Posted for Erik

I must say that Julie has found a real gem of a book here. I am a creative person by nature, or so I thought, until I read these chapters. I am intrigued by the notion that environment can play such a huge role in the development of creative talents into productive working talents. The fact that Mozart’s father was a musician and his father’s ambition for music, which absolutely encompassed Mozart as a child, actually fermented his incredible potential into a master of music is fascinating. If it is possible for such a seed to be nurtured to greatness, then it is just as possible to stifle a seed of equal potential into nothingness or mediocre at best. I watched a show once on mass murder’s and it was titled, “Nature or Nurture”, something like that, well, I always said it was nurture and environment that caused them to go berserk and chapter six just reaffirms that position. If you are in the environment of eccentrics, you have a very good chance of becoming eccentric yourself, and the same goes for other personality types. Why is it that many people become like those of their ancestors or relatives? It was common for shamanism to run in a family and passed down. My grandfather and cousin, were and are, very visually artistic, those tendencies reside in me as well, which resulted in a degree in the visual arts.
\n\n\u003cbr\>\nI admire many artists, but only a few constantly draw me in and closer too like Picasso, Van Gogh, and Pollock. Picasso made some truly remarkable breakthroughs in the world of art. Many people do not understand his paintings or that of Pollock, saying what many say, “It’s just a bunch of squiggly lines, spatters of paint, crude renditions that a child would produce.” Well, page seventy-nine really articulates what a person in touch with – their voice – does. Picasso’s gives us a brief glimpse into his mind, how it works, and how his pictures are born…fascinating! I can relate with what is said by Picasso. In many ways it makes me relaxed to know that there is a rhyme to my reason, which was always slotted as…well…odd. It takes a different focus of mind to be creative from the subconscious like Picasso did. It takes great focus to paint like Renoir, a master of his age and visual niche, but there is a different focus that is utilized by artists such as Pollock, Picasso, and Dali. I think that good artists can paint what they see, break down the matter before them into realistic copies of themselves, but truly great artists, ones that push the boundaries of the abstract human mind, are those who pull images directly from that itself, their abstract mind.

I admire many artists, but only a few constantly draw me in and closer too like Picasso, Van Gogh, and Pollock. Picasso made some truly remarkable breakthroughs in the world of art. Many people do not understand his paintings or that of Pollock, saying what many say, “It’s just a bunch of squiggly lines, spatters of paint, crude renditions that a child would produce.” Well, page seventy-nine really articulates what a person in touch with – their voice – does. Picasso’s gives us a brief glimpse into his mind, how it works, and how his pictures are born…fascinating! I can relate with what is said by Picasso. In many ways it makes me relaxed to know that there is a rhyme to my reason, which was always slotted as…well…odd. It takes a different focus of mind to be creative from the subconscious like Picasso did. It takes great focus to paint like Renoir, a master of his age and visual niche, but there is a different focus that is utilized by artists such as Pollock, Picasso, and Dali. I think that good artists can paint what they see, break down the matter before them into realistic copies of themselves, but truly great artists, ones that push the boundaries of the abstract human mind, are those who pull images directly from that itself, their abstract mind.