Three Bridges a Day - Day Two

Thanks for all the great comments yesterday! So for Day Two of my Three a Day Marathon , I'm sticking with Bridges as my theme. Here's one from all the 3 places I've lived - New York City, Los Angeles, and Ohio. And today I tap the great Sarah Yeoman to join the party! Cheers - Tom.

Three Bridges A Day - Day One

Thanks (I think) to a few friends ( Bev Jozwiak and Iain Stewart come to mind), I've come down with the "3 Watercolors a Day" Virus .... Thought it wasn't catching but apparently, it is. So I'm keeping mine to a theme - my beloved bridges. Here's one in Vancouver, BC, one in Northern Ireland, and one in Rome. And I now get to tap my good friend William G. Hook to get on board the 3 a Day Train and hope he forgives me -)

"New Year's Day - Ohio"

"New Year's Day" - Ohio" Thomas W Schaller - Watercolor. 22 X16 inches - 02 Jan. 2015

IWS -1st International Watercolor Juried Exhibition - Mexico City

Very grateful to the organizers of IWS Mexico and the distinguished jury for including my two paintings; "Fog on the Tiber - Rome" and "Pacific Coast Highway - Los Angeles" in their 1st International Watercolor Exhibition to be held in Mexico City in 2015

"Finding Beauty"

"Everything that is beautiful is not always pretty.” This is one of the little reminders that I carry with me always as I am searching for good subjects to paint. It’s an all too easy mistake to assume that if an object or scene is not immediately captivating or visually pleasing, then it is unworthy to be painted - that there is no “art” there. This is far from the case. In truth, sometimes the most scenically perfect places may offer more to a photographer than to a painter who’s real task is to interpret - not just imitate or illustrate - what is seen. More to the point, we try to express the feelings we have based on what we see. There are paintings just as fantastic to be had from the most humble and commonplace objects on your kitchen table, to the most bleak industrial landscape, to the most glorious mountain or seaside vista. It’s all in how you choose to see them. As painters, most of us have heard the saying, “There are no bad subjects, only bad paintings”. And while that may not be off the mark, I’m actually saying something a bit different. I’m suggesting that it is not the subjects we see that are beautiful or not - rather the beauty is in how we interpret what we see, and in how we learn to look in the first place. It’s fantastic to be able to travel to exotic and far away places in search of inspiration for paintings (and I wouldn’t turn down many opportunities to do so!). But it’s good to remember also that it is not just a simple matter of a beautiful sight being “inspiring”, it is the artist that has to see - and more importantly feel - that inspiration. Then we must “find the art” in that scene and convey the story - the compelling idea or feeling that we have had - to the viewer in our work. What is truly beautiful to me in any given painting can be found not so much in the specific object or scene the artist has depicted, as in the vision and feeling displayed in the interpretation of that sight. So in a very real sense, it is not simply an amazing sight that bestows inspiration upon us, but rather the other way around. We find the inspiration within ourselves to be able to react to that scene as an artist might. We then set about shaping that reaction - that feeling of inspiration - into the work of art to result. That process is truly beautiful to me. I often ask my classes to try not to paint the subject of their paintings so much as to try to paint the light that illuminates and gives them life. Thoughts of, ideas about, and reactions to the vast array of the effects of light are consistently what causes that sense of inspiration to rise within me. I try to see the world in patterns - compositions - of dark and light. And using my case just as an example, when we can begin to look at the world around us in a different way - realizing that we are the architects of our own inspiration - then literally, good paintings can be found anywhere. Outstanding works of art are all around us, everywhere, always - just waiting to be discovered. There is very little of the real world depicted in my quick painting “Industrial Landscape in Green" that could be described as actually “beautiful” in any classic sense. Much of the painting shows little more than forgotten objects in a state of decay on a gloomy afternoon. But it was in the pattern of lights and darks, and in the almost abstract juxtaposition of forms that I found inspiration and real beauty.

"Home"

"Home" thomas w schaller : watercolor 22 x15 inches 22 dec. 2014

"Our Voice"

"Our Voice" " We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” Buddha In my classes, I always remark that one thing I love about painting - in watercolor especially - and also about painters in general, is the fact that we all begin with the same few simple tools: a couple of brushes, paper, some pigments, and water. But a hundred artists could go out with these same basic tools and paint the exact scene. And by day’s end, there would be one hundred completely different, and completely unique results. Some might say that this can be explained by “talent” or by levels of skill, etc. And yes, those things can be factors. But that’s almost never quite what I see. I see one hundred individual artists shining through – one hundred different voices trying to be heard. One of the greatest compliments I can ever receive as an artist, is when someone says, “From across the room, I could tell that was your work. I’d recognize it anywhere.” If nothing else, it helps to confirm that I am on my own path. Possibly the greatest goal we can all have as artists is to learn to develop our own, individual voice - the only one that can express our personal inspirations and vision in a way that no one else possibly could. I get enormous support and inspiration as an artist from various philosophical and spiritual teachings - Buddhism among them - and that for it’s pragmatic simplicity, emphasis on the calmness and joy of the present moment, gratitude, and a sense of personal responsibility. One of its most fundamental teachings is that “ We ourselves must walk the path - no one can do it for us”. This is a joyful thought to me - not one that fills me with sorrow or loneliness. To me it says that I am in the driver’s seat of my life and only I can shape my present and therefore, determine my future. Another simple yet powerful quote by the wise man himself, and one that perfectly sums up my thoughts about living and painting is, "It is better to travel well than to arrive”. Absolutely. I would hope as artists we feel we are always moving and growing. There is always something new to learn and ways to grow. If we ever feel we have “arrived”, we are finished. Philosophy aside, when we are learning to paint, it is almost inevitable that we will be influenced by other more established artists doing work we admire. Up to a point this is understandable and perfectly OK. But sometimes - even without thinking - it becomes far too easy to then begin to mimic their ideas, their palettes, their compositions, etc. This is - of course - a dead end. It is also an insult to those artists we claim to respect, and worse, an insult to ourselves. It means we are not listening to our own voice, but trying to borrow that of another. There is no art to be found there. To be influenced is one thing, but to mimic or imitate - quite another. Back to the simplicity of Buddhism, it also teaches that “everything we need - we already have”. How I love that idea! As a painter, the trick of course is to be able to clear away enough useless and surplus noise and negativity to be able to accept and take full advantage of that. For me, practice is the thing. The more I paint, the easier I find it becomes to just get lost within that process and the world of the painting in front of me. For the time it takes me to do that painting, that is all the world I wish to know. It then does get easier bit by bit to be able to pay no attention to all that external noise; to tune out all those voices that tell us we need to get this or that commission, into this exhibition, or that gallery, or to get praise from this or that person or group. We tell ourselves we need these things to know that we are finally "good enough”. But if this is on your mind while painting, “success” will be a very illusive thing. And while all those things may be great in their way, none of them can ever hope to tell us convincingly if we’re actually good enough. Only we have the power to do that. And only when we can learn to listen more intently to that voice within - to take advantage of resources we already have - will we know if we’re on the right path or not. And we will know – since we already have all we need. It’s just in practice that we begin to realize it and to more clearly hear that voice - the one that already knows who we are and how we wish to express that unique individual we are by means of our work. "Kiyomizu in Snow" - Kyoto. Thomas W Schaller - 2014