The Slinky Theory

Picture a giant Slinky. Imagine that the Slinky is stretched to infinity and you are climbing it. In the beginning,  the spirals are wound tightly together and the climb is pretty easy. Then, the Slinky begins to stretch out. This is my experience of creating art. Sometimes I'll be climbing along and the path will get steep. I get frustrated and uncomfortable. I start thinking that there is something wrong with me. There have been many times I've thought that I could just quit. Then, I come to my senses and think " If I quit today, how do I know that tomorrow with just a little more effort, I might make something beautiful?"

It helps that I am crazy about art and have been since my earliest memories. In the beginning, I  just wanted to get paint on paper or canvas. Soon, I realized that it would be helpful to learn how to draw. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is the best way to learn this. But where to go next? This is where the Slinky began to stretch out.  I studied color. leaned to understand pigments, edges, perspective, The Golden Rectangle and many books by artists showing their process. All of this is helpful, even necessary in realistic art. I wanted something to set me free to create my own process. 

I wanted a book like Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain that taught me to see as an artist. What makes a good painting? Two years ago, I found Pictorial Composition by Henry Rankin Poore. I've been studying it ever since. It was written in 1967. The language is difficult but it still is one of the best tools I've found to help me learn to think like an artist. My other help has been from Picasso, O'Keefe, and Van Gogh. I have books of paintings by these masters of composition and when I'm lost, I look to see how they have solved the problem I'm facing in the painting I'm attempting.

I've learned that there is a language in painting. If  you learn the language, it will set you free to create in your own style.My goal is  to find a way to make these rules understandable in a fluent, organized way.This blog is my attempt to compress some of the rungs on the Slinky of Art for you.