Definition search result for STYLE (straight from Google search “definition style”): 1. a manner of doing something. 2. a distinctive appearance, typically determined by the principles according to which something is designed.
So, what is style?
I’ve been thinking a lot about style of late, as in style of music, clothing, politics, painting, drawing, writing. Since we are all individuals, we all have ways of doing things that earmark them as our own.
I don’t particularly care for what I might consider my native way of drawing and painting. I have a vision in my mind’s eye about how I want things to look as a finished product. That doesn’t mean no happy accidents, but it does mean I have a certain vision of clarity with watercolor paints in particular. I think a lot of what I paint seems labored – and maybe that is because I did the laboring? My paints seem heavy and more opaque rather than utilizing the transparency of the medium.
Copying
Copying a master’s work is a time-honored tradition for art students, whether sitting in the Louvre and copying a Rembrandt (if they still let people do that, like they did in the 1800s), or a sumi-e student in training.
Today there seems to be a shunning of such, with more of an emphasis on “originality” coupled with a fear of lawsuits for copyright infringement. If you think about it, nothing is really “original” but derivations of other’s works or our own creative minds, but someone before you or me probably had the same idea. Forgers can make a bit of money by copying masters, and passing them off as the master’s, but with today’s technology, I expect that becomes a bit more difficult. By the same token, can using a photograph as a springboard to a painting can be considered under some circumstances as copying – even if you have taken the same picture yourself? It’s my understanding you cannot take pictures of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night because those photographs are copyrighted by the lighting of the tower! That is how crazy this world can be.
Learning from Copying
What do you learn when you copy someone else’s work? What do you have to do to “get” there? You have to look, think, analyze, plan, and then look, think, analyze, and plan again. After you do that, where do you go? How can you apply what you have learned to make your newfound knowledge your own? I struggle with this as there are artists I admire, whose work inspires me – how do I make what I have learned in the process of copying my own? I am still trying to figure this out.
One thing I do not want to do is pass something off as original if I have copied it as a learning experience. That is completely unethical. I find it interesting that certain art instructors make it well known that, if you have taken a workshop with them, any work derived from learning in that workshop cannot be sold as “original.” Does that mean their “style” is copyrighted? Does this mean if you develop a style with your own subject matter which is similar to what you have learned that you can be sued for copyright infringement? If such is the case, none of us can produce anything – this building is copyrighted, that tree is copyrighted, that person is subject to privacy laws, that color is copyrighted, that song sound is copyrighted, that rhythm is copyrighted. If you do DNA testing, you may be signing away your rights to your own body’s chemical makeup.
So, What Happens Now?
Well, I know what I want to accomplish in my painting. To list it:
- clarity of color
- economy of composition (meaning not overworking something) and simplicity
- mastery
I prefer landscapes to portraits or animals. I can do skies fairly well. Trees, sometimes; mountains, sometimes. Cityscapes? Seascapes? Challenges for sure. What about painting cars – part of cityscapes! Waves – part of seascapes. Water? Omigod! It’s overwhelming.
Enough whining and pontificating – time to get out the brushes and color!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 