Comments for Carl Purcell Art Blog http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog Just another WordPress site Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:16:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Comment on A New Art Degree by Carl Purcell http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1741 Carl Purcell Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:16:04 +0000 http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1741 Thank you Lucy, I have been asked on a number of occasions to teach such a workshop. I am always happy to do so because I believe that no matter what your medium of choice or genre of choice, solid observational drawing skills provide the discipline and the freedom to travel anywhere in art. I am so grateful for drawing. It gives me the ability to shift from figurative, very realistic work to abstracted, to totally non-representational. I feel free to explore the beauty of the subject or the beauty of the marks that emerge from the tool. If you have a group of people who would like to come to a drawing workshop I would be happy to come and teach it. Carl Thank you Lucy,
I have been asked on a number of occasions to teach such a workshop. I am always happy to do so because I believe that no matter what your medium of choice or genre of choice, solid observational drawing skills provide the discipline and the freedom to travel anywhere in art. I am so grateful for drawing. It gives me the ability to shift from figurative, very realistic work to abstracted, to totally non-representational. I feel free to explore the beauty of the subject or the beauty of the marks that emerge from the tool. If you have a group of people who would like to come to a drawing workshop I would be happy to come and teach it.
Carl

]]> Comment on A New Art Degree by Lucy Rachynski http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1740 Lucy Rachynski Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:15:42 +0000 http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1740 I absolutely agree - having spent two naive years in an 'expressive' program then the following decades groping for some solid drawing skills. Your drawing book was like a ray of light. But picking up on the point about instructors focusing on the higher skilled students, could you develop a drawing basics workshop that could help people ingrain the observational processes to practice and internalize en route to building solid skills? The book helps, but I'm sure that a 3 or 7-day drawing intensive workshop would accelerate our skills and confidence significantly. Thank you Lucy R I absolutely agree – having spent two naive years in an ‘expressive’ program then the following decades groping for some solid drawing skills. Your drawing book was like a ray of light. But picking up on the point about instructors focusing on the higher skilled students, could you develop a drawing basics workshop that could help people ingrain the observational processes to practice and internalize en route to building solid skills? The book helps, but I’m sure that a 3 or 7-day drawing intensive workshop would accelerate our skills and confidence significantly.
Thank you
Lucy R

]]> Comment on A New Art Degree by Carl Purcell http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1725 Carl Purcell Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:36:34 +0000 http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1725 So very true, Kristi. I too have often thought, "Why can't they teach this in Elementary school. If students arrived at college as poorly prepared in English, Math etc as they do in observational skills we would surely scrap the entire system and re-design it. I often deplored the fact that I had to take college students and try to catch them up to where they should have been in 10th grade. Thank you for your insightful analysis of the problem. So very true, Kristi. I too have often thought, “Why can’t they teach this in Elementary school. If students arrived at college as poorly prepared in English, Math etc as they do in observational skills we would surely scrap the entire system and re-design it. I often deplored the fact that I had to take college students and try to catch them up to where they should have been in 10th grade. Thank you for your insightful analysis of the problem.

]]> Comment on A New Art Degree by Kristi Grussendorf http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1720 Kristi Grussendorf Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:53:35 +0000 http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1720 Hi Carl, Thank you for your thoughts. In my opinion, the real travesty is that students aren't coming to college already knowing how to draw. I believe everyone can & should be taught to draw (starting in grade school!). I compare it to reading & writing - it's observation, translation & communication. Why is it, people say with a chuckle & not a bit of embarrassment, "I can't draw a stick figure". No one would ever readily admit that they couldn't read! It points directly to how we devalue art. If everyone had basic observational & drawing skills, the folks who choose to go beyond & do all the conceptual, "thinking outside the box" stuff would be better understood & appreciated. It's always so disappointing to me to meet a really interesting artistic person without the adequate communication skills. Thank you, again, Carl, for giving me a forum. Looking forward to July in England with you! Hi Carl,
Thank you for your thoughts. In my opinion, the real travesty is that students aren’t coming to college already knowing how to draw. I believe everyone can & should be taught to draw (starting in grade school!). I compare it to reading & writing – it’s observation, translation & communication. Why is it, people say with a chuckle & not a bit of embarrassment, “I can’t draw a stick figure”. No one would ever readily admit that they couldn’t read! It points directly to how we devalue art. If everyone had basic observational & drawing skills, the folks who choose to go beyond & do all the conceptual, “thinking outside the box” stuff would be better understood & appreciated. It’s always so disappointing to me to meet a really interesting artistic person without the adequate communication skills. Thank you, again, Carl, for giving me a forum. Looking forward to July in England with you!

]]> Comment on A New Art Degree by Carl Purcell http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1319 Carl Purcell Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:42:01 +0000 http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1319 Hi David. Your comment is much appreciated. You are so right. In fact in this digital age when the skills of communication and personal, face-to-face engagement is being traded for texting and other distance interacting, the skills of observation may be even more necessary than ever before. We find ourselves right in the middle of a quick fix, instant, society in which a pill, a bumper sticker or a facebook posting is the new form of ersatz living. If we ever emerge from this intact it will be the artists and eloquent musicians who guide us to the new , old world of deep personal engagement with each other and the world around us. Carry the torch, my friend. Hi David.
Your comment is much appreciated. You are so right. In fact in this digital age when the skills of communication and personal, face-to-face engagement is being traded for texting and other distance interacting, the skills of observation may be even more necessary than ever before. We find ourselves right in the middle of a quick fix, instant, society in which a pill, a bumper sticker or a facebook posting is the new form of ersatz living. If we ever emerge from this intact it will be the artists and eloquent musicians who guide us to the new , old world of deep personal engagement with each other and the world around us. Carry the torch, my friend.

]]> Comment on A New Art Degree by David Steinman http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1313 David Steinman Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:02:20 +0000 http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=124#comment-1313 I learned of your commitment to observational skills in an oils class at North Light. Your "observations of observation" were central to, and referred to, in many elements of design and composition taught in the class. Also, the observations were used in diffiering good paintings from good photos. In a digital age, there may be more reason for everyman to understand why sentiment and beauty as well as emotion and attachment reside with what we see and experience more than solely with what we think we know, forgetting the experience. I learned of your commitment to observational skills in an oils class at North Light. Your “observations of observation” were central to, and referred to, in many elements of design and composition taught in the class. Also, the observations were used in diffiering good paintings from good photos.

In a digital age, there may be more reason for everyman
to understand why sentiment and beauty as well as emotion and attachment reside with what we see and experience more than solely with what we think we know, forgetting the experience.

]]> Comment on Taking your art to the next level by Carl Purcell http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=58#comment-1091 Carl Purcell Fri, 16 Sep 2011 03:24:47 +0000 http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=58#comment-1091 Hi, Supmanee. You are right. If the photo said what we felt, then there would be no need to do the painting. Hi, Supmanee. You are right. If the photo said what we felt, then there would be no need to do the painting.

]]> Comment on Letting our paintings go by Carl Purcell http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=102#comment-1090 Carl Purcell Fri, 16 Sep 2011 03:22:18 +0000 http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=102#comment-1090 Hi, Pat. I loved your analogy. I suppose that each painting is a baby at the beginning, but by the time the signature is done they have reached the end of their troublesome teenage period and it is time they moved out of the house. By the way, I am doing a workshop for the Nevada Watercolor Society next month, Oct. 10 through 13th, with a demo on the evening of the 12th. It's at the Mesquite Club. Sharon Menary is the contact person. Hi, Pat. I loved your analogy. I suppose that each painting is a baby at the beginning, but by the time the signature is done they have reached the end of their troublesome teenage period and it is time they moved out of the house.
By the way, I am doing a workshop for the Nevada Watercolor Society next month, Oct. 10 through 13th, with a demo on the evening of the 12th. It’s at the Mesquite Club. Sharon Menary is the contact person.

]]> Comment on Letting our paintings go by Carl Purcell http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=102#comment-1089 Carl Purcell Fri, 16 Sep 2011 03:17:05 +0000 http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=102#comment-1089 Thanks, Brenda. The signature signals the end of one and the beginning of the next one. We can go back and re-visit the theme, but especially in watercolor it is impossible to repeat the same painting. Too many things are spontaneous in the process. Thanks, Brenda. The signature signals the end of one and the beginning of the next one. We can go back and re-visit the theme, but especially in watercolor it is impossible to repeat the same painting. Too many things are spontaneous in the process.

]]> Comment on Letting our paintings go by Carl Purcell http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=102#comment-1088 Carl Purcell Fri, 16 Sep 2011 03:14:31 +0000 http://www.carlpurcell.com/blog/?p=102#comment-1088 You are absolutely right, Mary. They are stepping stones. Like stepping stones, it is impossible to do the next painting until you have done this one. This one, even if it doesn't pan out, is important and necessary for the next one. You are absolutely right, Mary. They are stepping stones. Like stepping stones, it is impossible to do the next painting until you have done this one. This one, even if it doesn’t pan out, is important and necessary for the next one.

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