This was published 3 years ago
Watching art in the act of creation: a mesmerising joy
Daylesford artist Tahlia Stanton had $20 to her name when she became a professional artist a few years ago, fresh out of her 2017 VCE. Now she has a raging business selling prints around the world, through her personal professional website, direct to the consumer.
Stanton's secret? A thriving TikTok account, where she engages with more than 150,000 followers who watch her create her pop-realist paintings, as she shares artistic tips and tricks and encourages them to express their own creativity.
Daylesford artist Tahlia Stanton uses her TikTok profile to document her workCredit: Tahlia Stanton
But the special sauce isn't in the social media. It's in our enduring fascination with watching artists at work.
It's the same reason Australian author, comedian and nationally-acclaimed-painter Anh Do’s program, Anh’s Brush with Fame, is so successful. As his interviewees speak, the camera zooms in on Do’s deft hand with the palette knife that he dabs – here and there – into the mound of hypnotically blended colours. We – the audience – are lulled by this usually invisible process of art-making as Do interviews his guests.
Watching people paint and craft online is increasingly popular as social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram have made it easy for artists to showcase their process in short (usually about three- to five-minute) videos.
Stanton's videos demystify the art of painting, allowing us to peer into the inner world of artists, bearing witness to the evolution of beauty.
A painter myself, there is nothing more mesmerising than the gentle motion of applying paint to canvas, dragging a brush across in an attempt to mimic a clear blue sky, or dabbing thick globs of creamy acrylic to create the movement of sea waves and textures of jutting rocks.
I was first introduced to the concept of watching art as a child, when I would wait, with bated breath, for Art Attack to begin. Now I’ve migrated to YouTube and Instagram, eagerly scrolling through videos of pastel paintings, watercolours, gouache and acrylics, watching endless ways to be creative with materials that can be found in a bargain store.
There’s @myartshine, whose performative art videos show that all you need is a few pastels, stickers, masking tape and tissues to create a stunning sunset; and Alena Suleimanova, who makes painting a realistic ocean look simple.
Dr Steve Kassem, a postdoctoral fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia, says watching creative process videos makes us "live vicariously through [these artists]".
"We feel as though we lack control in our lives and [watching these videos] gives us some control back," he says. "It is also pleasant – even cathartic – to watch something be created slowly."
There is also an element of romanticism at play: the art is refined, beautiful. It is talent on show.
"We are conditioned to think of artists – and art – as these eccentric, great geniuses," Dr Kassem says. "It comes down to what we’ve created art to be in our heads: something we aspire to and for."
YouTube hosts art tutorials by the now deceased American painter Bob Ross, who (in the words of writer Michael J Mooney in The Atlantic) "explains his art not merely as a way of layering paint, but also as a way of capturing the eternal beauty of the world and living free no matter the challenges in life".
An accountant friend of mine has been gorging on Ross for months, finding it soothing to listen to his voice and enjoyable to watch a painting emerge.
"There is something so mesmerising about the entire process that I can’t stop watching until I see the end result," he says.