Hockney and the BIGGER picture

Why is he so bloody good?

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/hockney/

Watching a Culture show special on David Hockney, really made me understand the concept of 'looking and seeing', personally always done it, thought about it etc, but he put it so so well in the Chinese quote 'you paint with your hands, eyes and heart' miss any one of those three and you will miss the soul of the picture.

A case of 'What is Landscape'...interpretation of the individual viewer, a lonely place as Hockney quoted.

I fully understand this and yet with 6 billion of us on the planet there is bound to similarities of view, I get Hockney even though I am not even in the same country as him (metaphorically speaking, explanation later).

Its not just pretty pictures or clever impressions of place, its soul, love, absorption of place. Ok from his perspective and yet its so easy to pick that up, beyond atmosphere, creating place and memory even though we have probably never been to the spot he is painting.

Not just I want to be there, but I want to open my eyes to the point were i glimpse the picture that is vivid in his mind.

Also his idea of 8 (up to 16) cameras taking film but all slightly out of time. Moving through space and season, just so bloody brilliant. The fact that its all a bit out of time and view on 16 screens means that you scan the space as you would in reality, not looking at the centre of a big screen as the camera man see's it.

Inspiration

I draw and sketch like most, but always wanting to get across something more than just realism, wanting to engage, draw in the viewer. As previously stated I think that to truly understand impressionism we have to go through the 'realism stage' to understand its soulless nature.

Assumption.

How we see ourselves and how others see us can be quite a revelation,  sometimes good other times bad. Remembering that every one see's the world through their own distorted lens. So most of the time its best to 'Carry on reguardless' otherwise one would go mad trying to please all, but occasionally a comment comes across with no agenda that will surprise you and make you reevaluate who you thought you were.

The strategy is to have no reputation, thus no reputation to lose. Just do the best you can under what ever circumstances come your way, succeed or fail. Obviously learn from battle scars as well as laurels.

So questioned (and stated 'that you are obviously an artist') as to were did I train was a pleasant surprise as obviously never saw myself in that light, and herein lies the problem (not a big one mind you) if others see you in a different light to how you see yourself then that provides a new challenge as to how to move forward. A real evaluation sometimes is needed. Though I personally don't see myself as an artist, but maybe on the journey with the aspiration to get down on canvas/screen the mood atmosphere that so interests me. 

A really good friend of mine said that when you radically change your profession/lifestyle you have to talk a different language, ie the new language of your your chosen path.

Its just how to see the world, a world of proportion, colour, shadow, light and atmosphere leading to 'place, presence, beauty and hope' or not depending on what drives you.