William Hogarth and a Line or Two About Theories of Painting

As a professional painter, I can make recommendations about painting in general, be it about what Techniques one might want to employ in what Context, whether it is Appropriate, and so forth. I know a great deal about Harmonies of different Kinds, be they instances - or lack thereof - of the various Kinds of Color Harmony, or more Formal, Structural Types and their Interactions in the Abstract.

I will say this, however, before I go any further. Please do not cultivate the desire in your Heart to become painters, unless of course you are prepared for a really hard, pain-staking Process of continuously re-inventing yourself with the major Constraint of Never being able to break from Tradition, not even once.

At least in your formative years, you are still permitted the slight error here and there, but only ever errors in the Atelier or Art Studio. You can never permit yourself a Professional error in your entire lifetime, or you can Scrap the Idea of ever becoming a painter. Did you do any bad deals, sign some rotten papers, did you not do proper Accounting in your Household that progressed and then developed into a maligned condition?

Don't worry, it's okay, we all make mistakes, you'll be forgiven eventually. But the decision of becoming a Painter, I mean, you have to really be able to do nothing else. You never Start by Becoming an Artist. You end up becoming one after either Doing Only One Thing all your life or else you ended up there because you had tried to do something you liked and then for whatever reason after a lifetime, you ended up being great at everything, a Wonderful Generalist Become Painter as opposed to the Professional Painter, such as myself, who came to it by Being Born Into the Tradition Itself, but who decided as a child and then a young man that this was his - my - freely chosen Profession on earth.

This is still true, at least for the Time Being. It's why I do not tend to laugh unless cued by someone in a Cinema or Theater or something. It is a pity that so many individuals seem to have lost this thing called Culture. It is not a value judgment on any individuals. It's just that we all have our own Culture(s) whether we like it or not. We have Languages, we have Habits & Customs, we have different Manners of Being or of Receiving called Manners, or Manners of Doing, Behaving, or Moving called Mannerisms.

I find that in the General Population so much has been lost with regard to Culture(s), and not just the Cultures themselves, but the Rules & Regulations of Our Communications and Interactions with Others, and so much more. I could go on for hours, days, years, decades, and Have Been. You see, I too must Restrict Myself. I could say much much More than this, that is, I can, but certainly shall not. I could be giving someone The Wrong Message.

So to recapitulate what I have just tried to tell The Audience Gathered Before This Page - and After! - my recommendations about Painting of any kind are always to look Elsewhere First. Leave it to Someone Else. Sometimes we have an Impulse and it's just The Wrong One. Sometimes we have an Idea and it's just not a Good One. Sometimes we have the impetus to say or do something without having properly considered all the possible risks & perils it could potentiate. In Painting, at Least, One Can Never Afford To Regret Anything. Regrets and Remorse, at least to me, are not matters for Business and Commerce, which is why I continue to repeat and thereby stress the point Culture IS a Business. Regrets and Remorse, Repentance, Fear, Contrition, and so forth, either happens Before Painting or else Afterwards. But in the Atelier, there is only One Thing Possible: PURITY OF HEART, GREAT RESOLVE, AND PERSEVERANCE. But these days things are so Fragmented, it's hard at times to find a place with Wi-Fi you can just plug in and not be worried that you are putting yourself or others at risk.

N.B.: To prep you for future readings on these and related Subjects, let me tell you why I am giving Capital Letters to some of my Words. Rather than use hash-tags or some other Mechanism, this will allow the Page to be easily scanned for Keywords, visually that is. I find that this is Ideal. You can then flip through it quickly and I feel secure in knowing that I have taken the time, patience, and effort required to ensure that I minimize the possibility of my Words Being used Against Myself or Against Others. A Profession is only a Game if One is Playing Sports or perhaps if One is a Professional Gambler, but I only know of the Professions which I Practise daily and am At Liberty to Practise, since I have Received the Recognition of my Peers. Without that, there can be a Break From Tradition, and Painting is part of a Sacred Tradition going back Beyond the Recording of History Itself by Us. A Break in that Rhythm is a Break in the Pulse of the World, and when the World has Things such as Wheels of Commerce and so forth, which are very Powerful and move very Fast etc., then, I say: One small misstep for man can also become one great tragedy for all of humanity. I do believe that this is the almost Cosmic Irony that the Poets and Authors wrote about when they spoke of The Human Comedy, The Comedy of Errors, or The Divine Comedy. More on that soon, on the Culture of Laughter and some hilarities from the notebooks of Rabelais, because it is Carnival Season in Quebec! God bless you all. :)
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