Tim's Vermeer

*looks at time* i still have to do my daily ink piece.... meh i have time to write this then do that.

Okay so Vermeer was a famous painter who could paint so well it almost looked like a photograph.
Many are convinced that he is using some kind of optical illusion like a camera obscura while others claim that kind stuff is cheating and he painted with pure skill and the naked eye.

Before i saw this wonderful documentary i was amoung those convinced it would have to be a camera obscura type optical illusion.... not because i think no one could be talented enough to paint like that... more because it was a common practice of the time and you can achieve some lovely results with it.

In the art world there seems to be a lot of opinions on what art is... what is right and wrong and what is cheating.

My opinion (as an artist)
There is no right or wrong and it's impossible to cheat.

I had a wide variety of instructors at my art school.
Some loathed references and made is paint with only one brush.
Some adores references and would do a quick sketch of their piece in photoshop before attacking the canvas.
Some prefered the separation of blocks of colour (or black and white as that was the entirety of my first year) while others are okay with blending.
Some wanted exactly what you were seeing
others wanted that too but if you had to fudge something to make it work then do what you must do.
some hated straight colour from a tube while others figured liquitex makes so many varied colours that it would be a shame not to use more then just warm and cool versions of the primaries and white (either titanium or parchment, i preferred parchment)
none of them wanted me to paint in watercolour...
i wanted to paint in watercolour and they couldn't stop me.
I passed all my painting classes with flying colours and graduated an honour student even though what i did in class was not necessarily perceived as 'right'
but of course none of that matter since no one gives a shit about school once you leave it.

So when i watch this documentary all i can think is "wow thats really F***ing cool"
followed immediately by the thought "i bet historians are getting their knickers in a twist over this" (yes i used those exact words cause it best describes the way people whine aboutthis kind of thing)

Hostorians tend to be amoung the type that would perceive what Tim has done (and more likely Vermeer) as cheating.
Historians are wrong.
because there is no wrong way to art.
and there is no way to cheat (at least in this particular artists opinions)

If you are an artist you owe it to yourself to just see this to see how cool it is... i mean he quite literally paints (over an extraordinarily long time) more detail then the human eye can even truly perceive.
and if you are someone who thinks there is only one right way to art you should watch this and expand your horizons.
i'm sure there are some artist out there who feel it's still cheating, spending a lifetime on a craft to have someone who has never painted before create what he creates can be a bit of a hard pill to swallow. however i bet even more artists look at that and go "Holy Sh*t that is really F***ing cool"
cause it is really cool.

I saw it on netflix but i think it's availble on multiple sources so yeah watch it if you can...
so yeah... i have to do my inktober submission now.