Feb 22 2009
Dear Friends and Readers,
I have decided to suspend updating this Blog — TrueQuotes.
I will be putting my efforts into my other Blog: God Family Crafts
It is my hope that you will visit God Family Crafts often, and also, that you will make plentiful use of the archives here at TrueQuotes.
Please check back from time-to-time and see if I have posted any special notices, and…
in the mean time - see you at God Family Crafts.
Peace be with you,
Ann
Dec 16 2008
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is know which ones to keep.
Scott Adams
This quote may strike you as silly at first. But think about it. If you set out to play with your materials and allow your creative spirit to come forth, you can plan on making plenty of “mistakes”. There will be semi-finished products which are destined, sooner or later, for the trash.
When I shoot a roll of film in still life photography, a roll of 24 exposures might yield three good pictures and one really great photo. The constant rearranging of the subject matter, changing of the lighting and camera angle allow the creativity to work. While the film is being developed I always tHave he feeling that a certain shot will be really great.
And while there usually is something that is worth enlarging and framing, often it is not the shot I expected. The lighting might be off, the camera position might be to ordinary, many things can make for a less than perfect shot.
So, go to work, or should I say play, as that is what I advocate - playing with your materials. Find out what your creativity can do for you.
Dec 11 2008
To the complaint, “There are no people in these photographs,” I respond, “There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.”
– Ansel Adams
The opinion of art can vary widely from person to person. The viewer’s reaction depends upon what the viewer brings to the photo, painting or other piece of artwork. One person could see a painting and be moved by it, be touched deeply, for reasons not always understood. Another viewer might see the same picture and blah it does nothing for them.
This is true for all forms of art, including music and writing. The artist is only one-half of the art - the viewer, or hearer, or reader, is the other half.
Adams did more than 50% of his art in the darkroom. He shot film, then developed it and manipulated it as he printed his amazing photos. It is okay that there are no people pictured. The photo remains an interpretation of the two most important people of the moment - photographer and viewer.
Ansel Adams, Oak Tree at Sunrise
Dec 02 2008
“As all cooks know, ingredients of the moment are the best guides.”
– Francis Mayers (in ’Under the Tuscan Sun’)
In those who cook, there is either a necessity to follow a recipe, or a call to follow the heart. Or should I say the taste-buds. Cooking has been compared to art — the combining of ingredients - shapes, tastes, textures to create a masterpiece. But the simplest guide to cooking is to use the ingredients of the moment. Whether this is interpreted to mean the ingredients currently in-season, or the ingredients currently in the kitchen, either will work.
With observation and experience, a cook will combine ingredients that work well together. Think to what the master chefs combine, or to what the simplest of peasants mixes in the pot.A few combinations that I like to remember are: spinach goes with cheese; chicken and tofu can be flavored with many different full-bodied flavors; zucchini and tomatoes are companions; combining grains and nuts makes for an interesting dish.
Like a piece of artwork, the subject (or main ingredient) should not be so obscured that it is no longer identifiable. But each stroke, each ingredient, should bring the connoisseur’s attention to the main subject. Each ingredient should enhance the overall pleasure of the piece.
Nov 23 2008
“They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” — Andy Warhol
Yes, of course, as we look back, we see that time has changed things. But really, there are people behind those changes. Whether they be for good or for bad, from our perspective, people have changed things, not time alone.
Do you see something that needs to change? Are you unhappy with the way things are going? You have the power to make changes within your own little world, and each of these changes will have effects further reaching than you might realize.
Shall we resolve to change something that needs to be different? Let us commit to taking that step today.
Nov 18 2008
I dream a lot. I do more painting when I’m not painting. It’s in the subconscious.
– Diego Rivera
I have to say, Diego Revera has a point. Much, if not most, of the creative work that a person does, starts with the thinking process. One can stand for hours (almost) and look at the materials they will use. One can gaze off into the wood, the ocean, the sky, and formulate, create, dream and “paint” even without holding a brush and pallette.
The quilter does not set to work, choose the fabrics with ease, lay out the design without thought and create a masterpiece.
The sculptor must contemplate his materials, thier size, their shape, their texture, their potential, before touching his chisel or sculpting tool to the piece.
The dreaming, the shaping of the piece of art in the subconscious is, after all, the creative work of the spirit, a work that preceeds the work of the hands.
