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Poussin and Reflections on Being an Artist

Stephen Humphries

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June 22nd, 2015 - 03:40 AM

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Poussin and Reflections on Being an Artist

Renaissance Magic

look at Poussin, one of a hundred or so magical artists from the renaissance. This guy was painting exquisite, large scale ,hyper-real paintings before electricity was discovered, before the steam engine, hell before even gas lighting. If you look at the Pre-Raphaelites you could probably make a case for why they were the best technical painters from history, the best at depicting myth and symbolic story, but most of those guys were super privileged playboys of a modern world of invention and pioneering technology. What makes the renaissance, a Poussin or a Da Vinci absolute magic is that they come from a period of time where the majority of mankind was steeped utterly in myth and witchcraft. If you could read and write back then you were considered to be some kind of wizard. Can you imagine the affect these paintings must have had on the minds of the people at that time? This was the beginning of the enlightenment, before Baudelaire’s ‘Modernity. Before Mankind was fully aware of his situation in time and space. Copernicus and Galileo had just sussed out that the earth wasn’t the center of the universe and we were just becoming truly skeptically aware with Descartes’ “I think therefore I am” and it would be another three hundred years before we discovered Nietzsche’s “God is dead”.

So when people saw Greek gods, ancient stories, depictions of the holy trinity, the last super and the flagellation of Christ It wasn’t a novel use of the imagination, it was real, the real representation of supernatural events that people believed 100%. This wasn’t myth and symbolism this was divine revelation on the canvas. These paintings were like magical portholes into another realm of being, they would have induced awe and reverence, even more so than they do today. Two point perspective and realistic light and shade were amazing new drawing technologies as impressive to renaissance people as virtual reality or 3d high definition TV ts to us.

Getting Back To Drawing

I have recently gone back to looking at these old masters. I have been studying the Venetian style of painting and wanted to go back and try and get my drawing skills up to scratch before attempting a painting. Especially because in the old Venetian style you basically draw the image in black and white and then layer colour on top of it, so the painting is entirely dependent on your drawing skills.

I chose a Poussin, a complex swirling flow of figures "The victory of Neptune". I made 6 or 7 small sketches to try and figure out different elements of the composition. I then made a full tonal drawing at A3 size. It was so tedious for me! I must admit I really didn't enjoy making it. The finished tonal drawing is OK, but for the amount of effort I put in it wasn't up to Renaissance standard!
To be successful at this kind of thing you have to do it full time. If I didn’t teach and could do it every day I would get better and quicker. But even if I did have all of that time I'm not sure I would want to take this route.
To check out the sketches click here: http://hidden-guru.blogspot.com/2013/09/poussin-and-reflections-on-being-artist.html

Personal Reflections on Being an Artist

I know in all honesty I am just starting to find my voice as an artist. I have been doing this since I was 15 but I still can’t say that any of my paintings are strong. To be successful maybe you need at least one of a few different things, 1) a recognizable style, 2) an interesting subject matter, 3) application skills, and 4) unique or ingenious manipulation of paint or other mediums, if you have any one of these, I believe, you can become successful. I don't mean financially successful, that’s a whole other issue. I mean satisfied and maybe recognized by other artists.

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