The Craft and Art of Art
Value, hue, shade, shape, patience, practice, persistence, and knowing how to play with your medium(s). That's the craft. The art is the ability of the perpetrator to express and interpret their "vision" into something others can perceive and (ideally) appreciate. That said, without the craft you are unlikely to get to the art. Art is more than an aesthetic. Art requires active intent and execution. A cloud-dappled sky with crepuscular rays shooting out can be awe-inspiringly beautiful. It is, however, a product of natural spontaneity, not artistic intent -- at least on a human scale. The idea of found art moves one step away from this. Here, an artist finds some design or artifact and deems it to be art. Is it thus art, even if the artist did nothing else but discover and display/call attention to it? No. Again, the intent and execution is lacking. It may be nice to look at, it might be clever social commentary, but [...]
Blast From the Past
I was sorting through some stored old papers (like you do), and I came across this sketch I made when I was 17-ish back in 1979. The subject was Lindsay Wagner, who'd only recently finished working on The Bionic Woman. It was done with 2H and 6H pencils, aided by a pink eraser, on government bond paper. The paper clearly was acidic as it is now yellowed and amazingly stiff -- you can feel the fragility. I may not have been aspiring to do art for money at the time -- my focus then being on physics -- but it was a fun way to pass some hours. Sometime I'm going to try to dig out my old toy box/storage chest. I think I know where it is. Maybe there's a pad or two of sketches that remain from when I was but a kidling. They'd be on newsprint, though, so even if they do exist, there's no telling what sort [...]
