Creative Seeing

Ancient Tree, Blarney Castle Ireland

Seeing, in the finest and broadest sense means using your senses, your intellect and your emotions.

The visual artist best expresses a theme or idea by applying good composition (visual design) to support the subject matter for his/her art.

Burren Rock Wall, Ireland

Good seeing begins with careful observation of what’s around you.

Always strive to look at the world in a new way.  This is when you will stop looking…and begin SEEING,

seeing…lines…shapes…textures…patterns…and colors you hadn’t thought possible.

 By avoiding preconceived ideas about how to translate your specific subject matter you’ll truly begin to explore external reality in ways that you have never experienced before.

Previsualization is when artists SEE external references in nature in new and creative ways.   During this creative process we should ask ourselves some basic questions:

View from Blarney Castle, Ireland

Identify your theme?  Sadness, isolation, happiness, freedom, love, anguish.

 What is the subject matter? Peeling paint, leaves, sunset, children, elderly.

How does the subject matter express your theme and/or emotional response to your subject ? 

Are you communicating your ideas effectively?

  Our goal as visual artists is to express our themes in the best possible way using the elements 
you have at your disposal, i.e. lines, values, shapes, colors.

 It’s also important to realize that a committed artist cannot truly investigate the full potential of his/her chosen medium without an understanding of the technical “fundamentals” of that medium, for example photographers must understand basic camera operation, shutter speed, aperture and depth of field.

Technical vs. Aesthetic
Once you have a firm grasp of the technical (tools & techniques) of your art…

Then you can begin developing your own direction…,style…,and philosophy.

 In photography for example there are two basic elements of design…Tone and Color. These make visible the shapes, lines, textures and perspective on which all visual expression depends.
Once you have an understanding of the nature of light you can begin investigating and observing the world around you in a new way.

 Learning to SEE means being able to abstract or extract subject matter in a given art making situation.
A basic understanding of the visual elements of design is essential to true creative seeing.

* Lines
* Shapes
* Textures
* Values
* Colors…
in addition to  the organizational principles of design like balance, movement, harmony, variety and repetition.

Learning the techniques for CREATIVE SEEING will help all artists take the expressive (and technical) quality of their art to a whole new level.