Teaching painting has a hidden element to it, something I never imagined. It's hard. There are conflicting rules/non-rules. Sorting through those ideas brings in theory and philosophy and thinking—something one should never do when making paintings—which adds another confusing and strange layer to teaching it.
I have told my daughter, age 3.5, "you shouldn't do that." And that's true, you don't want to paint with water on a canvas already soaked in acrylics, but what am I doing telling her that? Because there aren't any rules. By making rules, you block out possible miracles and masterpieces. But...I told her..."No one paints with water." UGH. WRONG.
Then I realize I'm getting uptight, so very bad when teaching painting. Then I see her bangs dip right into the puddle of acrylic. UM.
I have told my daughter, "Don't push on the brush. Only pull. You have to respect your brushes." And that's ok, right? Respect the tools, right? I don't know...Kurt Cobain didn't respect his guitars very much and he made miraculous music. HMMM.
For a long time today we painted together and it was wonderful. When she wasn't going nuts, I was more calm than I ever am. Eventually, I told my daughter I was wrong to instruct her not to put more and more and more (and more and more and more) paint on the canvas, that there aren't any rules in art. Except for a couple (that ok?).
Like respect your brushes.
And don't mix your paint in the paint bucket. Mix it on the canvas or on a palette.
And no dipping hair or body parts in a bucket of paint.
The best part of the "class" today was watching her discover splatter art. Somebody probably told Pollack he couldn't do that and now we see what beautiful things happened there.
"Mommy! Look! Lookit this!!"
Amazing.
