05 November 2012

Pablo Picasso Month - Day 5

This one is interesting - and sort of goes with yesterday's quote.
It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.
~ Pablo Picasso
At first I thought that he meant that children are the most free when they create art... that their ability to generate work without prejudice was the key idea here. I thought about Picasso's work progression back and forth from tight, representational pieces to cubism and surrealism. Back and forth in a dramatic exploration of inspiration and work.

I was content with that interpretation...

But then, upon a second look, I decided that what he really is saying is that you have to know and understand the rules before you can break them in meaningful and compelling and coherent ways. That you have to understand line and color and shape and value and texture and form and space before you can take flights of fancy with them.



Line - An identifiable path of a point moving in space, can vary in width, direction, and length

Shape - A two-dimensional area or plane that may be organic or inorganic, free-form or geocentric, open or closed, natural or of human origin

Form - A three-dimensional volume or the illusion of three dimensions, related to shape (which is 2-D)

Space - The emptiness or area between, around, above, below, or contained within objects (shapes and forms are defined by the space around and within them, just as spaces are defined by the shapes and forms around and within them)

Value - Light and dark; the gradations of light and dark on the surface of objects

Texture - The surface quality of material, either actual (tactile) or visual

Color - What is produced when light, striking an object, is reflected back to the eye



Why Pablo Picasso Month?

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