Art and Seeing

This morning while reading a new entry in my friend, Dan's blog, (second entry for 12/21), I was reminded of a "rule" I learned while studying art. In order to create, you have to learn, first and foremost, to see--not through the filters of experience, prejudice, values, or desire, but what's there, removed of all those filters. Just what's there. Dr. Betty Edward's bestseller, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, makes exactly that point. As an amateur watercolorist and portrait drawer, I found this lesson invaluable. If you're a budding "creatist" of some sort or are merely interested in consuming good material, you'll likely find this lesson to be a useful one. The ability to see, to really see, is what, perhaps, separates the true artist from the wannabe.

Dan has taken an everyday encounter and turned it into art--written art created through the deft employment of words. How a 23-year old has acquired the skill he has truly amazes me. Perhaps he had a writing teacher as excellent as my 10th grade teacher, Mrs. Wubnig, to help him on his way. Perhaps he's simply a born writer (whatever that is). Or, as I suspect, perhaps he's a very old soul in a much younger body. No matter, if you'd like to see an excellent example of how to turn off those filters long enough to see and then turn different ones back on for the formation of art, do yourself a favor and read Dan's entry.