Emily Carr couldn't paint
I had a dinner party at my house a few weeks ago and I said one of my many controversial statements.
"Emily Carr couldn't paint"
I am such a trouble maker.
I was immediately challenged by my friend Alyson who said something to the effect that ihath doesn't know what she is talking about.
That is when I got all excited and went on and on about how her paintings are boring and basic and lack any talent. How yes she had an exotic life style and yes she lived in the bush with native indians and yes she had a pet monkey and all those things are very cool. I respect the fact that she was independent and that she wasn't afraid to cast social conventions and live out her passions. The pictures of her with monkey sitting on her shoulder are very cute. But non of this disguises the fact that the woman couldn't paint and I have no idea why she is the most celebrated BC artist. Perhaps there are no other artists from that erra, perhaps she is being celebrated because of political correctness since she stuck totem poles in many of her paintings and maybe because she led an exotic life style people assumed that she must had some talent. Perhaps people in BC have never seen any real art and so were amazed by the only paintings they saw. But if you ignore everything else and simply look at her paintings, they are not that great.
Alyson wasn't convinced furthermore she scoffed at my remarks.
That is when I got even more excited and said:
"Even I can paint better that Emily Carr"
Implying that almost anyone could paint better that Emily.
Well! Alyson had a hay day with that statement. She started laughing out loud at me and insisted that my statement requires proof. She started teasing me infront of everybody else at the party, demanding that I produce a painting to prove what I had just said.
In the heat of the moment, I said "Alright Alyson, I will give you a painting, just give me some time"
Alyson told me that I had till June to produce a painting and that she would be the judge of the quality and let me know if it is better than Emily Carr's paintings.
Everybody at the party was laughing at me and anticipating the sort of painting I would produce.
"Will you draw a bunny?"
"Will you draw a bear?"
"Do you think you can draw a flower?"
"Ha ha ha, We all demand to see it once you are finished"
My esteemed guests cackled in unison.
Me and my big mouth! ..... always gets me into trouble.
But, I had no choice, now that I firmly placed my foot in the mouth, I was gonna have to struggle to dislodge it from its place.
Few days after the party, I went to the arts supply store to browse. When the store attendant asked me if he could help me, I told him that I was just browsing, but really I simply don't know anything about the painting craft to know what tools or thingies I would need. I simply browsed around in the store for about an hour, looking at all the different supplies and reading the labels to see what they are for. Finally, I made my decision. I bought a medium sized canvas, a box of acrylic paints and a set of cheap brushes.
I brought my loot home, placed the canvas on my kids easel, the one we use to draw in chalk and practice math and spelling exercises. I stared at the empty canvas for an hour with no idea what I should paint.
Finally, Aha! an idea! I remembered a performance I attended in December last year. It was a Rumi poetry reading by Coleman Barks and it was accompanied by music and dancing. The Persian dancer Banafsheh Sayyad, who was absolutely divine. Her movements were so elegant, feminine yet strong, she was breath taking. So I looked up her picture on the internet and used it as my guide and then added some details around the dancer, Peacocks feathers to symbolize creativity, flowers to add some joy and gravel and stones to add some earthiness into the mix.
The details on the dress are my attempts atdisguisingthe fact that I can't paint by confusing the eye with details so that you would notice it less.
Last Saturday, I presented the painting to Alyson while saying
"Emily Carr couldn't paint and neither can I, and here is the proof"
Alyson was stunned, she couldn't believe that I went ahead with it.
I was hugely flattered when she decided to hang it in her dining room.
"Emily Carr couldn't paint"
I am such a trouble maker.
I was immediately challenged by my friend Alyson who said something to the effect that ihath doesn't know what she is talking about.
That is when I got all excited and went on and on about how her paintings are boring and basic and lack any talent. How yes she had an exotic life style and yes she lived in the bush with native indians and yes she had a pet monkey and all those things are very cool. I respect the fact that she was independent and that she wasn't afraid to cast social conventions and live out her passions. The pictures of her with monkey sitting on her shoulder are very cute. But non of this disguises the fact that the woman couldn't paint and I have no idea why she is the most celebrated BC artist. Perhaps there are no other artists from that erra, perhaps she is being celebrated because of political correctness since she stuck totem poles in many of her paintings and maybe because she led an exotic life style people assumed that she must had some talent. Perhaps people in BC have never seen any real art and so were amazed by the only paintings they saw. But if you ignore everything else and simply look at her paintings, they are not that great.
Alyson wasn't convinced furthermore she scoffed at my remarks.
That is when I got even more excited and said:
"Even I can paint better that Emily Carr"
Implying that almost anyone could paint better that Emily.
Well! Alyson had a hay day with that statement. She started laughing out loud at me and insisted that my statement requires proof. She started teasing me infront of everybody else at the party, demanding that I produce a painting to prove what I had just said.
In the heat of the moment, I said "Alright Alyson, I will give you a painting, just give me some time"
Alyson told me that I had till June to produce a painting and that she would be the judge of the quality and let me know if it is better than Emily Carr's paintings.
Everybody at the party was laughing at me and anticipating the sort of painting I would produce.
"Will you draw a bunny?"
"Will you draw a bear?"
"Do you think you can draw a flower?"
"Ha ha ha, We all demand to see it once you are finished"
My esteemed guests cackled in unison.
Me and my big mouth! ..... always gets me into trouble.
But, I had no choice, now that I firmly placed my foot in the mouth, I was gonna have to struggle to dislodge it from its place.
Few days after the party, I went to the arts supply store to browse. When the store attendant asked me if he could help me, I told him that I was just browsing, but really I simply don't know anything about the painting craft to know what tools or thingies I would need. I simply browsed around in the store for about an hour, looking at all the different supplies and reading the labels to see what they are for. Finally, I made my decision. I bought a medium sized canvas, a box of acrylic paints and a set of cheap brushes.
I brought my loot home, placed the canvas on my kids easel, the one we use to draw in chalk and practice math and spelling exercises. I stared at the empty canvas for an hour with no idea what I should paint.
Finally, Aha! an idea! I remembered a performance I attended in December last year. It was a Rumi poetry reading by Coleman Barks and it was accompanied by music and dancing. The Persian dancer Banafsheh Sayyad, who was absolutely divine. Her movements were so elegant, feminine yet strong, she was breath taking. So I looked up her picture on the internet and used it as my guide and then added some details around the dancer, Peacocks feathers to symbolize creativity, flowers to add some joy and gravel and stones to add some earthiness into the mix.
The details on the dress are my attempts atdisguisingthe fact that I can't paint by confusing the eye with details so that you would notice it less.
Last Saturday, I presented the painting to Alyson while saying
"Emily Carr couldn't paint and neither can I, and here is the proof"
Alyson was stunned, she couldn't believe that I went ahead with it.
I was hugely flattered when she decided to hang it in her dining room.
There is a way between voice and presence where information flows.
In disciplined silence it opens.
With wandering talk it closes. .... Rumi
4:27 PMI really like your painting.
8:09 PM
Very Matisse. And I know you have a thing about Klimpt, it shows (in a fauvist way). Why don't you paint more?
9:27 PM
Oh dear, definitely not a good thing to say to people from the west coast.
I like Emily Carr's paintings of trees and forests. If you have had a chance to spend time in an old growth forest on Vancouver Island, for example, I think you would agree that her paintings capture the mood, the light, the colours of the experience.
Nice painting by the way.
4:32 AM
first, what is so cool about living in the wilderness, rarely taking a bath, and wearing bear-skin underwear? second, what is an "erra" and third, why does the slut in your painting not have a hijab on? she is a whore and allah will surely kill her for tempting men with her obese body. you shouldn't even be on the internet, because you're a muslim. dont you know that there was a fatwa saying that you must have a man with you every moment you are online, otherwise you will be tempted to visit porn sites and constantly masturbate like an animal.
8:48 AM
If the lady in that painting is "obese," then I, one of the best track athletes at my school, am simply a porkchop.
I find it very disturbing when a racist pig's disgusting comments offend not only their victim, but also their own race.
If Muslims offend "Anonymous" so, i wonder why s/he even bothers to give an effort of thought to them, albeit a very pathetic thought at that.
6:04 AM
Dear Ihath,
That's really quite good, but you should keep your day job. :-)
Borrow/buy "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards. A few weeks later you can post your "before" and "after" portraits and truly amaze us all!
Later...
2:05 AM
Ihath, please delete or edit the adolescent low-life exciting himself on your diary at 4:32.
Ugh. Censure has it's place.
10:49 AM
fuck u
3:17 PM
i do love that one you linked to. and while i love your newer painting (not this one so much) for it's color and organic feel, it is clear that emily carr is a much better painter than you (at least in the hand).
but keep practicing. who knows where you can take it?
8:06 PM
As an artist myself, I must say...Miss Carr painted much better than you. Yours looks like something I did when I was 4 or so. I say this not as an insult, but to sober you into the realization that you are not important. Now everyone has a right to their opinion and all, but claiming something as insane as you being a better painter...well...get a life darling. Being negative about a famous woman artist is foolish...there are too few of them as it is. When you say that she had no talent you are helping the art world continue in its male dominated path. Congrats. You might as well be saying that Frida and Georgia had no talent as well. Now go take an art class...art history might actually help you painting.
7:11 AM
wow.. girl ..
i can paint better
then you and im 12 ..
HAHAHA! wow that chick looks
like shes going to puke ..
and first of all emily carr
can paint , and she is wayyy
better then you .
7:12 AM
umm ... emily carr can
paint and she can paint way
better then you so if i was
you i would shut my mouth..
7:40 AM
wow .. your
fucking stupid,
you can't even paint ..
7:40 AM
wow .. your
fucking stupid,
you can't even paint ..
6:40 PM
very frieda kahlo, you should try a few more, you never know what you can do m'dear...but i defiantely disagree that carr can't paint, she made amazing advances in colonial and canadian art, give her another chance mmk?
5:33 PM
Don't know how old this discussion is, but I think it is youthful indiscretion indeed to say things such as "Emily Carr can't paint." You have no conception of what her life and struggles have meant but have simply allowed yourself to step into the world of opportunity for women she and other pioneers helped create and proclaim your superiority to her. Read her autobiography and take another look at her paintings before you condemn her outright.
1:28 PM
I am a painter and teacher of art, but that is nearly beside the point.
Can you play the violin better than Yehudi Menuhin could? No? You mean that you have not learnt to play it? Or that you have not practiced it as much as he had? Can you compose music better than Arvo Part?
Looking at your painting-you might be able to learn to paint. But Emily Carr couldn't just paint (handle paint as she needed to), but she could see as well. She could see what was in front of her. And not just see the surface of things but deeply behind the surface. She had "vision" as well. You seem to be interested in painting. Why not find out about it?
4:29 PM
You shouldn't comment about how good someone is, or how bad they are at painting. Art is expression. Emily's paintings show expression. There is no "good" or "bad" pictures in art. Emily is not only recognized for her amazing talent, but is honoured for her ability to represent feelings using paint. When you paint, do you just throw colours on an empty canvas and call that art? Or do you actually laugh and cry and feel something special when you place a paintbrush on paper to start that first stroke?
11:27 PM
I hope you read this
I happened to fall upon this ridiculous web page of yours. If you knew anything about painting, you could realise how amazing Carr was and remains.
The bold, vivacious applications of paint, her mastership of the principle of Rhythm, and her cultural uniqueness are a few things that I'd say make her better than you are.
Please don't make such stupid comments.
1:11 PM
How she lived has nothing to do with the fact that you seem to think 'she can't paint'. She's not 'cool' because she lived in the wilderness and therefor her art has remained to be some of the most popular in Canada.
Regardless, to be a famous artist, you don't have to paint fantastically well. I find your statement ignorant, however I know where it's coming from, as I was once just as ignorant to art. I used to think Jackson Pollock was in no sense an artist, because all he did was drip paint on a canvas, which ANYONE could do. It's in fact that manner in which he does such, and the thoughts and reasoning behind why he makes such art. Very much so how Emily Carr has been.
All I'm saying, is it would be great if you could open your mind. You seem to be an intelligent person, but it would be even more fantastic if you could take interest in things, and instead of basing your opinion on what's better than what, respect things for what they really are, and the meanings behind them.
When someone says the word 'dog', what do you think of? I'll bet you absolutely anything, it's something completely different from what I'm thinking, or what your friend would think of, or a relative. There are different interpretations of everything, art not excluded. Meanings are everywhere, and you really have to work hard sometimes to find them, and really realize why something is what it is.
Someone mentioned previously that you have a thing for Gustav Klimt. You're not alone, he's one of my favorite artists. But take some time to think to yourself... why is it you like his work? Why do you respect him? Do you know much about him or why he did what he did? Look into it more, and find out. And then take some time to see why Emily Carr did what she did; what reasons she had behind her paintings. I think you'd learn a lot not only about Emily Carr and Gustav Klimt, but yourself.
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