by Marty Coleman | Sep 11, 2015 | It's BEYOND Imagination!, Pablo Picasso |
I am starting a new series called ‘BEYOND Imagination’. My wife and I always crack up when we hear that phrase because obviously if someone is telling us a story it had to be imagined, thus NOTHING can be beyond it.
When Imagination Becomes Bad
When kids are young, in elementary school, they are allowed to let their imaginations soar. If they want to draw a unicorn, nobody is going to stop them. If they want to make a robot that also poops cookies, that’s a cute and funny thing. But when they get to adolescence they are directed by schools, parents, the world, and themselves to make things real. The suddenly want to make that drawing of a car look JUST like a car. If they don’t they get ridiculed by their peers and perhaps others as ‘drawing like a child’. Nothing is more humiliating than that for a teenager trying to be grown up. So they try really hard to copy reality.
And of course most of them fail. They fail because their desire in themselves and the pressure from others is not matched with training on how to draw realistically. Many then get frustrated, feel like a failure and quit.
When Imagination Becomes Good
Those who don’t quit in frustration will eventually learn techniques and methods and get so they can draw accurately. But then what? Many of the best artists then realize that accuracy isn’t enough. So what if it looks like a photograph? It may woo a crowd but it doesn’t really express much about themselves as artists or fulfill their desire to communicate.
Thinking, Feeling, Seeing
Then they start to get back to their child-like imagination. Then they start to create art based on the quote above. Or maybe it’s not about what they think but instead it’s about what they feel. Either way, they become free from the tyranny of realistic accuracy and move towards using color, form, shape, texture, line, etc. (the formal elements of art) to express what is inside them. And we get to see inside them, not just outside. That to me is a fulfilling starting point for great art.
Drawing and commentary © 2015 Marty Coleman | Napkindad.com
Quote by Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish Artist
Periscope
You can watch the Periscope video of the creation of this drawing and the guessing of the quote here.
If you are on Periscope you can find me @thenapkindad
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by Marty Coleman | May 29, 2012 | Blog World NY, Pablo Picasso, Procrastination - 2012 |
I put it off as long as I could, but it’s day #4 of the Procrastination series and of my journey to Blog World NY to talk about it.
Dying and the Worst Fear
When I think about dying my worst fear is that all the artwork I have done over the decades will be lost. That it will be so disorganized, so hard to find and sort through, that no one will want to do it and it will just disappear eventually. I have a lot of things I want to get done still, but I have done a lot of things so far and I want them recorded and stored in a way that others can see or hear about them later.
Technology
I have to leave things undone each day, and many days I leave them undone on purpose because I don’t feel like working so hard at it. But in the end I keep coming back to my tasks, both the current art creation tasks and the cataloging and organizing of my prior work. It’s not as if it’s going to end since as soon as I get everything organized on CD or DVD another technology comes along that demands it be done all over again. For example, I have been going through old family photos this past Memorial Day weekend and I came across a floppy disk full of images. That was modern and safe at one point but now it’s ancient technology I can’t access without spending money on it.
What is your greatest fear in dying and do you put off dealing with it? Why so?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, whose many scribbles are unaccounted for.
Quote by Pablo Picasso, whose every scribble is pretty much accounted for.
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 24, 2011 | Pablo Picasso |
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| Give this coffee cup to someone who is growing young. |
Today is my birthday. Getting old takes so long that I have gotten younger waiting around for it to happen. What’s my secret? Creativity and courage. Those two things, when paid attention to and practiced, bring joy. And joy makes one young.
Drawing and commentary by the birthday boy.
Quote by Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish born artist. (Baptized name – Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso)
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 30, 2010 | Art, Pablo Picasso |
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A vintage napkin from 2002 that I put in my daughters’ lunches to bring to school.
Saying no to your child, making them feel embarrassed by their individuality, stifling their stream of consciousness in thought and play. Those will suck the artist out of any child before you know it.
Don’t let that happen.
Help them let their creativity out, don’t stifle it.
Drawing by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Pable Ruiz Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish artist. His baptismal name was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 12, 2010 | Art, Pablo Picasso |
Vintage napkin from 2002. Drawn for my daughters and put in their lunches before they went off to school.
By flying. By flying above the creative stop signs. By fighting with all your might anyone who says to you as you grow ‘but what will they think?’ By wearing a top hat if you want, or a gypsy scarf around your head with big red earrings. By buying that interesting spice you found in that obscure little store, and actually using it in something you cook. By not being afraid to ask that interesting person if you can take their photo. By buying REAL art for your home, not crap from a hobby store that just fills space.
By fighting for your love of art and not letting anyone rip it away from you, for any reason.
Drawing and passion © Marty Coleman
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once you grow up.” – Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish artist. Did you know his full name was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Crispiniano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz Picasso?
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