A Bigger Picture

Our art movie last week was David Hockney, A Bigger Picture. It was very good.  Hockney is from the UK and moved to Los Angeles when he was young.  After 50 years in the states, he decided to go back to his hometown and paint landscapes plein air.  The documentary follows him over a 3 year period.

I was fascinated by his evolving vision and his journey. Hockney spent a year painting almost a single canvas each day. He often went back to the same spot throughout the year to capture the differences in lighting, color and foliage. Then his vision shifted. He arranged six canvases on easels (three across and two high) and painted the landscape as if they were one large canvas.Once again, he often painted the same spot multiple times.  Then his vision expanded once again and he painted a landscape on 60 canvases (10 across and six high) to fill up a wall. It was amazing how he did it, because he did not have a place large enough to see the composition as a whole.  His solution was to photograph each painting, then create a collage to get the big picture.

The message I took from the DVD ties back to what I need at this moment. (Isn't that always the way - each of us takes away a different message.)  I have a vague vision for a series, but this helps reinforce the idea that I don't have to have a clear vision now.  All I have to do is get started and let it evolve along the way. But if I don't work on it, I'll never achieve the breakthrough.