Knowledge vs. Experience

[JLSleather]

Don't forget inspiration.  We all know that "A squared + B squared= C squared.  And we can all read it and "know"it.  And we can work with it for a while, and "get" it.  But what level of GENIUS does that require to be sitting under a shade tree, with someone playing the flute over there, and it "occurs" to you that "the square of the hypotenuse of a right angle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides" ?@!

I'm with Sam Andrews -- I can show you leatherwork in a short time, the rest is PRACTICE. I'm pretty good at it, but I didn't INVENT any of it.

 

[immiketoo]

Inspiration is different.  I carved this piece very early on in my career, and I have tried several times to repeat it, although not recently.  I was in the zone when I did it and all further attempts have been unsuccessful.  I can't even remember how I did some of it, but I do remember the feeling I had while carving it.  Driven.  Inspired.  Almost like a runner's high.  Weird.  Now, looking at it, I can see all the flaws and areas I'd do differently, but I still feel like this was a milestone in my carving career.  I was truly and unequivocally inspired.  I exceeded my knowledge and experience with this piece, and I believe that is why my later attempts at this piece were failures.  

[Sheilajeanne]

Mike, interesting to hear you say that! I had a similar experience one day when I was home sick from school. I began sketching pictures of some of my favourite actors, and in 20 or 30 minutes had accomplished what normally would take me hours!  It hasn't really happened to me since then, at least not to the same degree.

Much later, I came across a book called 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain'. The right side of the brain is the spatial and visual side, the side involved in art and architecture. We normally work mostly out of the left side of the brain, the side involved in using language and logic. 

That book also talks about an artist who was giving lessons to his class. He said there always came a point in his demonstration of how to paint where he just had to shut up and paint - he couldn't talk at the same time! It shows how it is difficult to use the right side of the brain and the left side at the same time, even if you ARE an experience artist, who is used to using the right side to create pictures.

This could be what happened that day when you were so 'inspired'. You were able to access that part of your brain in a way you hadn't done before. In order to unlock this side of the brain, the book tells you to draw a chair upside down, so that the logical side of the brain doesn't come into play. There's a huge difference between knowing what something looks like and actually SEEING it. For instance,  people often draw Christmas trees as triangles with a trunk and downward-sloping branches. But if you really look at an evergreen, the branches slope UPWARDS. This helps them shed the snow - when weighed down, the bend in the branch acts like a spring to snap the branch back into an upward position, shedding the snow in the process.

Anyway, I highly recommend the book for anyone who is interested in figure carving, or improving their artistic skills with leatherwork!

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=draw+on+the+right+side+of+the+brain&tag=googcana-20&index=aps&hvadid=267704540073&hvpos=1t1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16485149707524145779&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9000741&hvtargid=kwd-315407491679&ref=pd_sl_25d1pklljr_e

Edited July 7, 2018 by Sheilajeanne

[immiketoo]

That does sound like what happened.  Im all over that book!  Here I go!

[immiketoo]

So, I haven't even finished the first page of that book and it talks specifically about transfer of knowledge and how best to go about it.  Teaching directly.  This is why I teach, and I have found that in doing so, it makes me understand what I do more fully than if I just work.  Good suggestion!

[Sheilajeanne]

Don't forget the workbook exercises! This is one book where you absolutely HAVE to combine the head knowledge with the doing! 

[immiketoo]

I didn't see a separate workbook.   

[Sheilajeanne]

apparently there is one, but I would make my own. Just buy a sketch pad so you can practice what the book shows you.

[immiketoo]

Im still in the prologue, but its fascinating.  It explains a lot of why I am the way I am.  Can't wait to get to the drawing part!

[plinkercases]

I like the line attributed to Yogi Bara "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice...there is."

I absolutely agree that to continue learning something you think you know...teach it.

And as Jeff aptly pointed out there is knowledge plus practice which sometimes will never equal someone with talent/gift/intuition or inspiration. This is true in the arts as well as the sciences as I have witnessed (and perhaps on a few rare occasions experienced myself)  through my career in both. Before each take of a scene Jack Lemon used to say under his breath "Magic time." I have also witnessed engineers and architects and builders have magic time.

I also believe sometimes we are touched by God...even those who don't believe.