mLee Fine Art

Wine Goddess
Originally uploaded by m.Lee.

From Gapingvoid.com

19. Sing in your own voice.
Piccasso was a terrible colorist. Turner couldn't paint human beings worth a damn. Saul Steinberg's formal drafting skills were appalling. TS Eliot had a full-time day job. Henry Miller was a wildly uneven writer. Bob Dylan can't sing or play guitar.

But that didn't stop them, right?

So I guess the next question is, "Why not?"

I have no idea. Why should it?

I am not the best drawer in the world by far. I am pretty good with faces, but I need a picture and I need to work very hard at it. I am actually considering getting a book on drawing to help me improve my skills since I haven't had a formal drawing class in years and I am quite rusty. But being able to draw super well hasn't held me back because of the traits that I do have like a fantastic sense of color and design. I play up my strengths and succeed. Years ago when I was in school and just out of school I struggled to be a realistic artist because I thought that was what good art needed to be. I wasn't very good at it. I also had convinced myself that I wasn't good with color or abstraction and stylization. Boy was I wrongheaded and going in the wrong direction. Once I realized my error things started falling into place.

Take this print as an example. The proportions and anatomy of the figure are all wrong and it isn't a realistic figure at all. But the style is good and the colors are strong, so the piece works.