER AND RETURNS MY MIND TO THAT MOMENT BETTER WITHOUT CONFUSING ME WITH EXTRA INFORMATION.
IN THE PATTERN OF THESE MOMENTS I FIND MY MUSE. SHE IS THE THING THAT HELPED ME SEE MORE THAN WHAT THE CAMERA SEES, THE THING THAT CAUSED ME TO BE ABLE TO REMEMBER IT THE WAY IT WAS AND THE THING THAT TICKLES IN MY BRAIN SAYING..."PAINT IT, DON'T LOSE IT, PAINT IT."
APRIL 24, 2021 #2
ART IS MATH MUSIC IS MATH POETRY IS MATH
SOME ARTISTS SEEM TO HAVE THE INSTINCTIVE ABILITY TO SEE BALANCE AND PROPORTION LINEARLY AND ARE ABLE TO REPRODUCE IT WITH EASE AND EVEN FLAIR. SOME ARTISTS HAVE THE ABILITY TO MATHMETICALLY FIGURE OUT THE PROPER PROPORTIONS FOR THEIR IMAGES AND THEY FIND BALANCE THRU THEIR EASE WITH NUMBERS, WHETHER IN THEIR HEADS OR ON THEIR CANVAS.
I ALWAYS THINK THAT THE GENIUS OF LEONARDO DA VINCE LIES IN THE FACT THAT HE WAS HIGHLY GIFTED IN BOTH OF THESE AREAS, MATH AND VISUAL ACUIDITY. STUDY EVEN A FEW OF HIS WORKS AND YOU CAN SEE IT . DID OTHER OF OUR "GREAT MASTERS" HAVE BOTH ABILITIES IN EQUAL AMOUNTS, OR GREATER OR LESSER AMOUNTS? AND WHAT PART DOES PASSION PLAY?
IT IS SAID THAT THE BEAUTY OF MUSIC LIES IN THE SPACE BETWEEN THE NOTES. OH SWEET SOUND AIDED BY MATH. ENOUGH SAID.
POETRY, WITH OR WITHOUT RHYME, IS WORDS FLOWING TO AN ALOMST UNHEARD CADENCE, ITS VERY OWN CADENCE, DIFFERENT WITH EVERY POET AND EVEN EVERY POEM. SO CLOSE TO THE MATH IN MUSIC IS THE MATH IN POETRY, WHETHER CONSCIOUS OR NOT. IN FACT, INATE POETIC ABILITY IS INATE MATHEMATICAL RYTHMIC FLOW OF WORD, SOUND AND MEANING.
ALL THIS IS TRUE FOR A PAINTING. IT IS NOT JUST A PAINTING'S NEGATIVE SPACE THAT DEFINES IT AND MAKES IT WORK, BUT THE SPACE BETWEEN ALL THE COLOR NOTES, BE THEY TRADITIONAL OR ABSTRACT, THAT ANCHORS OUR PAINTINGS AND ALLOWS THE STORY TO BE TOLD.
SPACING (FIBONACCI), PATTERN (MENDLEBROIT), COLOR, CHAOS, SCALE...
SEEING WELL AND THEN RELAXING INTO YOUR WORK KNOWING YOU OWN YOUR SKILLS, YOU HAVE WORKED HARD FOR THEM. BECAUSE OF THESE THINGS YOU ARE ABLE TO TELL A VISUAL STORY OR MAKE A NEW CREATIVE IMAGE.
A SUCCESSSFUL PROFESSIOAL IN CYBER CODING POINTED OUT TO ME THAT
"MATH IS ALSO ART. NO ONE HAS EVER MADE ANY BREAKTHROUGHS IN MATH WITHOUT BEING CREATIVE. ADDITIONALLY, ONCE VARIABLES COME INTO PLAY, IF YOU CAN'T THINK ABSTRACTLY YOU CAN'T DO THAT MATH. MATH IS ALSO ART," HE SAID. NICE TO KNOW.
SO STUDY SUCCESSFUL PAINTINGS, OLD AND NEW, AND SEE WHAT RHYME AND SPACING YOU FIND THERE. PAY ATTENTION AS IT WILL INSTRUCT YOU. BE THOUGHTFUL.
IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU LOVE OR HATE MATH, IF YOU THINK THE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND IT OR YOU FAILED ALL YOUR MATH COURSES IN HIGH SCHOOL...YOU OWN MATH WHEN YOU CONDUCT THE ORCHESTRA OF YOUR OWN IMAGES AND PAINT.
KNOW IT, NURTURE IT AND USE IT CONSCIOUSLY OR UNCONSCIOUSLY AND YOUR PAINTINGS WILL SOAR.