What I learned from Picasso

I'm not a fan of Picasso. There! I've said it.

I have a lot of respect for him as a pioneer in the modern art movement. I enjoy the variety of work he's produced. He deserves accolades for being influential and passionate about painting but let's face it, he was a pompous picasso.

 Françoise Gilot and Jacqueline Roque, his two wives, had to cope with his infidelities and abusive behavior. 

So when the Black & White show came to Houston, I knew I wanted to see the art for it's merit. Forget the ego, personality... what can I learn from Picasso? I wondered.

While viewing the work at the gallery, I  was surrounded by folks who were swooning and praising him for all he'd done. Once I got over my inner critic trashing him for being a womanizer, I took out my sketchbook. 

I hear over and over again from friends and students saying they can't draw. Instead of trying to convince them with words, my best advice is to look at some of Picasso's line drawings and just re-create it for the sake of experimenting with lines, shapes and composition. 

I enjoyed the sketching process because it forced me to look closer at his originals to gain some insight from the scribble of a line or an abstraction of a figure.

You don't have to learn from a Picasso by standing in front of an original, no that's not necessary! There are so many books of his art you can reference or many online resources.

And here's a link from a previous post for a quick drawing practice that I call Picasso's dog. Click here