Tuesday, April 2, 2013

B is for Basics

 
Black and White 12" x 18" Painting
 

What does the movie “Stand By Me”, the song “Johnny B Goode” by Chuck Berry and hopefully my painting above all share in common?  They rely on the basics.  Stand by Me, a very successful movie was based on a short story.  Johnny B Goode only has three chords.  My painting is black and white, it relies on texture, shading and a simple subject not wild colors, special effects or a complex composition.

They are all simple, yet all beautiful in their own right.  The Basics!  No matter what type of art you pursue, learn the basics, practice them and then learn them some more.  Live, eat and breath them.  When you do, you’ll find that when you get stuck or are in a rut having the basics to fall back on will get you out of your funk.

There's a reason why every art student has to paint a bowl of fruit, every photography students has to shoot in black and white and every musician practices scales.  For writers I've heard the term "Who What When and How" thousands of times over the years so I can only assume that is your fruit bowl.  When we've learned the basics, only then are we prepared to explore further horizons and find our true style because we no longer have to think about them they just come natural.


Rule #1 Learn the Basics!


8 comments:

Zoanna said...

So true. Get the basics down. Pretty photo. Reminds me of my favorite tree on my grandpa's farm. Here from A to Z.

Laura Clipson said...

I love that picture, it's simplicity is it's brilliance.

Vikki T said...

Just popping in to say "Hi" from the A-Z Challenge List :)

What a beautiful painting! Good luck with the rest of the challenge.

xx

mooderino said...

You make an excellent point. Illustrated perfectly by that picture.

mood
Moody Writing

John Wiswell said...

Stephen King's The Body is a fairly non-traditional story, though it has mastery of the basics it needs. Even the climax isn't what most writers would have done, let alone his closing thoughts. One heck of a piece of work.

Zoanna said...

Oops! I totally missed the little word "painting!" It was so good I thought you'd shot the tree in the fog. Wow.

Mina Lobo said...

1. Excellent advice.

2. Lovely art work. I envy you your painting skills, as I'm damned if I can make anything pretty with my hands. :-)

netablogs said...

Very beautiful painting! Good post!