Layers

    Continuing with artistic influences...Anyone feel free to jump in here and add your own story...

     The Art Institute of Chicago has a proud collection of Impressionist paintings rivaling that of any other major museum in the world, and they became the highlight of every visit of mine. Even when I came for big shows and special exhibits, I would never leave without stopping by to walk through the galleries and say hi. They are friends.

    Right in there next to the Impressionists, Picasso and the cubists thunder through the galleries with their magnificent ways of turning space on its ear. As a young person however, I was surprised and pleased to see that Picasso once painted "normally,"  with lyrical renditions of jugglers, clowns, mother and child, and other subjects. The one painting I seemed to connect with best was called "The Old Guitarist."  (Click here to see a picture of the painting).  It was painted during Picasso's "blue period,"  and it depicts a long, lean figure sitting cross-legged and playing a guitar.

   Something in my teenaged psyche was drawn to the sadness, the poignancy, the almost romantic loneliness of the painting. One day I happened to be in the gallery when a tour group went through. The docent paused in front of the The Old Guitarist and pointed out the fact that the barely discernable brushstrokes of another painting lay underneath the one we could see! Apparently Picasso was short on canvas, and painted over earlier images.  The tour group moved off, and I immediately homed in on the painting to peer at the area above the guitarist's left shoulder....Sure enough, there was the faint outline of part of a face...

   I was enchanted. To an already intriguing image, add layers of mystery. What was it that the young Picasso painted under there? Why did he give up on it? Did he change subject, position, aspect, color scheme?

  And it brought to mind other symbolism, perhaps not intended by the artist: The idea of each person containing layers within layers, of family background, childhood upbringing, experiences, traumas, personality traits, private tragedies and yearnings, the public face, the "at home" face, the hidden face...

   One way of picturing those layers that exist within each person is to see them being separated by, and simultaneously united by, the moments in which we live. The person we once were, for better or worse, is not the person we are now. As we approach, then move through and past each moment, our experiences shape us, just as our choices shape our experience. We are forever changing, learning, growing, just as parts of us deepen and solidify. The ultimate challenge becomes accepting and forgiving the persons we were in the past while we focus on improving the people we are in this given moment, and the future.

    As I ponder on these questions and why they fascinate me, I realized that layering is what I do in my own art. I love to layer dichroic glass pieces four and five layers deep. Each layer has a different color and pattern of metallic coating on clear and colored transparent glass. When fused together, the resulting piece shimmers with depth and dimension, much richer, in my opinion, than a single layer or two.

    The coolest thing that I learned in researching The Old Guitarist for this posting is that the Art Institute recently submitted the painting to the newest technological analysis, including x-rays and infrared light, to probe the mysteries of the underlying layers. For the first time, I was able to actually see beneath the surface to the person underneath (actually, there are two hidden layers). If you'd like to see what the secret layers look like, click here.

Comments

[Bridgette L. Rallo]

Even more exciting than figuring out what layers exist in a completed painting is seeing the artist apply those layers...my husband, Harry, is a professional oil painter and I still get chills watching him paint layer after layer of different thicknesses of paint and color and seeing the resulting changes. It's truly amazing.
For those of us who work in PMC, layering is a different but no less satisfying art. I layer background texture, surface texture, stone color and patina color, and I'm just expanding into enamel and layered metals for more texture and color. It's a never-ending fascination.

[Laura Wesley]

Hi Judy,

Welcome to the world of blog. You think you are new? This is my first time too!

My first memory of "doing" art was when I was a small child of say, 7 years old. I had overheard conversations with my parents and some of their "arty" friends about a flower show. It was to contain only local, native plants. Well, got inspired and found one of my mother's old, handpainted quail sculptures that had a hollow back for use as a vase. I went out and collected what I called "clock weed". I still don't know the actual name of the plant, but when you picked a stem, wispy tendrils would begin to wind up, like a clock. I put a branch or two in the quail and gave it to may parents to enter in the "contest". I won first prize. I was astonished and overwhelmed at such a young age. My parents were very proud.

I grew up in the very "arty" community, of Ojai, California. After winning the "contest", I was invited by many artists in town to drop by their studios and have fun. Beatrice Woods, my neighbor, was my favorite. Very eclectic hardly seems to do her justice. Her ceramics were beyond belief. I recently saw a documentary about her on PBS, and yes, her ceramics were still just as amazing as I remembered them.

I remember seeing so many unusual studios. Walls made from glass bottles, weird plants, sculptures and paintings that were beyond description.

I was fascinated and hooked. I drew, created, wrote and illustrated books, and was at the library constantly. The most memorable thing I learned through my childhood was not just to "look", but to "see". I haven't stopped looking and seeing details in the ordinary and unusual since.

In my mind's eye, I can create anything I want, but in actuality, I very seldom accomplish it. It stills give me joy every day to think of the possibilities.

Thanks, Judy, for starting this blog. I really look forward to it.

Laura

[Greg O'Donnell]

Judy,

Nice blog! That is very cool seeing underneath the Guitarist painting. I wonder how much older the other two paintings were. Thanks for sharing.

Greg