Do you want to know how to be a great artist? It’s often said that to be a great writer, you must first be a great reader. Well the same can be said of artists. But it’s not enough to simply look, it’s important to really see.

Let’s consider a couple of ways that we should get into the habit of seeing. First, seeing the work of other artists, and viewing as much as you can. That really means seeing real paintings wherever you can. The impact of seeing a real work, at its original scale can be truly emotional.

It’s like the difference between listening to music on a device, and hearing live singers and musicians perform.

Spanish delights

I remember at the end of a business trip to Madrid having best part of a day before my flight home, so I went to that wonderful corner where three amazing galleries are within a few metres of each other. The Reina Sofia – dedicated to modern artwork, it’s huge and packed with wonders by Picasso, Dali and others. 

But what stops everyone in their tracks is Picasso’s ‘Guernica’. Now, we’ve all seen pictures in books and magazines, but to stand in front of the original you appreciate how important the scale becomes.

It is a huge work – which is impressive in itself, but lifesize, you can see the brush-work and evidence of the artist’s hand. It brings the act of creativity to life.

Close by is the Prado, packed with Spanish  and international masterpieces. A real delight – check out the online collection. There is of course another stunning painting  which also delivers a sudden and emotional punch, ‘Third of May 1808’ by Francisco Goya.

Standing and seeing amazing paintings really helps us to understand what the artists were striving to communicate emotionally – just with paints and brushes. 

Okay, the paintings I’ve quoted express powerful and perhaps violent emotions. But also the artists’ conviction that their art could convey the tragedy in a truly human way.

However, there are also countless examples of works in both galleries communication the whole range of human emotions.

Exploring any gallery you experience connections that printed or online versions of artists’ work can rarely achieve.

Plenty of great art close to home too.

I was fortunate to have that time in Madrid, but you don’t have to visit famous galleries, there are wonderful gems everywhere. The more we see, we absorb imagery, design, colour and structure.

As we look at artworks, it’s like living in a new country.  The longer you spend there you find yourself picking up the language, dialect and customs. Without effort you realise that you have become fluent.

Seeing the world

But there is far more to becoming fluent and enjoying the art of seeing – beyond absorbing other artists’ creations.

There is the skill and delight of honing our own observations. Learning to see in detail the world around us – the world that provides our own experience and fuels our imagination.

But that’s a whole subject for another article.

Can creativity be taught?

It certainly can – but equally important, it can also be un-taught. And that’s the problem many adults find when faced with a creative challenge -‘I’m not creative.’

Well, we were all born creative, and the creativity is still there. Look at any very young child – they have boundless creativity. Left to their own devices they will immerse themselves in their own personal projects.

The wild, crazy paintings they create in their early years often sadly lose their spark as they mature.

Most parents will have experienced the moment when their child comes home and says; ‘I can draw a house (or car, or horse etc.)’. Of course you praise them but what they have probably produced is a formulaic drawing similar to those of others their age – it’s a schema. Much of the creativity is lost to early desire to conform.

The evolutionary paradox

Why does this happen? Well, it’s all down to something that humans are very good at – something that has given us a great evolutionary advantage. We are excellent at recognising patterns. This means when we find a solution to a problem, we recognise and store the behaviour. When we  come up against a similar problem, we can apply a ready-made solution which saves us a lot of time testing and experimenting.

This massive species advantage can become a huge barrier to creativity. What creativity needs is the freedom to experiment and the avoidance of falling into tired and trusted patterns.

This is not easy for adults. It’s a bit like looking at an optical illusion.

You’re probably familiar with the image below, ‘My wife and my mother in law’. This can be viewed as two different images – an old woman or a young girl. The first time we come across this, we may struggle to see both versions. But once we solve the puzzle, we can’t ‘un-see’ it.

So how do we teach people to overcome their natural pattern-matching ability? Can creativity be taught?

When I first studied art, (more years ago than I care to remember), creativity was taught mainly based upon the principles of the Bauhaus.

Like many courses, mine spanned four years but included a very valuable ‘foundation course’ for the first year. In that year we focussed upon experimentation and understanding the basics of form, line, colour and materials.

Creativity is about constantly seeking something new and fresh. So we need to avoid what ‘we know will work’ and explore ‘what we think might work’.

Experimentation is the key. The child who has learned to draw a schema of a house needs to experiment with other ways to approach the quest – perhaps different techniques can lead to break throughs.

A few tips to find something new.

1. Keep a sketchbook. Make it hardback so it will last for years. Remember, a sketchbook is just for you, not something for others to see or judge. Just scribble ideas – be random. Also stick in clippings or objects – stimuli for the future.
2. Switch media – experiment with new approaches. One approach I stole and used with students was to give them rolls of wallpaper, three inches brushes and emulsion paint and a subject to paint. Get away from desks and easels, and try working on the floor.
3. Choose subjects at random – open a dictionary or a book and choose the tenth word on the page as your subject.
4. Draw, draw, draw. Don’t be precious about it, but the more you produce the more chance of something amazing.