Part-to-Part

Fear of making mistakes and controlling the drawing/painting process are factors underlying the part-to-part response of most beginning art students. They look at individual parts of the subject matter, use their object-directed seeing as they are accustomed to doing when navigating the three-dimensional world, and move their gaze from part-to-part. 

Since their seeing is not unified, beginning students usually start a drawing or painting by making what they consider the most “important” element first. Frequently, it is oversized. They try to “finish” one thing before drawing the next “thing.” They often place the “most important” part in the center or upper two-thirds of the paper or canvas. They are eager to finish one part and get it “right” before moving on, while they resist changing, moving, and repositioning required in drawing/painting. The part-to-part struggle is something every art student experiences. 

 This is understandable, no one has told students that the first step is looking at the whole. before making any marks. 

In drawings and painting process there is no hierarchy of importance between objects and the spaces that contain them. The “figure” is an emergent from the “ground” because the artist creates the visual circumstances for the viewer to see it emerge. Whether representational “figure” or abstract “figure,” where the configurations unfold within the action on the canvas, the shapes, and configurations flow from the evolution of the painting or drawing itself. The first mark is already different from the idea; the painting proceeds from the tensions inherent in the difference between the idea and the new realizations unfolding during the drawing/painting process. 

STUDIO SEEING aims to teach students and artists to see in a unified manner, integrate their seeing and actions, and change their default part-to-part behavior by becoming aware of the part in relation to the whole. The chapters explore the essential visual principles, concepts, nomenclature, and the visual tools and skills to facilitate a unified drawing and painting practice on a two-dimensional surface. 

NOTES:

Inspired by conversations with colleague and friend, the late Charles Moone.