Page 37 - The Decorative Painter Spring 2015

SKILLBUILDER
An old winemaker once told me, “There are three things that make a great wine: good ingredients, time, and love.” I have thought about that simple quote over the years. It has come to be my belief that
these three things also make great people, great cultures, and great art. They could represent the three primary colors of life.
In my first article of this series, we covered vertical shapes to represent spirituality. My second article covered diagonal shapes to represent move- ment. My third article covered horizontal shapes to represent tranquility. Here, my fourth and final article in the series ties them all together with my Radial Energy Skyscape technique. You can think of “radial energy” like a wheel with spokes. The spokes are the story, the objects, and the tech- niques. They journey outward from the hub—the center, the focal point, or main idea—to the perimeter, the circular containment of it all. Within this containment is our story, our vision, our concept.
I will use the old winemaker’s words to illustrate my last concept in this series.
The hub of our circle will be the center, the good ingredients. This will consist of knowledge and skill level, our artistic integrity, our curi- osity, and quest for learning. Our spokes journey outward and will rep- resent our techniques, our ability to use our visual vocabulary to express what we want to say in colors, and our love for what we do. Some spokes will be long and few; others will be short and many. All this movement of energy will be contained in the completed circle, the radial illusion. The most valuable item, time, is the product of moving forward as it can’t go backward. It is the gift we use to create, to learn, and to live.
Learning new things that are built on love and skill will always bring a good return, so choose your teachers well. One thing a great teacher will always bring to the table is his love inside his heart. This love finds a way to his hands and will spill in abundance onto his chosen surface or medium. To paint, draw, write, or sculpt with love is the magic circle of art and life. It is to witness the earth and nature kiss. It is to breathe the colors of the rainbow through your eyes, to count the shades of red in a rose, or to see beyond forever in the sky.
We are energy in its purest form; the ingredients that our culture is made from. We are the creators of timeless gifts to our world, and we are the love that binds all concepts of magic. We are artists and that is what artists do.
In this part four of the series, I will demonstrate my Radial Energy Skyscape technique using DecoArt Traditions Artist Acrylics and DecoArt Americana Acrylics.
In order to paint my various Skyscapes, I discovered, improved, and perfected my Soft Sky Application. It consists of the magical uses for the opaque watercolor Daler-Rowney Pro-White as it mixes with different wa- ter-based media; presenting an altogether different story, mood, and visual impact each time. I was amazed to discover a white that would not only blend with each medium but would actually bring out the best in them.