Sound Advice From Artist Harley Brown’s Column
September 22, 2008
I recently read a great comment attributed to Fred Fellows which appeared in Harley Brown’s column in the August/September 2008 issue of International Artist. I think it bears repeating especially if you missed it! “If we live by the photograph, we die by the photograph. We have to get out there and study the real world around us; we can’t get lazy, sitting in our studios and not draw and paint from nature. Yes, many of us work from photos but we have to nourish our artistic minds by working from Mother Nature. That makes the big difference.”
Virtually all of the accomplished artists I know or have met attribute their success to the regular practice of working from life. Those who use photos as reference material do so in conjunction with an intellectual library of knowledge gained working from life. Studio artists who have ventured outdoors will tell you it was the best decision they ever made for their art. Yet, in community art centers all around the country it is all too common to see instructors teaching classes where students work strictly from photos. It is my humble opinion that those instructors do there students a great disservice. Sadly, I suspect, some instructors view this practice as job security. It will take forever for those students to leave the nest but there love of art will keep them coming back year after year. They will rarely paint on there own because they haven’t received the necessary training.
If you are such a student artist do yourself a favor. Join a class where you paint from a still life or better yet, landscapes outdoors (plein air). Learn about John Singer Sargent’s Five Types of Light and John F. Carlson’s Four Value Planes. Realize that painting boils down to Shapes, Values, Colors, and Edges. This advice may not make you the next Jaoquin Sorolla but it will put you on a path of continual growth.
