Heartsong Studio

Fifty-eight diverse people came together to sing in our local community choir. About the only thing we had in common was a desire to express ourselves. We differed in most other respects, including musical training which ranged from none at all to professional.

We sounded pretty ragged at the first few rehearsals, fifty-eight different voices all doing their own thing. Not a satisfying experience to say the least. What we communicated was our wide differences.

Some beginning artists enjoy visually expressing their innermost feelings too, yet puzzle over why this doesn’t yield any but accidental success in communicating to others.

Sure your heart has to be filled with inspiration to begin to make deeply meaningful art of any kind. But there still remains the question of how to communicate all the meanings we envision to others so it has the desired effect.

Won’t technical discipline kill heartfelt expression ?

All of us wanted to make beautiful music, but it was hard for many to curtail their socializing and knuckle down. It was because of the discipline that after many weeks of hard, two and three hour rehearsals, we eventually learned techniques of singing that enabled us to blend our individual voices into one beautiful sound.

How do you turn an expressive feeling into a work of art ?

The same way a soprano, alto, tenor or bass does — by repeating difficult parts enough times until the bugs are ironed out and it is known inside out. An artist might draw her chosen image enough times from enough different perspectives until she knows it like the back of her hand.

Just as a piece of music expresses meaning and feeling by intonation, rhythm, crescendos, pronunciation, and so on, your images need to find the best composition to communicate your intended meaning and feeling.

It’s not about individual performances. All the parts need to blend in varying proportions. Sometimes the harmony needs to be quieter so as not to drown out the tender melody. Other passages need all parts to crescendo together into a glorious peak.

The elements in your artwork are not all of equal importance either. Some need to lead, while others need to play a complimentary role, or sometimes a challenging, clashing role. If all your colours are equally brilliant, for example, the total effect becomes less than brilliant.

What ! Heart-centred math ?

When you transfer your final drawing into the different size of your finished surface, the scaling up often involves mathematical proportions. Though it might seem far removed from creativity, it can make all the difference between a beautiful work and a silly one.

Nobody’s eye will accept a horizon at sea that isn’t dead straight. An otherwise beautiful seascape is totally ruined if the water runs uphill. It is more than okay to measure the horizon with a ruler. It’s mandatory.

The rhythm of a drawing communicates feelings the same way that getting the rhythm right is crucial in music. Trust that ‘doesn’t look quite right’ feeling and take the time to study the true nature of what you really want to communicate. Take its pulse. Get the details right.

It helps to know a little biology if you’re going to draw on nature. How far back on a duck’s body are its legs ? Learn a little oceanography if you’re going to paint beach scenes. Do waves approaching shore grow bigger or smaller, and why ?

Supporting your imagination.

Because artistic intelligence often holds dollops of imagination, the world of the artist can appear greater and more wonderful than the real world. To bear fruit, the creative imagination has to be harnessed by intelligent life-skills — like hard work, focus and practicalities. These skills may need to be learned.

After warming the hearts of our local community who came out in snow storms to three concerts, we joked about bringing our unifying experience to Ottawa, as a model for peace among politicians. In a similar way, attention to detail in your artwork can enable your message to really land on receptive eyes.

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” — Steve Jobs

Technical know-how, though secondary, is what allows you to climb every mountain in pursuit of your dream, and allows your dreams to touch the hearts of others.

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