A gift. This one was not in a box and had no material value. But it was priceless. The MasterCard commercial came to mind. My friend Sharon emailed a long list of art quotes collected over the years by her artist husband, Neal Knobler. I was overwhelmed, inspired, and a bit intimidated. These gems were a lot to take in. I chose to stick my toe in the water rather than to dive right in.
So I decided to cluster the quotes. I came up with seven groups. That exercise, in itself, was comforting. The headings provided an introduction to this collection of pithy thoughts. I was able to grasp these concepts…seeing, creativity, reflection of self, taking risks, spontaneity, success and failure, and best practices. My next step was to eliminate redundancies and quotes that did not speak to me.
My edited version of the art quotes:
Seeing
- Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. Edgar Degas
- It’s not why you look at that matters, it’s what you see. Henry David Thoreau
- Exquisite stones can sing you songs, if you use your heart and soul to listen. From a Chinese folk song
- The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust
Creativity
- Art is the expression of imagination, not the duplication of reality. Henry Moore
- Paint…don’t record
- Imagination is more important than knowledge. Albert Einstein
- You’re never really painting until you’re painting into paint.
- This world of imagination is fancy-free and violently opposed to common sense. Part of a manifesto by Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb, and Barnett Newman
Reflection of Self
- Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. Oscar Wilde
- Don’t record…express yourself. Neal Knobler
- Look around, but mostly look inside and put yourself into your work. David Carson
- The heart is wiser than the intellect. Fortune Cookie
- He who uses his hands, eyes, mind and heart…is an artist.
- Don’t paint a picture. Paint your feelings. Paint what you think. Neal Knobler
- It is our function as artists to make the spectator see the world our way—not his way. Part of a manifesto by Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb, and Barnett Newman
Taking Risks
- Be a real student and take chances. Live on the edge. Teeter on the brink…skip on the tightrope. And if you fall, enjoy the wind on your smiling face. Paul Lester
- Creativity is allowing oneself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Scott Adams
- To us, art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take risks. Part of a manifesto by Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb, and Barnett Newman
- If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.
Spontaneity
- Stop thinking and just put it down. Filomena Dellaripa
- Don’t proceed according to rules and principles, but paint what you observe. Paint generously and unhesitatingly, for it is best not to lose the first impression. Camille Pissaro
- Paint once, swiftly and feverishly and then walk away.
- We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it. William Hazlitt
- Nine out of ten people who change their minds are wrong the second time too.
Success/Failure
- True success is overcoming the fear of being unsuccessful. Paul Sweeney
- He who always fears failure will never achieve success.
- Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure. Thomas Edison
Best Practices
- I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand. Chinese Proverb
- Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding make even more art. Andy Warhol
- Nobody can count themselves an artist unless they can carry a picture in their head before they paint it. Claude Monet
- The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.
- I like to seize the one sharp instant in nature, to imprison it by means of ordered shapes and space relationships. To this end I eliminate and simplify, leaving apparently nothing but color and pattern. I am not seeking pure abstraction; rather the purity and essence of the idea—expressed in its simplest form. Milton Avery
I am particularly struck by the permission granted by these instructors, artists, and thinkers. I understand that I must see, feel, and paint with abandon. I must make each painting my own. Nothing else matters. What a gift.
Adolph Gotleib, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman in their respective New York studios
