The Artist’s Trained Eye
The artist’s journey is, at its core, a transformation of vision. While others walk past the ordinary scenes of daily life—sunlight and shadows dancing across a surface, or the architecture of an old and massive tree—the trained artistic eye perceives symphonies of light, form, and meaning that remain invisible to the casual observer. This is inherently present in many creative people from childhood…but it still must be and can be cultivated and used to your advantage as a maturing artist.
Masters of Observing the Ordinary
Vincent van Gogh found meaning in a pair of worn-out shoes, painting them repeatedly with such reverence that each scuff and crease became a testament to human perseverance. His peasant boots transcended their utilitarian purpose to become portraits of human dignity and labor. Similarly, Giorgio Marandi spent decades painting the same humble collection of bottles and vases in his Bologna studio, discovering infinite variations in their relationships and the subtle play of light across their surfaces.
Finding Dignity in the Everyday
Jean-François Millet elevated the lives of 19th-century French peasants to monumental status. In “The Gleaners,” three women performing the modest task of collecting leftover grain become figures of classical dignity. Their bent forms create a choreography that speaks to both the rhythm of labor and the nobility of survival.
The Fundamental Elements of Artistic Vision
Artists develop what John Ruskin called the “innocent eye”—the ability to see things as they appear to the artist’s eye rather to than as we think they should look. This involves unlearning our symbolic shortcuts and preset assumptions. A tree is not a brown trunk with a green lollipop top, but a complex network of organic forms, negative spaces, and shifting values.
The artistic mind learns to automatically decode scenes into their fundamental elements:
Lines: The hidden geometry that guides the eye
Values: The hierarchy of light and shadow that creates depth
Color: Not just local color, but the subtle influences of light and reflection
Composition: The underlying structure that turns chaos into order
Texture: The tactile quality that brings surfaces to life
Space: The dynamic relationships between forms
Beyond Observation: The Mind’s Eye
Some artists push beyond mere observation into the realm of vision. William Blake saw angels in trees and painted what he called “what ought to be true.” Seeing isn’t limited to the physical eye—it can encompass the mind’s eye…or the eye of the heart.
Modern Life Through the Artist’s Lens
Edward Hopper found profound isolation and yearning in the most commonplace American scenes—a late-night diner, a sunlit room, a house by a railroad. His vision transformed these everyday moments into powerful psychological narratives that revealed the underlying emotional texture of modern life.
Transforming Collective Perception
The true gift of the artist to society is not just the creation of beautiful objects, but the sharing of a new way of seeing. After viewing Monet’s paintings of haystacks and water lilies, we can never see these subjects quite the same way again. His vision of how light transforms objects throughout the day has permanently altered our collective perception.
Through their work, artists teach us that beauty and meaning lurk everywhere, waiting to be discovered by those who have learned to truly see. A crack in a wall becomes a symbol of human isolation from God. A puddle reflecting the sky becomes a portal to eternity. The play of sunlight on a kitchen table becomes a meditation on time and momentary beauty.
Learning to see as an artist is not a destination but a continuous journey. Every day presents new opportunities to deepen perception, to find wonder in the overlooked, and to translate the visible world into something more profound. The artist’s eye is never fully trained, but forever training, finding new layers of meaning and beauty in the perpetual act of seeing anew.
A Tale of Two Visions: Ezekiel and Psalm 137
The Word of God tells us that seeing spiritually is crucial also. The book of Hebrews tells us that Faith is seeing that which is invisible…and that only faith pleases God. As we walk with the Lord we are not just artists, seeing the world around us through eyes that look for elements that relate to visual images. We are also spiritual beings and EVERYTHING we look at must be evaluated through eyes of the Spirit. The Apostle Paul says , concerning even our view of people around us, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.” – 2 Cor. 5:16 You see, we no longer look at the natural…we look at and judge everything according to spiritual reality. That means we have to resist being moved when people disappoint us. We have to be filled with faith when waves of doubt come because of troubling circumstance. We cannot be moved by natural vision and what it sees…we must look up and see Christ, who died for us, seated in authority and power, waiting for us to believe and trust that He is for us, and not against us.
One painting that is gestating in my mind is of a scene found in scripture – a powerful scene that illustrates this concept. It is found in the pairing of two passages, one in Ezekiel 1 and the other in Ps. 137. In the passage in Psalm 137 we find the Israelites in exile in Babylon; their spirits are broken. They lament their condition. It is implied that their eyes were downcast for they “hung their harps on the willow branches” and they “sat down and wept”. They could see no further than the mud beneath their feet along the riverbank.
Looking Heavenward: A Call to Faith
In contrast the passage in Ezekiel, which corresponds chronologically, reveals a different mindset and way of seeing. Ezekiel describes that while he was with the captives by the riverbank, he looked up. He saw visions of God. And oh, what visions he describes. And the difference is a way of seeing.
If you are so burdened, you can only see the ugly circumstances of your life with eyes cast down. And that is where you will stay. But faith will carry you over those circumstances – you will be on top of them rather than under them. But the condition is the gaze of your inward eyes – seeing that which is invisible.
Beloved, you must choose to look heavenward. Do not focus on the mud in which your feet are stuck. With such lack of hope you can never advance. But look up! Put your eyes upon the Lord, who says that “All things are possible to those who believe”.
I pray that this week you will only be moved by what the Word of God declares, and not by what human flesh is declaring. May you have a week of victory and confidence in what you see above…not what you see below.
Blessings,
Mark