The Engineering of Realism - Intro
I’m feeling called to write a blog about solving aspects of oil painting from an engineering perspective. It was another lifetime and a different century when I was the lead design engineer for multidisciplinary teams to build manufacturing facilities for biotech startup companies and then for Eli Lilly and Co. I have a degree in biochemical engineering from The University of Michigan (BSE Chem E, bio option is what they called it in 1983.) Go Blue!
The transferable skills from my engineering past have served me well in crafting this life I live now, as a professional master fine artist with art in private, museum, corporate and government collections, and a long resume of accomplishments. I share these with students in my workshops and with patrons at my live demonstrations. But I have never grouped them all together in a cohesive document.
Over the next ten months, I commit to doing just that. My hope is that by sharing what has worked well for me, the artists who choose collaboration over competition will find some of these tools useful to their own art practices.
Thank you for reading and for your positivity and sharing in the comments. Wishing you all a day full of blessings and beautiful art, as I craft these topics for the coming months:
1. Defining the unit operations and system boundaries
2. Addressing each unit op for the quality/cost/time triangle of optimization of efficiency - Our process is only as fast or good or cheap as the weakest unit op
3. Zooming out to look at the bigger picture/context
4. Zooming in to look at specific details that do or do not work
5. Pinning down operations based on what, why, where, who, when, how
6. Devil in the details - 3 levels of safety in design, back up plans
7. Dealing with system failures and emergencies
8. Implementing regular reviews and upgrades
9. Review track record and experiences. Measure against changes in current trends and requirements. Identify what is sustainable and what is not
10. Never be complacent. That is when disaster strikes. Don’t get too comfortable when all is running smoothly. Engineering teams are required even when all is automated and working good
