In a world that increasingly demands utility, certainty, and measurable outcomes, the artist chooses another path—one of curiosity, beauty, and unreasonable perseverance. This is a letter to those artists, and perhaps an invitation.
Defying Gravity: what is gravity?
Over the years, I’ve had many dreams about flying. They’ve varied—sometimes I swoop through the air, curling my fingers like ailerons to lift myself again. Sometimes I quietly levitate, drifting out a second-story window, along the side of a building, and back in another window. And sometimes, I fail—crashing to the ground or never leaving it at all.
But always, there’s the same sensation: a chosen refusal to acknowledge gravity. A willing of myself into the air.
I’ve come to think that doing art is something like that.
Work at various stages of development in my studio today
The worth of Levitation
We make art against the backdrop of life’s inevitable tragedies, the turbulence of our times—geopolitical, economic, technological—and the personal anxiety that attends every act of creation.
And yet, artists listen to whispers of vision. We act on them. We make the unreasonable choice to create, momentarily ignoring the very reasonable pressures that surround us.
In doing so, we commune with neglected parts of ourselves—and we offer communion to those who encounter our work. We cultivate a capacity for unreasonableness, and more importantly, the courage to act on it: to devote time, effort, and limited resources to hunches and intuition.
Where the intellect sees the world in utilitarian terms—what can I gain, what risk can I avoid?—the imagination sees beauty, mystery, and people as ends in themselves. It lets us love without agenda, and create without guarantee.
Various work in progress currently
The neuroscience of new roads
This isn’t a call to reject reason, but to rebalance it. Many thinkers throughout history have made this point; I find Iain McGilchrist’s formulation in The Master and His Emissary especially compelling.
While early pop-science oversimplified “left vs. right brain” thinking, McGilchrist makes a nuanced, neuroscientific case: both hemispheres are active in most processes, but they perceive and prioritize differently.
The left hemisphere gives us structure—sequential logic, language, categorization. It seeks certainty, order, control. It wants to know: What is this for? How does this benefit me?
The right hemisphere, on the other hand, is curious, integrative. It perceives the whole. It allows metaphor, empathy, imagination. It sees beauty, potential, and the self in others. It invites us to step into the unknown—not to escape practicality, but to infuse it with meaning.
The goal isn’t dominance, but integration—with the right hemisphere leading (“the master”), and the left supporting (“his emissary”). Not a world gripped only in a hegemony of brittle and ultimately nihilistic utility, but one guided by new insight and a depth of meaningful integration.
Studies, works in progress, plaster casts and 3D prints of great works
Gravity and Levitation, Void and Light
“Falling Upwards” Graphite 2022
The gravity I resisted in my dreams might well have been the closed, self-protective vision of the left hemisphere—and of a world dominated by status games, power, and measurable returns.
Is this why we love fantasy? Why The Lord of the Rings still feels alive? These worlds affirm the validity of imagination to generate inspiring, archetypal meaning from a sequences of gradually implemented quiet hunches
Without this broader vision, utility becomes nihilism. We see it in despair, in addiction, in lives of resignation.
But the poetic impulse says: Throw your light into the void, though it seems impossible. In doing so, you redeem life.
Levitation begins when we suspend disbelief—when we forget gravity long enough to rise into the space of possibilities.
Where the rubber meets the road
Sketches and references, compositional ideas
Daily I am convincing myself to be unreasonable—to seek beauty and that elusive meaning. To indulge my fascination with anatomy, light, compositional design - to assert the validity of the eye’s sensuality. To persevere with a project even when it feels like a lost cause, a disaster. I tell myself that even if this effort fails, it will lead somewhere—toward coherence, toward the next whisper. But often this suspension of disbelief, this pulling up by my bootstraps, is enough to generate something good. The disaster is redeemed.
Much of my artwork wrestles with this very tension: the pull between vital creative expansion, and the retraction of fear and despair.
This process isn’t easy. But it gets easier. Over time, we build faith in our ability to navigate uncertainty. And if we fall, we fall back on practice—for example on figure drawing, portrait study—something solid and familiar to restore confidence. So that we can once again venture out into more uncertain territory, more complex compositions.
There’s a kind of gentle bloody-mindedness required. A siege mentality. You carve out space for your vision, even if the world (or your closest companions) doesn’t understand. But once you’ve made something true to your vision—they might just come around.
The new punks
For those of us working in traditional or classical styles, it can feel lonely. The art we love is rarely represented in major institutions (except as historical retrospectives). Often, the very qualities we value—craft, plasticity of form, human emotion—are dismissed or ignored.
As Nietzsche said, “One is punished most for one’s virtues.”
But perhaps this outsider status is a gift. We are the new punks. The high art world doesn’t know what to do with us. We fly under the radar. We build parallel worlds.
Heroes, Comrades, Mentors
And yet, there are days when levitation feels impossible. When the vision fades and the creative fire burns low. The overflowing of lifeforce to throw into the void is simply not there.
These are some things that help me:
Turn to your artistic heroes. Watch a documentary. Read their letters. Witness how unreasonable vision defined a life.
Here are some of my favourites:
The Hunt of Odd Nerdrum explores decades of a powerful, eccentric vision: link
Simon Schama’s Power of Art dramatizes the darkness and redemption through their practise of eight artists: link
I also interviewed one of my own mentors, Nicola Verlato—a rare blend of intensity and craft: watch here
Meet with peers. I do this monthly with a small group of colleagues. We share work, challenges, progress. Most importantly, we remind each other that it is reasonable to walk this unreasonable path.
Get honest feedback from someone whose work you respect. Choose mentors by portfolio and communication clarity, not personality cults.
If this resonates…
If any of this speaks to you—if you’re feeling stuck, or unsure, or need guidance—I offer a few ways to work together. You’re welcome to reach out via the contact form and I can give you advice on what might suit your challenges/aims.
1:1 Tuition
Styled like a music lesson with focussed attention, this is ideal for technical focus (e.g., figure drawing, color mixing).
$75 AUD/hour (approx $50 USD)
Duo: $50 AUD/hour each
Trio: $42 AUD/hour each
Small Group Mentoring (Online)
Monthly 2-hour group, feedback and digital paint-overs.
$33 USD/month (approx $50 AUD)
Fridays 7am Brisbane (Thurs in Europe/Americas)
Group is near capacity—contact me if interested in a second group
Small Group Mentoring (In-Person)
Once a month in Brisbane.
$50 AUD (approx $33 USD)
Draw/Paint with Me
Weekly evening sessions starting soon at the Royal Queensland Art Society (Petrie Terrace). Model long poses alternating figure and portrait study, one round of feedback, Q&A.
$50 AUD per session – contact me to join the waitlist
Workshops & Course Materials
Annual in-person workshops (Brisbane area). Extensive course notes available online for online study:
Form, Gesture, Anatomy (online access via subscription or outright)
Figurative Composition (free signup to notes while in development)
Institutions and schools are welcome to contact me to tailor a workshop to your class.
Workshop in life drawing for the School of Architecture, University of Queensland
In conclusion
Whether or not we work together, I hope this has offered something—a sense of companionship, or encouragement, or a small light in the dark.
Every time you throw your lifeforce into the void, despite everything, you redeem something—not only for yourself in that moment, but perhaps, quietly, gradually, for the world.
Google reviews from my students:
“Scott is an exceptional artist and teacher. His courses walk you through techniques and concepts that propel your painting, drawing and life drawing to next level again and again. I’ve attending his course multiple times and still learn more. The online materials are an excellent resource and reference additional to the in person learning. The activities focus on developing many important foundational skills (that are often forgotten or not taught in contemporary art courses) and lend themselves to enrich all kinds of contemporary and classical image making. This is combined with an approach to developing your own conceptual interests in image making. As a teacher he is warm and generous and offers clear, insightful guidance to improve your work. Very highly recommend!” -Saara
“Fantastic course- the best i have come across for life drawing.. I really enjoyed it. Scott has structured the sessions really well, with excellent supporting notes and lots of guided practice in class. I will definitely be doing the class again later in the year. Thanks Scott. 😍” - Sangeeta
“Scott's Figurative Composition course is brilliant. Scott is an excellent teacher with a wealth of knowledge, skills and expertise that he has internalised and shares generously and encouragingly with all his students. His online notes are extensive, well developed and thought through and his constructive criticisms invaluable. I have learned so much through Scott and am eternally grateful. I would recommend his classes in figurative composition and life drawing to anyone.” - David
“Scott Breton has put a huge amount of effort and knowledge into his figurative composition courses. Online access to his historical research, colour theory, compositional techniques are all provided as part of this course. I admittedly had to come to grips with a lot of new terms but that is because I find art theory challenging. It was intense at times but the full afternoons with long pose models was fabulous. I now have guidelines for future study, practical direction and a new way of looking at line and colour harmony. Great teacher, quality program and fabulous models. Wonderful course that I will continue to reference over time.
Note: I probably wouldn’t recommend this specific course for a beginner as a base knowledge of the fundamentals is a benefit. However, Scott goes out of his way to direct anyone floundering.” -Robyn
“Scott is a really talented artist and excellent teacher. I feel lucky to have been able to do some classes with him, I learned a lot.” - Mikhala
“Scott is a fantastic teacher. Understands the figure deeply and carefully walks his students through each step in their figure drawing journey. Is able to engage with students at all levels. I learnt so much from his classical life drawing course and would highly recommend him to anyone looking to further their figure drawing skills. So much gratitude :)” - Abbie
