SAMANTHA DASILVA
  • HOME
  • AVAILABLE WORKS
  • THE ARTIST
  • IN SITU
  • COMMISSIONS
  • INSTRUCTION
  • BLOG
  • HOME
  • AVAILABLE WORKS
  • THE ARTIST
  • IN SITU
  • COMMISSIONS
  • INSTRUCTION
  • BLOG
Search

Do Your Paintings Have "Heart"?

10/22/2013

 
Picture


What does it mean for a painting to have heart?

For me, my own paintings have heart when I manage to blend truth, spontaneity and skill.

1. Truth

"Paint yourself on the canvas" is what I tell my students again and again. 

Many of us can copy a painting at the front of a classroom. But where is the fun in that? (Don't get me wrong here - I know that students have been copying the works of their masters way before my time so there has got to be something to that.) Instead, I encourage my students to pick up a tube of red paint when I talk about blue or draw squares when I draw circles. Painting what feels good to you results in a much more personal painting.

Your truth surfaces when you give yourself the permission to indulge your own creative urges. 

2. Spontaneity

Spontaneity occurs when I allow the painting to chart it’s own course without forcing it to adhere to my own set of preconceived ideas. Becoming a passenger as opposed to a driver in the creative process feels more like a colaboration between the creative process and myself.

If I were to plan my every move, there wouldn't be much room for surprises now would there?

3. Skill

All heart and no skill do not necessarily result in a good abstract panting. A work can have plenty of heart but lack essential qualities (such as composition for example) that make up a good painting. 

Heart happens when truth, spontaneity and skill merge in a beautiful dance.

Now it’s your turn: What does it mean to you for a painting to have heart?

Michelle Pawson link
10/22/2013 04:22:06 pm

A painting has heart when it makes the person looking at it feel something. It has even more heart when the something they feel can be unique to them and does not solely have to be what the artist was feeling at the time the piece was created. When a painting is created from the heart, the essence of the piece is full of pure intention so much so that it becomes like a mirror. Each time you look at the piece, you understand more about yourself and see new things in it.

Jacqueline link
10/25/2013 04:11:54 am

Michelle I love your answer. Beautiful. Both of these explanations make sense to me.

I think our personal art can only have heart when were authentically us in the studio and on that canvas. When we hide nothing and give everything it's forever on the canvas. No matter whether someone feels exactly as we did, they're bound to feel something when looking at it if it's done in this way.

I can't speak to the skill side. Surely, there's a correlation between the right composition/colour/technique and creating feelings for those looking at it.

But I do believe even a well done painting of an apple can provoke feelings and thoughts in the viewer when it's done with the heart, when the artist has a connection to that apple and painted it authentically true to the meaning that apple holds for them, rather than just as a practice of light and shadow.

I feel as though I could do another blog post on this lol


Comments are closed.
    This blog was created to share my belief that the art-making process is a catalyst for transformation and personal empowerment. I am living proof. 

    Categories

    All
    DaSilva Method
    Exhibitions
    Hawaii
    Paris
    Stories
    Workshops

    Archive

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

  • HOME
  • AVAILABLE WORKS
  • THE ARTIST
  • IN SITU
  • COMMISSIONS
  • INSTRUCTION
  • BLOG