Several years ago, I helped my friend Janice re-awaken her natural creative talent for painting; oil painting to be exact. At the time, Janice was already a trained and skilled artist but she wasn't allowing all of her artistic glory to glow. Since then, she's gotten so much better. In fact, in the span of time much less than a lifetime, Janice has gone from being an awesome painter to a world class painter, surpassing even some of the more famous contemporary painters as well as many from antiquity. I was noticing not long ago that Janice uses a technique that I call, painting from the mind's eye. It involves painting a scene with much more than what the eye can see; more like painting from the fertile ground of one's imagination.
I indulge my artistic abilities without shame or abandon but my forte has always been as a writer. I paint using acrylics and mixed media and can produce a fair work of art but only from things that I can see, which limits me to uncomplicated landscapes and still lifes mostly. But Janice's work comes to life from the canvas with things that she sees in her mind and from things that are etched in her memory. Her use of color, shading and perspective combine with her unique application style to create paintings that are so vibrant that they appear almost real.
I sat through an elementary art class that had painting and drawing techniques combined in the same class, and I was amazed at some of the works of art that were created by students. The class work resulted in many different eyes for art, but only a few appeared to be infusing their painting with the endless possibilities of their imaginations.
I visited many famous art museums in Southern California and although admittedly many artists of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries have created noted and beautiful works of art, it's almost as if the passage of time and the advent of the age of information and technology have brought with them a quantum leap in imagination as well. Most of the stunning artwork that I've seen lately has been the work of up and coming artists of our time. Still, some amazing work from various artists is on display in the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; and if you want to enjoy some unique cultural art, you can see quite a bit more than painting at the Museum of Tolerance located in West Los Angeles.
Regardless of the time in which it was created, a handful of artists appear to paint from their mind's eye while the vast majority of others, just paint what they see or use the valid techniques of ad-libbing to what they see, what they can imagine, to create a hybrid between strict reality and creative license. Some people will recognize this talent from works of abstract art, but there isn't a clear way to define the qualities of art that are realistic but abstract in minute or quantifiable detail.
I've never been a fan of abstract art but some artists like Janice, make it tasteful and attractive in ways that sometimes escape being able to be described in words. To every artist, I bow my head in homage because they can do what many of us can only admire. But to those precious few, we all owe a special note of admiration to the artists who combine what they can observe with their senses, with what they can see with their mind's eye. You can see Janice's artwork at HeadWest Art Gallery or Boundless Gallery.
