Drawing lessons - illustrated lesson notes for teachers and students

Advanced lessons - introduction

1-1 THE MAGIC OF PAINTING - INTRODUCTION

'Give me some paint, brushes and canvas and I will give you gold, silver, ruby and pearl. I will

give you the greatest treasures you have ever seen. I will show you magic. Artists are the

greatest alchemists, the best magicians of all. They can make gold from base metals, they can

make you laugh and cry and touch your very soul, and they do that every day - and more ... JH

from the 'Modern Illusionists'.

The Magician - A following story will explain how these disciplines can interact and why the

word illusionist applies to the master painter as well as the best magicians. Early this century a

magician was sent to North Africa to quell a rebellion. He came on stage with a large wooden

chest which he placed in the center and asked for the strongest man in the audience to step up.

After some coaxing a warrior champion, a lumbering ox of a man was propelled up on stage.

The magician told him not to fear but to lift up the simple wooden chest. This the man did this

with consummate ease.

Next the magician told the audience he would steal the giant’s strength and render him as weak

as a kitten. He clicked his fingers and asked the man again to try and lift the chest. Now the

strongman strained and pulled but could not move the wooden chest, even an inch, and finally

gave up. To prove he had taken away the man’s power the magician asked his assistant, a

slightly formed young boy, to prove he could lift the chest - which he did.

There was much consternation which the magician stilled by suddenly announcing he could

restore the former strongman's strength. Then after asking the audience if that was what they

wanted, and with another click of the fingers, he did. Finally, upon ordering the strongman to

lift the chest for a third time the man raised it with his former ease.

The chiefs gasped and the rebellion was quelled for who could oppose such power?

Of course a steel plate in the bottom of the chest and an early electro-magnet under the stage

was the simple cause of the phenomenon. But what is important is the story. It was the

magician's manipulation of the minds of the audience that was the real magic. That is the art of

the illusionist. Not the trick. It is the same with a painting or a play. A good painting will make

you believe what you are seeing has a reality in time and space even though you know it is an

illusion, merely a picture on a wall.

The Application - The techniques of painting silk and satin, gold and silver or diamonds and

rubies or anything else for that matter requires the artist to embrace the same three disciplines

the magician uses in my story.

1. The artist must understand the nature of the objects or things he or she desires to paint. Just
   as the magician needed to understand certain principles of electro-magnetism the artist also
   must be a scientist. To create the illusion of gold or chrome the artist must know something of
   its molecular or crystalline structure, something of light and refraction. In other words some
   elementary physics and chemistry.


2. The artist must be philosopher enough to ask and answer questions regarding the nature of
   things in their ideal from - a conceptual analysis if you like. The artist must understand how
   people feel about the things he or she desires to paint. For the magician in my story it was his
   understanding of people’s feelings and their views and prejudices regarding a man’s physical

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