Do not forsake any knowledge

The most important knowledge to a good artist is observation. Is the ability to see. And the Natural sciences are particularly helpful. Understanding of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology can offer a fundamental understanding of how our world is (probably partly by coincidence and partly by subconscious forces) akin to the world's that we build.

Recall in Physics that every atom we see before us and have ever seen is in motion and there is nothing that we know of at absolute zero. Furthermore they are all moving and vibrating in waves at different speeds based on potential energy. We are in pure unadulterated entropy. We exist in swirling chaos whose rules are occasionally bend and broken. But all of which is inescapable.

In painting we must see as if we see the atoms move. We must see their heat. Their vibration. The heat where the light hits contain more energy and motion. There is no one way of representing this force only through a variety of contrast can we capture/replicate/imply this motion.

Recall also in physics everything has gravity from the tiniest pin to the largest star. We are all here in an interwoven web of gravity. In may physicist's eyes this gravity is negligible. But to us painters. To those whose eyes and being must feel the presence of existence. This is the most important thing. We must perceive the gravity. We must also capture/replicate/imply this gravity. We must observe it. The best example is watching a baseball. This tiny ball and how the gravity of man can direct it's force to a hang just as small but with force of a human bodies gravity. Or to watch the wall catch a dart. or to see the force of falling body caught by the magnanimity earth grasp hold of a man. And watch that man give his gravity to catch the earth. To both behold one another in a series of connecting vibration and radiating forms.

We must look to see chemistry guide the way oil sits on water and see that some surfaces that we paint on and paint itself reflect the polar sheen of water. Or how molecules behold one another in different connections to give the sheen of skin against the light. and how the oils on our skin react to the changing light of the sun.

These uncontrollable physical things betray neurological and psychological underpinnings.

Our biology and hormones and our neurological pathways influence how the figure is draw and the motions of the body in our space.

So I say Do Not Forsake knowledge for it is the sediments that build the rock of imagination.