Drawing 2012

“I found that doing preliminary detailed sketches for me is not relevant. The joy of painting is to find my way out through changes and adjustments in the process of painting.” LN

” Willem de Kooning typically, would start with a drawing, add paint, draw on top of the paint, scrape the surface down, draw more images traced and transferred from elsewhere, add paint to them, and on and on.”

“Freedom? Yes, it’s there, but also the obligation to perfection. And fear of uncertainty? Always. You never face a new canvas without fear. But not trepidation, more joy – and total eagerness.” Camille Patha

“Color is my starting point….I start out on my pallete. I sit in my chair and look at my canvas. I have the color in my head and have in mind that I want a portion of it to be light and a portion to be dark.” Camille Patha

“Never use color straight from the tube. When use thalo, add magenta, purple, burnt umber, and cobalt blue. When lightening a color with white add something else: red light, ceruleum blue etc.” Unknown

“Cadmium red with emerald green gives the most beautiful burnt sienna. Cobalt blue plus cadmium yellow and a little red and black gives the most beautiful green.” Alin Gheorghiu

“When skill reaches a certain level, it hides itself. When it hides itself in the unconscious it reveals the unconscious.” Stephen Nachmanovitch

“Strong, resonant blacks are possible only if laid directly onto the primed canvas. Any lighter paint

underneath would have prevented its tendency to recede.” H. Matisse

“Zigzags appear slow, while curves are fast. If I have a particular color combination in which I want the viewer to dwell, I use broken lines, and fragmented colors to halt the eye and draw attention to those areas.” Brian Rutenberg

“O pictura de Vasile Grigore este o juxtapunere de zone colorate. Obiectele se contureaza datorita unui desen extrem de agil, care prinde forma ca din zbor, care nu-i descriptiv, ci evocator. Trasatura se suprapune peste campurile colorate, fara nici o grija de a le respecta limitele. Linia si culoarea raman independente una de cealalta, iar obiectele par surprinse in clipa cand palpitand, sunt inca in cautarea formei.” Eugenia Florescu

“I never begin with a preconceived color plan but mix and juxtapose unexpected combinations right on the canvas until a family, usually three colors, start to suggest a move.” Brian Rutenberg

“I discovered certain colors pairings that I stick with, such as purple/green, brown/blue, teal/orange and red/gray.I keep several palettes going simultaneosly and mix large amounts of one color in a range of tones on each palette. I also have one palette with small blobs of color arranged in the order of spectrum.” Brian Rutenberg

“I prefer ivory black (semitransparent) and mars black (opaque) with warm tints, perfect for dirtying other colors. Mars black with alizarin crimson makes a black cherry color, and with lemon yellow produces a gorgeous dull green. It’s never about individual colors but how they vibrate together.” Brian Rutenberg

“Work across the image. Don’t labor over parts, work the whole field.” Brian Rutenberg

“Don’t analyze when you begin. Do first, think second. Make big shapes, squint, block in masses, and don’t edit. Self-awareness is the enemy. Let everything pour out, and then make correction later.” Brian Rutenberg

“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.” Ray Bradbury

“When composing, I observe the rule of thirds, which divides the canvas into thirds using two vertical lines and two horizontal lines. They intersect in four places, each one a detonation point of energy in the composition.” Brian Rutenberg

“It is important to step back every 45 seconds to see the entire image. Shrinking image on I-phone is a good way to spot compositional flaws and cheking values”. Brian Rutenberg

“Practice to lose technique instead of acquire it. When the effortless appears difficult, it’s entertainment. When the difficult appears effortless, it’s art. ” Brian Rutenberg

“The law of nature are bent to fit the laws of art. Every painting bears the evidence of destructive behavio and violent thought, a breaking down of one thing to expose another. You have to kill something to make something. ” Brian Rutenberg

“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. ” Coleman Cox

Reading books, always with a pencil in my hand, like my father did, I used to underline sentences of interest, wanting to remember them, eventually copying them in a notebook. In time, as a high schooler, I had a collection of wisdom quotes organized by topics, which I highly treasured and shared with my friends, frequently writing some of them on my greeting cards. When I decided to start painting, I spent a lot of time reading in Seattle and Mercer Island Public Libraries and gathered a new collection of Art Quotes, this time in English, so I can share them here with you.

Read the posts that capture my favorite quotes: