Art workshop in Tuscany ; “you is you, not me”

Demonstration or no demonstration!

In a few days, I will be the painting workshop instructor for Studio Italia, our June art workshop in Tuscany, and I am really looking forward to it.  I certainly know that a few students will ask me “can you do a demonstration?” Well… doing a demonstration can be very dangerous for the development of the potential artist, since it may induce an imitative behaviour which will prevent the other to find her/his own way of expression. We certainly all know that art is extremely personal, art being the reflection of the individual’s essence.  Who am I to teach Lorraine or Enzo how to draw a cypress tree?   Who am I to teach Jocelyne or Ted how to paint a wheat field?

Of course, during our painting workshop in Italy I will underline the principles of proper colour use (i.e. cool vs. warm), enunciate the basic laws of perspective (aerial or linear), make sure the proportions of the human body are respected, revise the understanding of the color wheel… but your tree is “your” tree.  It belongs to you only. Cézanne’s tree is Cézanne’s ; Kandinsky’s architecture belongs only to Kandinsky, Monet’s fields are Monet’s; and the same applies to Gauguin, to Renoir, to Matisse, all painters who revolutionized the landscape.

Thanks to our unique philosophy in trusting the creative process, I certainly know that Lorraine, Enzo, Jocelyne and Ted will  produce “great” little transportable paintings.  Art is certainly not done by only a talented few, but by everyone who willingly accepts that she or he could also reach the level of the great masters…

Paul Cézanne, The Forest