***************************************************
    The Great Gordino Newsletter - Issue 334 - Mon 26th Sep 2005
    ***************************************************

    Archive Issues online at - gordonbryan.com/archive

    Hi There,

    I hope Monday finds you well.
    I'm talking about art today.
    I have 3 links for you to look at.
    The point I want to make is about learning, but it's based
    around art.

    I enjoy art, but wouldn't consider myself skilled at all in the field.
    I enjoy watching Rolf Harris splodge and spalsh his way to some
    impressive art, and along with Rolf, one of my childhood
    memories was of a TV show called 'Paint Along With Nancy.'
    I used to think it was a figment of my imagination, because
    most people I asked about it just looked back at me with blank
    faces.
    True, most of them were checkout girls in shops, but I expected
    some kind of recognition at least.
    Then last week I spoke to someone who remembered the show,
    and revitalised, I did a Google search.
    Google came up trumps again, showing me a 'Paint Along...'
    tribute site!

    I had to laugh when I went to the site, as it described the show
    as 'a 70s show watched by housewives and sick children', and I
    can well remember watching it with a poorly stomach.
    While I'm on the subject, whenever I was off school ill, which
    wasn't often as I was a bit of a swat, my mother always used to
    cook me chicken and vegetable pies.
    What's that all about?
    It didn't matter what was wrong with me, cold, flu, if I had
    broken my leg I would still be dished up with a chicken and
    vegetable pie.
    Maybe if I ever have children I'll understand.
    I've even looked at the chicken and vegetable pies in the
    supermarkets, but nowhere on the packet does it say 'good for if
    you are ill'.

    Anyway, back to Nancy.
    Nancy Kominsky was an American woman of, er, substantial
    build, who would construct a painting in 25 mintues with lashings
    of oil paint, liberally applied with knives, not bothering with
    brushes.
    Ooh, it's a formative memory of mine I can tell you!

    So having enjoyed Rolf Harris, and had my Nancy Kominsky
    needs dealt with, (incidentally Nancy is 90 this month), I enjoyed
    watching a program over the last 2 weeks called 'Art School'.

    It was yet another 'celebrity' reality show, but the premise
    intrigued me - that these people, with no previous experience,
    would be taught for 2 weeks, and then exhibit their work.

    Now were closing in on today's point.

    One of the 5 students was John Humphrys, a political interviewer
    who is known for his no-nonsense, take no prisoners approach
    to politicians.
    Whereas the other 4 students threw themseves into the process
    with open minds, John did the complete opposite.
    He spent the whole time saying 'I'm rubbish, art is rubbish, the
    teaching is rubbish.'

    In fact his whole demeanour was of a sulking child.
    I coudn't work out what his problem was, he was basically being
    a pain in the backside.

    His main beef was that he wanted to learn art techniques, and
    had no time for abstract concepts like finding yourself through
    art.
    Quite apart from the fact that he must have known that showing
    people being taught how to mix paint is not very good TV, I was
    amazed that someone who interviews people for his living would
    be so closed minded.
    Just because the teaching wasn't done the way he had
    preconceived it, he dismissed it.

    How much better would it be, if he opened his mind, and went
    with it?
    At the end of the 2 weeks, he could turn round and offer an
    opinion, but at least then it would be based on giving it a good
    shot, rather than the less than half-hearted effort he gave.

    Also in the program, they showed interviews with various artists,
    covering their views on teaching.

    2 of Britain's best selling artists, didn't have any training
    whatsoever!

    You can see Beryl Cook's work at her site here:
    Beryl Cook

    (note the £30,000 price tag on the new piece shown!)
    She found early in her career that she was advised never to use
    black paint, that if she wanted black, it should be a mixture of
    other colours.
    Having tried and failed that way, Beryl decided that if she wanted
    to use black, she would, and went on to revel in a whole load of
    black in some of her work!

    Jack Vettriano is a Scotsman who also didn't have training.
    He spent one day at a life drawing course, and then thought it
    wasn't for him.
    You can see his work here:
    Jack Vettriano

    So my first point about learning is that if you sign up for some,
    give it an open mind even if it doesn't seem what you expected.
    Secondly, and art is a great example of this, you can teach
    yourself!
    In life, in adulthood, if you commit to teaching yourself, you put
    yourself in the top smallest percentage of the population,
    because it's a choice most people shy away from!

    As for the 3rd link I promised you today, well last week I went
    out and bought some (cheap) art materials, and decided to give
    it a go.
    I've always enjoyed doing my squiggly line drawings, where I
    start on one side, and draw an unbroken line over to the other
    side.
    You can see my first painted effort here:
    Gordino Painting Practice

    I could explain it as a story of life, starting at one side, ending
    at the other, but with the direction between the 2 changing all
    the time.
    Is it white on green, or is it green on white?
    Or I could just say it's something I like the look of!

    Ok, that's it for today, feel free as ever to email me, and spend
    this week thinking about learning, ok?

    'Til Next Time,
    Health and Happiness,
    Gordon
    email me at gordon@gordonbryan.com - you'll have to copy and paste
    thanks to the idiot online spammers!



    
    Get my book here!


    

    Main Archive Page                 Newsletter Home Page