Tonight there will be a total lunar eclipse visible for most of humanity (just not for we Western Hemispherians; here’s a map of viewing locations). The moon has been very bright the past few days, and tonight it will be full. As the Earth’s shadow blocks the sun, the moon will turn red.
One of the best ways to understand art and think about developing your own abilities is to study those who came before. That applies to writers, musicians, painters and more. I’m going to go out on a pretty short limb and say that every master crafter out there had a “see Spot run” or “macaroni and string” phase.
The problem is that we don’t see that, we see their masterpieces. And that can be inspiring but also discouraging. How did they make the leap from macaroni to the Mona Lisa*?
That’s an excellent if somewhat off-base question. Because for most artists, that transition isn’t a leap at all. It’s more of a journey, and anyone can go on one of those. (Consider how often you hear someone being called an overnight success, and they laugh and say, “Yeah, but it took years.”)
Here’s an example from the art world.
Raphael is now considered one of the three great masters from the High Renaissance. (Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo being the other two, so he had a high bar to reach. My point is that he didn’t start out at the top.)
Where did he begin, how did he improve, and what lessons does his progress give to aspiring artists out there?
This video provides an in-depth look at the what, when and how of it all. Hopefully it can also provide some encouragement to anyone working to improve, regardless of their art form.
And while it’s true that talent helps and that there are child prodigies out there (looking at you, Mozart!), most who achieve excellence do it exactly the way you are doing it: setting goals, studying what works, and practice, practice, practice.
* A note on the title: I know that the Mona Lisa was Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, and Raphael painted a lot of Madonnas, but given that titling this piece “From Macaroni to Madonna” seemed more likely to evoke ’80s pop music rather than classical art, I went with this instead. (Although to be honest, I’m feeling a little bad about this decision and may change it later!)
/an aside on technology and the inevitability of unexpected challenges
Have you ever noticed that any time tech instructions say some variant of “And to complete the process, simply do…”
It’s the “simply” that is key here. Anytime I see that word I know for sure that accomplishing my goal will involve more hoops than predicted, take at least three times longer than expected, and be infinitely more frustrating than necessary.
And so it was.
I managed the thing in the end, but there was nothing simple about it.
It’s Labor Day in North America, and the unofficial end of summer. In the Northern Hemisphere it’s a day for getting outside, grilling, and generally appreciating the beauty of the season. That’s what Mr Man and I have been doing this weekend.
There is a certain mood that reminds me of summer’s essence that can best be summarized as: the feeling of happiness and goodwill toward humanity that one gets after a strawberry milkshake on a hot day.
Sure, a lot of that is the sugar rush, but I’ll take it.
We also had the good fortune of waking yesterday to an odd sound, as if someone were dragging a heavy cardboard box down the street in short, intermittent bursts. I didn’t think much of it until I was brushing my teeth and was astonished to find my reflection wreathed in hot air balloons. We’d woken to a balloon festival, and the sounds were pilots burning gas to keep their craft above the trees. Many were high, crossing the river from Quebec with room to spare, but just as many flew by at what felt like close enough to touch.
Mr Man and I ran to the driveway to wave as they passed, and were waved at in return.
Both the milkshake and balloon experiences produced the sort of delighted state that I love, contentment, surprise and joy all wrapped into one.
Delicious happiness.
Here’s to feeling more of that, no matter what the season.
/with apologies to the Lepidoptera experts among us…
Ok, so here’s the thing:
— I like moths and butterflies but there’s a lot about the evolution of the family Lepidoptera that I don’t know;
— the idea that moths evolved from butterflies is, as far as I can tell, bunk;
— also, moths come out during the day, too;
— but sometimes a thought / idea / feeling flutters my way and sticks around long enough to inspire, even when I regretfully inform said idea that it is probably flying in the face of science.
And so, that’s how this most certainly unscientific poem about moths dreaming about sunshine came to be.
All students, for all assignments, should use ChatGPT to complete each task. Why would you waste your time writing a paper? We now have a tool that can do that for you. And all professors will save massive amounts of time and energy by using ChatGPT to grade all those papers. Isn’t that great? I mean, what an educational revolution.
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