Pablo Picasso- Harlequin with Glass, 1905
How often have I found that wanting to use blue,
I didn’t have it so I used a red instead of the blue.
–Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso is probably the most quoted of artists, though many things are mistakenly attributed to him. It’s a case that if it sounds interesting and you’re not sure who might have said it, you credit him or Shakespeare or Lincoln or some other iconic figure.
But I have a feeling that the quote I chose here today is actually his. I can’t see Lincoln saying it.
I certainly know the circumstance to which he refers.
Been there, done that.
In a pinch, you just make do with what you have because you can’t always wait until you have perfect conditions, all the materials you desire, and a moment of inspiration are in complete alignment. Sometimes inspiration is there and you don’t have what you would ideally want to use but you still want to make that mark.
A number of years back, I was having some real back problems. Up until then, I normally painted in a standing position but the pain forced me to sit. I found that there were points where I would reach for a color that I would normally use in certain instances and find it well out of reach. Instead of straining out of my seat and limping across the room to get it, I would take whatever was within my reach and try to either replicate the color or completely substitute another color.
In many ways, it was a good experience. Where I had used reds before, there were blues or greens. Turquoise tended to turn to purples and maroons.
Because my work doesn’t depend on accuracy in depicting natural color, it actually stretched the work a bit more and reinforced that idea that one must make do with what one has at hand. It’s something I have often tried to impress on young artists, that they should never use not having everything they think they need to start as an excuse to not start.
If they have a real creative urge, then they will make do, they will find a way.
The results may exceed what their mind had imagined.
I was recently reminded of this post which ran back in 2018. I’ve been working diligently on new work for my upcoming annual June show at the Principle Gallery.
I’m rough on my brushes and as I work, they often change a lot as I use them. They wear away the edges and bristles go astray. They then begin to perform in an individual manner, meaning that the mark they make at that point is unique to that brush and way different that the mark it made when I first began using it.
I find that adapting to this change in the brush gives the work a unique quality as well. It sometimes adds a roughness in places where I might not have desired it or even thought of before. It’s surprising at times and almost always adds something unique and of value to the piece in my eyes. I have found that a similarly composed piece painted at a different phase in the evolution of the brush being used has an altogether different feel in its surface.
And I like that. Not having the perfect brush and adapting to the change in a brush is a form of making do, which is an important aspect of the creative process. Making do often creates a uniqueness that differentiates work.
Now, excuse me I have work to do. Or should I say, make do?
Redtree Times 