The eyes of an artist!

The visual blindness of the majority of people is greatly to be deplored, as nature is ever offering them on their retina, even in the meanest slum, a music of color and form that is a constant source of pleasure to those who can see it. — Harold Speed (1917)

You are walking down the sidewalk totally engrossed in thought. About to cross the street, you feel a tug on your arm which stops your forward progress just as a car roars by directly where you were about to step. You look up gratefully and into the eyes of the stranger. She points out the flashing “Don’t Walk” sign on the other side of the street.

Artists view the world differently

Artists are like that woman who just saved your life. They see things that we look at every day but don’t notice in the same way that an artist does. In fact, it’s the artist’s job to see the world in a different way so that they can share their vision of it with us.

It’s been said that we are bombarded with over 400 Billion bits of information every single second. Our brains are only able to process about two thousand bits of information. In order for us to survive in this type of environment, we have developed a kind of shorthand to viewing the world. We tend to delete, distort or generalize what we see around us. We take this massive amount of information and condense it into something manageable that helps us deal with the present moment. The problem, of course, is what we are missing, what we are NOT seeing, in the process.

Where are my keys?

Have you ever had the experience of losing your car keys? You search all over the kitchen table and they aren’t where you were sure you left them. After some time, and probably some expletives, you find them — right on the kitchen table – right where you were looking. How was it possible you looked at them but didn’t see them?

The idea that we can’t do everything is why there are translators who solve the difficult problem of understanding those who don’t speak our language. It’s why auto mechanics repair our cars and plumbers fix the pipes in our home. Rest assured, although translators and repairmen have skills we don’t have, they also suffer from the same processing dilemma.

There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see. — Leonardo da Vinci.

Seeing is an active process. At times, we have to force ourselves to see. The problem is the world is rushing around us so fast and we are overwhelmed that we don’t see the beauty around us.

The veil of illusion

Artists help us to see. When you become an artist you help others to see. Bill said that artists are masters of illusion. He didn’t mean that they made things up or faked things, although some painters do that. What he meant was that artists pull back the veil of illusion that surrounds us and help us see the world as it is.

Our goal

Our goal at Alexander Art is to help you see. That’s why we have our “Paint with Bill” art course so you can learn the basics of Bill’s remarkable method of painting. That’s why we have our Master Class which takes committed artists and gives them the skills to master this medium. But we realized we needed something more…something in-between and so, beginning next month we will be introducing more art programs, taught by Bill and our other master artists, who can give you the skills and practice you need to become as Bill would say, “the greatest artist that ever lived!”

Stay tuned…

P.S. Check out our “Paint with Bill” art course and our Master Class at these links.