AIf you ask a scientist what made them choose their path in life, chances are they will tell you a story about being spending hours at the beach at low tide sifting mollusks barehanded out of clumps of smelly mud, or tramping through marshes and thickets, marveling at the dew-covered web of a wolf spider, or staying up late to learn the names and positions of the stars.
“Philosophy begins in wonder,” Plato said, “for wonder is the feeling of a philosopher.” For artists, it’s no different. Art provides a lifeline to childhood wonder. I find that the truly great works of art don’t “just” make us think; no, they all-out return us to a place we knew as children but have, most of us, forgotten as adults – a place where thinking and feeling are the same.
For wonder is the feeling of a child, and art begins in wonder.
Thomas W. Schaller, Hope ‐ Watercolor ‐ Paper ‐ 15 inches x 12 inches Thomas Schaller teaches watercolor in a wide variety of highly popular instructional videos.
Wonder shows us life isn’t finished delighting us. We need to pay attention when something announces to us that life still holds surprises. That’s what artists do. They see mysteries in shadows and secrets in the skin of an orange. They discover clouds still fascinate with atmosphere, subtle iridescence, and shifting forms. Art reminds us there’s still awe in the lines of an aged face, mystery in the deep end of the pond, and joy in the first buds of spring. The neighborhood stills looks magical from the top of the roof.
Does art have to mean something? We generally don’t want to talk about that, because it’s easier to talk about composition, color and value. But I think we go to art precisely because it can give a little more meaning to our lives.
Cindy Baron, Contentedness ‐ Oil ‐ 40 x 50 Cindy Baron teaches her method of painting in her video Elegant Landscapes.
Worrying about “getting it right” stops hundreds of potential artists from becoming the creators they could be. Knowing enough about what you’re doing is something you can aspire to, and something you can achieve. All it takes is application, patience, stubborn perseverance. Yet, obeying spontaneity and imagination, leaning into the unknown – that comes from a life lived consciously and fully, and not necessarily one in which everything is predictable, safe, and easy to master.
“For the birth of wonder is a marvelous, sweet thing, but the recognition of it is sweeter and more marvelous still. Its growth, perhaps, shall measure the growth and increase of the soul to whom it is as eyes and hands and feet, searching the world for signs of hiding Reality. But its persistence—through the heavier years that would obliterate it—this persistence shall offer hints of something coming that is more than marvelous. The beginning of wisdom is surely — Wonder.”
– Excerpt From The Extra Day by Algernon Blackwood
Kimball Geisler Wins Second Place Overall in February Salon
Kimball Geisler’s painting Sky Forms took second place overall in the February Plein Air Salon.
Geisler graduated from BYU-Idaho with a BFA in April 2015. “From my time there I gained a deep appreciation of realism in art and discovered a passion for landscape painting,” he says. ” I experimented with Plein Air painting and found that the more time I spent outdoors, the more I wanted landscape to be a part of my life. I made a decision to devote my career to the study of nature through painting.”
Kimball Geisler, Sky Forms, oil, 48 x 36
The Plein Air Salon offers a monthly First Place cash prize, plus all winners will be entered into the judging for the annual cash prizes, including the $15,000 grand prize for the best painting of the year, and they’ll see their painting on the cover of PleinAir Magazine. Could you be the next winner? Read up about it here.
