Rain. I am burning a hazelnut candle against it, but my small protest is not stopping the downpour or the thunder that threatens to wake my sleeping baby. Typically, I admire thunder for its boldness. Today, I have courteously asked it to be quiet so that I can enjoy the full thirty-seven minutes of my sweet baby Piper's nap.
Today I am ignoring the taunts of dishes, the call of laundry, and the murmur of dirty carpets, to do a picture study. A picture study is an exercise of observation and memory. They taught it to us in high school, after lunch, when we were too sweaty and exhausted from playing power base (more on this childhood game later) to care. Eventually, I learned to love the moments spent in silence contemplating a painting.I hope you will enjoy a few of these moments with me right now.
Here is how to conduct your own picture study:
Step 1: Select a painting. I will be studying the painting my beloved Tom gave me for Christmas this year.
Step 2: This is the hardest step. Stare at the painting for ten minutes. Observe every detail you can so that when you close your eyes you can see the picture vividly in your mind. Be methodical about your observations. Get the big picture, then slow down your eye and let it travel from one corner of the painting to the other and then from top to bottom. Observe colors and shapes. Observe the space in between things. Observe the curve of lines. After ten minutes of focused observation, you should have the painting pretty solidly in your mind.
Step 3: Put the painting away or leave the room so you can't see it anymore.
Step 4: Write down everything you remember about the painting. Describe it as accurately as possible so that someone who has never seen it before could pick it out in a gallery full of similar paintings. If you want to save time, find a person who will listen and tell them everything you observed. And I mean everything! Telling back the smallest details will cement the painting in your own mind for years to come. That's what's cool about picture study.
If you take the time to complete a similar exercise on your own, please comment on this post. I'd love to hear about your experiences.
Okay, now to brush off the cobwebs from my observation skills, here I go!
Ten minutes of observation, check!
Followed by a ten minute interlude to re position my bored, sweet baby Piper.
Now for my narration of observations... Read the description below and see what picture it creates in your head! Hopefully it will be somewhat similar to the original, posted below.
The painting is on three canvases, each of is about 1 1/2 x 2 ft. placed about 3/4 in. apart on the wall. Together, the three canvases form the whole painting. In the foreground is a tree. It is dark brown, almost black, and has no leaves, only stark, smooth branches. The majority of the tree was painted on the middle canvas, with the trunk, about two inches wide, beginning about an inch from the bottom right corner of the canvas. From there, it grows up in smooth brush strokes about a third of the way up the canvas. Almost straight, but tilting a little to the left. At the 1/3 canvas mark, the trunk branches into three main branches. These branch off into other branches with those narrower branches ending in spirals, like the tendrils of a new vine. The middle and left main branches and their subsequent branches cover the majority of the middle canvas. One branch from the left main branch makes its way over to the far left canvas with its spiral making a dark brown circle a little under halfway up the canvas and just on the right edge. The right main branch extends well onto the right canvas with four tendrils appearing in the left center of the canvas, one on the top left, and a stray that branches off from the original trunk, down in the lower third of the canvas. The tree is fluid and whimsical even though it has no leaves. It sets the circular motion of the painting which is echoed in the background.
The background is colorful with colors ranging from fuchsia to red orange to lime green to dark purple. It is composed of thick, quick, layered brush strokes that form the ground, with two rolling hills, and the sky, full of circular lights. Perhaps gigantic stars. The ground extends across all three canvases, from the bottom edges to where the tree trunk begins. The peaks of the hills exist on the same parallel as the beginning of the tree trunk at the points where the canvases meet. The ground has a base layer of the same brown black as the tree, with many other colors layered in thick, fluid brush strokes on top. There is quite a bit of red orange with light blue and white highlights. On the left side, the ground fades into the sky in dark brown, on the right side, the ground fades into the purple sky with lime green streaks.
The sky is in many ways, the highlight of the picture. It is composed of clusters of large, colorful circles, most with glowing, yellow-white centers. Brush strokes extend outward from these circles in all sorts of colors to complete the sky. In the sky on the left canvas is a cluster of five circles. One is solid red orange and is in the upper right hand corner of the canvas. Two others are yellow-white with dark red orange borders. They extend onto the middle canvas. One is darker orange, and the far left one in the cluster is made up of different shades of purple with splashes of light green. In the bottom left corner, almost where the sky and ground meet, is a final circle. On the middle canvas, behind the tree where its trunk branches into the three main branches are two circles There is also one to the left of these. In the middle of the canvas is a giant almost white circle which lights up the whole picture. The sky above it is blues with white highlights. The brush strokes were made in the opposite shape of the valley between the two hills of the ground. There is a blue and white striped circle in the top right corner of the middle canvas. On the right canvas, in the top right corner, is a light green circle with a few white highlights. Below it is a darker, moss green circle. There are also a couple more white-yellow circles behind the branches on the canvas.
It is hard to tell whether it is day or night in this picture. I love it because of that. See the image below to find out what painting inspired all of the words above.
Finding the time to pause, be still, and observe is hard in any stage of life. In my current stage, mother of five month old, very kicky, very vocal baby girl, finding such time is as hard as it has ever been. But today was a success! Please share your successes with picture studies or other times of pause by posting below.
 |
| Who would want to disturb this? |
Today I am ignoring the taunts of dishes, the call of laundry, and the murmur of dirty carpets, to do a picture study. A picture study is an exercise of observation and memory. They taught it to us in high school, after lunch, when we were too sweaty and exhausted from playing power base (more on this childhood game later) to care. Eventually, I learned to love the moments spent in silence contemplating a painting.I hope you will enjoy a few of these moments with me right now.
Here is how to conduct your own picture study:
Step 1: Select a painting. I will be studying the painting my beloved Tom gave me for Christmas this year.
Step 2: This is the hardest step. Stare at the painting for ten minutes. Observe every detail you can so that when you close your eyes you can see the picture vividly in your mind. Be methodical about your observations. Get the big picture, then slow down your eye and let it travel from one corner of the painting to the other and then from top to bottom. Observe colors and shapes. Observe the space in between things. Observe the curve of lines. After ten minutes of focused observation, you should have the painting pretty solidly in your mind.
Step 3: Put the painting away or leave the room so you can't see it anymore.
Step 4: Write down everything you remember about the painting. Describe it as accurately as possible so that someone who has never seen it before could pick it out in a gallery full of similar paintings. If you want to save time, find a person who will listen and tell them everything you observed. And I mean everything! Telling back the smallest details will cement the painting in your own mind for years to come. That's what's cool about picture study.
If you take the time to complete a similar exercise on your own, please comment on this post. I'd love to hear about your experiences.
Okay, now to brush off the cobwebs from my observation skills, here I go!
Ten minutes of observation, check!
Followed by a ten minute interlude to re position my bored, sweet baby Piper.
Now for my narration of observations... Read the description below and see what picture it creates in your head! Hopefully it will be somewhat similar to the original, posted below.
The painting is on three canvases, each of is about 1 1/2 x 2 ft. placed about 3/4 in. apart on the wall. Together, the three canvases form the whole painting. In the foreground is a tree. It is dark brown, almost black, and has no leaves, only stark, smooth branches. The majority of the tree was painted on the middle canvas, with the trunk, about two inches wide, beginning about an inch from the bottom right corner of the canvas. From there, it grows up in smooth brush strokes about a third of the way up the canvas. Almost straight, but tilting a little to the left. At the 1/3 canvas mark, the trunk branches into three main branches. These branch off into other branches with those narrower branches ending in spirals, like the tendrils of a new vine. The middle and left main branches and their subsequent branches cover the majority of the middle canvas. One branch from the left main branch makes its way over to the far left canvas with its spiral making a dark brown circle a little under halfway up the canvas and just on the right edge. The right main branch extends well onto the right canvas with four tendrils appearing in the left center of the canvas, one on the top left, and a stray that branches off from the original trunk, down in the lower third of the canvas. The tree is fluid and whimsical even though it has no leaves. It sets the circular motion of the painting which is echoed in the background.
The background is colorful with colors ranging from fuchsia to red orange to lime green to dark purple. It is composed of thick, quick, layered brush strokes that form the ground, with two rolling hills, and the sky, full of circular lights. Perhaps gigantic stars. The ground extends across all three canvases, from the bottom edges to where the tree trunk begins. The peaks of the hills exist on the same parallel as the beginning of the tree trunk at the points where the canvases meet. The ground has a base layer of the same brown black as the tree, with many other colors layered in thick, fluid brush strokes on top. There is quite a bit of red orange with light blue and white highlights. On the left side, the ground fades into the sky in dark brown, on the right side, the ground fades into the purple sky with lime green streaks.
The sky is in many ways, the highlight of the picture. It is composed of clusters of large, colorful circles, most with glowing, yellow-white centers. Brush strokes extend outward from these circles in all sorts of colors to complete the sky. In the sky on the left canvas is a cluster of five circles. One is solid red orange and is in the upper right hand corner of the canvas. Two others are yellow-white with dark red orange borders. They extend onto the middle canvas. One is darker orange, and the far left one in the cluster is made up of different shades of purple with splashes of light green. In the bottom left corner, almost where the sky and ground meet, is a final circle. On the middle canvas, behind the tree where its trunk branches into the three main branches are two circles There is also one to the left of these. In the middle of the canvas is a giant almost white circle which lights up the whole picture. The sky above it is blues with white highlights. The brush strokes were made in the opposite shape of the valley between the two hills of the ground. There is a blue and white striped circle in the top right corner of the middle canvas. On the right canvas, in the top right corner, is a light green circle with a few white highlights. Below it is a darker, moss green circle. There are also a couple more white-yellow circles behind the branches on the canvas.
It is hard to tell whether it is day or night in this picture. I love it because of that. See the image below to find out what painting inspired all of the words above.
Finding the time to pause, be still, and observe is hard in any stage of life. In my current stage, mother of five month old, very kicky, very vocal baby girl, finding such time is as hard as it has ever been. But today was a success! Please share your successes with picture studies or other times of pause by posting below.
Comments
Post a Comment