It’s all a matter of perspective

As I walked by a painting I recently HAD finished, I paused and carefully studied it to make sure I was pleased with it. At first, I looked at the entire painting and then allowed my eyes to focus on every inch of it as if I were making a mental scan. My eyes darted back and forth across the painted canvas looking at every detail. In my mind, I have a checklist of things to be sure of before I sign my name and date it. One of the questions I always ask myself is, “Did I get the perspective right?”

That was drilled into my mind early on when I started taking art lessons at the age of 8. It continued throughout my college years. The first time I heard my art teacher use the word “perspective,” I didn’t understand what he meant. I asked my mother and she told me to look the word up in the dictionary. That was something she always made me do. She claimed if you had to take the time to actually look up a word and read its meaning, you would then retain it. Let’s just say I spent a lot of time looking up words.

In the dictionary, this is the meaning of perspective as it relates to art: “The art of drawing or painting on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of three-dimensional objects’ height, width, depth and position in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point.”

I know it sounds complicated, but actually it is a way of depicting what artists see on paper or canvas so that it is readable to the viewer.

I can’t tell you the times over the years that my art teachers would peer over my shoulder as I drew or painted. I could always feel their breath on my shoulder as they waited for what seemed to be an eternity before making a comment. I froze exactly in the position I was in when they approached me and held my breath in hopes that their comment would be good. I never rushed them and certainly didn’t turn my head to look back at them. Sometimes they would just walk away without uttering a word. Other times they had plenty to say.

“Mark, have you stepped back to check the perspective?” the teacher would ask. “No sir,” I would answer, heart racing. “Then perhaps this would be a good time to do that,” he would say, walking away. After he left and the coast was clear, I would take a few steps back to study my work and perspective.

The next definition that is offered in the dictionary is “a mental view or outlook.”

Whether you are talking about a painting or discussing something with a friend, perspective has to do with how we see things. And the interesting thing about perspective is that it can change as we shift our thoughts and open our minds.

In my lifetime, I have not only learned a lot about perspective in art but also in life. I think we have to reach a certain maturity level before we are able to step back and look at something with an open mind and through different eyes. Things that I felt a certain way about in my youth, I now see from a completely different perspective.

Sometimes it takes someone else to make you take another look, like my teachers did in art school. Other times, with practice, we are able to shift the way we look at something on our own.

Father’s Day afternoon, my son and I were out riding bikes downtown. We approached a sight that I see almost every day as I ride. Near a bridge was a garbage bag full of all sorts of odds and ends, various pieces of mismatched clothing, wadded up newspaper and other trash. Sometimes when I pass, it is neatly organized but, on this particular afternoon, the contents were strewn around like wind had blown open the bag, leaving the contents in disorganized piles everywhere.

“What is that?” my son asked as we pedaled up to the scattered debris. “That is where someone lives,” I answered. “You’re kidding,” he replied. “No, son. Unfortunately, I’m not,” I said.

When we stopped a little later to drink some water and cool off under a tree in the shade; I decided to use this opportunity to talk with my son about perspective. “There are days I’m riding along here thinking everything is going wrong and I don’t know how it will all turn out,” I said. “Then I will see a sight like the one we just passed and realize I need to pause and put things into perspective. No matter how bad my day is going or how frustrated I am, by shifting my perspective about life, I realize the things I’m worried about pale in comparison to a situation like that.”

My son agreed and, much smarter than I was at his age, told me he often does that same thing.

We all need to stop, look around us and put things in perspective every day. It doesn’t matter what we are going through or how bad our circumstances seem, there is somebody who is having a much worse time. By standing in front of life’s canvas and checking the perspective, things become much clearer. After all, it’s the way we look at something that determines how we really see it.

More with Mark

The annual Ballard New York City holiday trip will be Dec. 1-5, when the Big Apple is decked out for the holidays. For details, e-mail markballard@cox.net or call (478) 757-6877 and give your name and mailing address.

Check out Mark’s website, www.markballard.com, for current projects, recipes and lots of other fun stuff, including all his merchandise.

Mark is on www. macon.com 24 hours a day. Videos, columns and articles are featured.

Mark Ballard’s column runs each week in The Telegraph. Send your questions or comments to P.O. Box 4232, Macon, GA 31208; fax them to (478) 474-4930; call (478) 757-6877; e-mail to markballard@cox.net; or become part of Mark’s fan page on Facebook.