By Cordet Gula Posted April 20, 2011
Do you ever wonder what goes on in the minds of artists? Don’t you think it would be interesting to know what Pablo Picasso was thinking when he painted? Do they base their art on emotions, memories, or dreams?
Marc Chagall was a famous artist born in Vitebsk, Russia in the year of 1887. He was the oldest of nine children and his father did not approve of him displaying his art in school. His art style involved Expressionism and Cubism. He often painted violinists because he played the violin and for the memory of his uncle who also played. He received recognition and many prizes for his artwork and was one of the few artists to have their artwork exhibited in the Louvre while he was still alive.
Another famous artist was Salvador Dali who was born in Spain in 1904. As a child, he showed strange behavior that corrupted his progress in school. His paintings were thought provoked from his dreams, and to others, his paintings were scary. Even though he was kicked out of art school, he continued to paint what we call, “surrealism”. He painted things from everyday life but he warped them in strange ways. One of his well-known objects was the famous melting clock.
Leonardo Da Vinci, an Italian artist born in Vinci, is also well known by many. He painted the famous “Mona Lisa”. He was born in the renaissance, which was a time when art was a popular aspect of life. He was more than just an artist; he was a mathematician, a scientist, a musician, and even an inventor. His paintings were based on reality which is called the realist style of art.
Of course everyone knows the famous Pablo Picasso.
He was born in Spain in 1881. Picasso’s father was an art teacher and often gave him lessons. As a child, he was taught to draw geometric shapes into the form of what he was looking at. As he grew older, just like Marc Chagall, his paintings were from Expressionism and Cubism. He had an amazing ability to analyze art and even dropped out of school at sixteen to become a classical artist. His art was greatly adored by many until the suicide of his best friend, Carlos Casagemas when Picasso went into the “blue period.” His blue period insisted of painting sad pictures with subtle blues, greens and sometimes he would have a hint of warm color. People found his painting too depressing and therefore he didn’t sell very many and he grew poor and starving. Today his paintings are popular and well known around the world.
The type of art that I usually enjoy drawing is realistic fantasy and abstract drawings. When I draw, what I am drawing at the moment mostly reflects how I am feeling. For example, when I am angry or sad, I draw things on the “dark side.” It is usually something tormented, bloody and brutal; but when I am happy I draw innocent things such as fairies and pixies. Sometimes in my abstract drawings, it might have a little bit of every emotion. Something happy but dark will have a dark but “innocent” look to it. Like dreams, my drawings have hidden meanings. Sometimes they are even based on my dreams. My mind is so abstract though, that I don’t know any particular thing I am thinking at the moment; it’s more like a million things at once. Interpreting my drawings is almost exactly like interpreting dreams. Certain objects, animals, numbers, or colors may have many different meanings depending on how it is used in the drawing.
Art, for some people, is s good stress relieving and even therapeutic process. It distracts your mind from problems that may be happening in reality. You can create your own world. The beauty of it is that there are endless possibilities of what you can do. Anything is possible with art. All you have to do is create anything out of nothing.
Some people say they aren’t good, which isn’t true. You might have an idea of what you want it to look like and it may not turn out that way, it happens to everybody, but honestly, anything is art, even the way you dress. All it is, is expression. How you decorate your room, what you wear, the things you drew when you were little. You can even make statues out of pop cans; it’s just the way you want to look at it.
If you’re trying to draw or paint something from reality or a picture, it won’t become a masterpiece overnight. Practice, practice, practice; it takes a lot of patience and years of practice to get the exact effect that you are looking for. Everyone has a different style and different interpretations of what’s good and what’s not. What someone may not like, someone else may absolutely love; it depends on the viewer, analyzer, or artist.
When I was very young, I used to watch my aunt draw. As I grew older, I tried drawing everything she drew. It took many years before I was content with how my drawings turned out. I was always frustrated when my 8-year-old pictures didn’t look like a masterpiece, so I constantly pushed myself to get better.
If you like art, but you feel like giving up because you don’t like the way it turns out. Don’t give up. If you have a strong passion for it, keep making art, it’s a beautiful thing and the world would be dull and grey without it. Picasso never gave up, Salvador Dali never gave up and their paintings are worth so much because they had a passion for it. Who knows, someday you might be a famous artist and you can look back on your life thinking the whole time that you wouldn’t be where you are if you had given up.
It is all held in the mind of the beholder traveling through from your thoughts, dreams and feelings to your fingertips, paintbrush, or pencil.
