Its Shane

“Mathematics, such as appertain to painting, are necessary to the painter, also the absence of companions who are alien to his studies: his brain must be versatile and susceptible to the variety of objects which it encounters, and free from distracting cares.”
― Leonardo da Vinci, Thoughts on Art and Life

“Making art depends upon noticing things — things about yourself, your methods, your subject matter. Sooner or later, for instance, every visual artist notices the relationship of the line to the picture’s edge. Before that moment the relationship does not exist; afterwards it’s impossible to imagine it not existing. And from that moment on every new line talks back and forth with the picture’s edge. People who have not yet made this small leap do not see the same picture as those who have — in fact, conceptually speaking, they do not even live in the same world.”
― David Bayles, Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

“It is better to imitate ancient than modern work.”
― Leonardo da Vinci, Thoughts on Art and Life

“HENRY JAMES once proposed three questions you could productively put to an artist’s work. The first two were disarmingly straightforward: What was the artist trying to achieve? Did he/she succeed? The third’s a zinger: Was it worth doing?”
― David Bayles, Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking