Painting with Words

[caffieri]

An artist may paint a lifelike vase of flowers, throw buckets of paint at a canvas or cover a building with pink plastic and their work can still be considered worthy of commendation. No one seems to compare Salvador Dali with Vermeer or Christo with Michelangelo; in art individual expression is admired and encouraged.

I wished the same applied to the writers of prose; unfortunately we all seem to live in the shadows of such people as Eugene O’Neil, Tennessee Williams and Jane Austin. Critics, both professional and amateur, are always ready to pounce on us for the slightest grammatical error, misuse of punctuation or, what they consider, a questionable plot.

Always working to satisfy others stifles creativity and although we may have to comply with certain rules when submitting to publishers, we should put some time aside to “paint with words;” to do our own thing; to enjoy the process and to hell with what people think.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I like what you said.
"Painting with words" is exactly what I've told people when they asked why I gave up on my artwork. I wanted a new canvas, a new medium, a new means of expression.
Its so perfect, I think like a painter, see with the eyes of an artist and use my knowledge to paint the words.

Welcome to the AH, fellow artist.

Abstruse

 

[voluptuary_manque]

That is so terribly, terribly Romantic! The nineteenth Cult of Genius lives on, I guess. Frankly, I think it's hogwash. Art is a craft. If someone like Christo can hoodwink the Rich and Useless into funding his silliness, good for him. It's all about earning a living, after all. Art is a Craft. Either you do it well or you convince some monied boob (or collection thereof, like a museum board of directors) that what you produce should be funded. Otherwise, Art is a Craft. Learn the skills. Apply them. Prior to Rousseau's blathering, this was clearly understood by the community. We seem to have forgotten during the 20th Century. Fortunately, Modernism dies and withers. Learn the skills. Apply them. Art is a Craft.

 

[oggbashan]

If only I could paint with words the pictures that I see in my head when I'm planning a story.

Whatever I do, the finished story is a pale imitation of what I wanted to convey.

When I paint the difference between conception and production is impossibly wide. With words I come closer, but never as close as I want to.

Og

 

[ABSTRUSE]

That is so terribly, terribly Romantic! The nineteenth Cult of Genius lives on, I guess. Frankly, I think it's hogwash. Art is a craft. If someone like Christo can hoodwink the Rich and Useless into funding his silliness, good for him. It's all about earning a living, after all. Art is a Craft. Either you do it well or you convince some monied boob (or collection thereof, like a museum board of directors) that what you produce should be funded. Otherwise, Art is a Craft. Learn the skills. Apply them. Prior to Rousseau's blathering, this was clearly understood by the community. We seem to have forgotten during the 20th Century. Fortunately, Modernism dies and withers. Learn the skills. Apply them. Art is a Craft.

Its like, 'what's the difference between art and pretentious crap?'....depends on who has the best PR.

 

[damppanties]

"Painting with words" is exactly what I've told people when they asked why I gave up on my artwork. I wanted a new canvas, a new medium, a new means of expression.

That's possibly why I don't write as much anymore.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

That's possibly why I don't write as much anymore.

Artist's block.

 

[damppanties]

Artist's block.

Not really. Don't have as much time and as much interest in the medium.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Not really. Don't have as much time and as much interest in the medium.

Whiney little bitch.

 

[damppanties]

Whiney little bitch.

You just want to come here and see my etchings. Or something.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

You just want to come here and see my etchings. Or something.

I'm so transparent!

and...I think you should write again.

and OG, my teachers always told me, draw/paint what you see....so write what you see, but in your mind, touch the objects, smell them, taste them....then paint them.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Well, art is one of two things: It's either something new under the Sun or another facet of something that exists. And if your art is one or the other, you should do okay. Its not the same as filling your ass with a corn-cob and singing MACARTHUR PARK at the trailer park rec hall.

 

[oggbashan]

...

and OG, my teachers always told me, draw/paint what you see....so write what you see, but in your mind, touch the objects, smell them, taste them....then paint them.

I would if I could but my fine motor movements aren't good enough for painting.

My brother is the artist in the family. I'm the writer.

Og

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I would if I could but my fine motor movements aren't good enough for painting.

My brother is the artist in the family. I'm the writer.

Og

Paint with words!! Man.

 

[sr71plt]

I like what you've said too, Caffeiri (although I don't think it's as bad as you've painted it). I say much the same thing frequently over on the Feedback forum when some responder is posting the "this is how it's done" mantras.

 

[oggbashan]

Paint with words!! Man.

I try - I like minatures.

Og

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I try - I like minatures.

Og

So do I, I love tiny vignettes of life!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Its like, 'what's the difference between art and pretentious crap?'....depends on who has the best PR.

Absolutely! Fortunately, even the best PR won't work over time. See how the academic critics are still trying to get audiences to "appreciate" Schoenberg, Webern and Stockhausen a hundred years after they wrote that silly twaddle. It wasn't good then and continuing to tell people that it is won't make it so. I am so glad that the 20th Cent. is over!

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Absolutely! Fortunately, even the best PR won't work over time. See how the academic critics are still trying to get audiences to "appreciate" Schoenberg, Webern and Stockhausen a hundred years after they wrote that silly twaddle. It wasn't good then and continuing to tell people that it is won't make it so. I am so glad that the 20th Cent. is over!

Ugh...the whole Kostabi thing just left a bad taste in my mouth...I'll stick to my pre-raphaelites, thank you.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Ah now, that's not true. Word paintings can happen, vis Nabokov-- beyond "Lolita" or Italo Calvini, or Elle Reginahere on lit (who has a blog elsewhere, I think.)

Word paintings are tough to do, though. And we have been stultified by hack prose writers, untill most of us don't recognise surrealism, or parody when we come across it.

My suggestion is to artificially break up your lines and make faux-poetry out of it all. People read poetry with an awful lot of credulity.

 

[oggbashan]

...Word paintings are tough to do, though. And we have been stultified by hack prose writers, untill most of us don't recognise surrealism, or parody when we come across it.

My suggestion is to artificially break up your lines and make faux-poetry out of it all. People read poetry with an awful lot of credulity.

Parody? Faux-poetry?

That I can do: Encouragement

Og

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Ah now, that's not true. Word paintings can happen, vis Nabokov-- beyond "Lolita" or Italo Calvini, or Elle Reginahere on lit (who has a blog elsewhere, I think.)

Word paintings are tough to do, though. And we have been stultified by hack prose writers, untill most of us don't recognise surrealism, or parody when we come across it.

My suggestion is to artificially break up your lines and make faux-poetry out of it all. People read poetry with an awful lot of credulity.

Tragically so. In the beginning poetry was song. How else could anyone recite the Iliad or Odyssey from memory if it wasn't set to music? When the music was lost, the rhythm and meter lasted for centuries . . . until that ass Ezra Pound showed up. I am so glad the 20th Century is over.

 

[caffieri]

Its like, 'what's the difference between art and pretentious crap?'....depends on who has the best PR.

Speaking of PR – I saw a documentary many years ago about an artist who paid basic rate to young people to design art which he projected onto large canvases. Another group would then paint them. All the so called artist did was to sign them. This flamboyant purveyor of paintings would then throw a sumptuous party with champagne and caviar for people with more money than sense and the paintings would sell for $10,000 to $15,000 each. When the TV reporter asked some buyers whether it bothered them that the artist had not actually painted the pictures they said no. I guess if you develop a flamboyant personality, mix with the right people and ply them with Dom Pérignon you can dispense with the need for talent entirely.

Fortunately I've forgotten the artist's name.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I know of someone who had a few bucks too many, and decided he wanted to be known as a painter. But he has no talent. So he hired two young art students to ghost paint for him. He has art openings using their work with his signature.

 

[The_Fool]

Well, art is one of two things: It's either something new under the Sun or another facet of something that exists. And if your art is one or the other, you should do okay. Its not the same as filling your ass with a corn-cob and singing MACARTHUR PARK at the trailer park rec hall.

Faulkner already did that. The corncob that is. Not the MacArthur Park. Or was it her pussy. Maybe both.