midday loose ends
Trying to gather my thoughts together here today and see what I have to get completed prior to my weekend in Orlando...tomorrow night is the Cirque du Soleil show with my girlfriend...she's as excited as I am, I can tell. It seems like such a simple thing...going to see a live performance, but all of the shows that I have seen over the years have been loads of fun for me. I seem to enjoy them a lot more than some folks do...probably because I don't go regularly.
But each one has highlights...for instance when I saw Mikhail Baryesnikov (how do you spell that name?) I was surprised when he came out on stage in a dress for the last performance.
This did not go over well with the audience here...after all this is Clearwater, Florida, where many people come to retire...and about a third of the audience got up and walked out! In NY he probably got a standing ovation for this performance.
And after all the years that a fellow like Mikhail has devoted his life to his craft, I thought he deserved a bit more respect than that. But audiences and fans can be very fickle. Not to mention very outspoken! I can't believe some of the things that I hear people at the outdoor shows say about my work...always within earshot of me, too.
I, for one, don't criticize or invalidate other people's artwork openly. Some of it I might hate with a passion, but that person has put his creations and his communication out there to the public, and what is wrong with having some manners? Our society today makes me embarrassed sometimes with how we treat each other. I may not be Miss Manners myself in many ways, but to completely dis some artist openly? Not cool.
I've actually visited shows with artist friends who have made negative comments about some of the artwork they have seen...within earshot of the artist who created the work, and this torques me to no end. How would they feel if this happened to them? It takes a lot of courage and creativity to be out there displaying your work to the whole wide world, and for this my hat is off to anyone who does it...irregardless of how I might feel about those creations.
I spent many, many years being a closet artist...and I know that a lot of my friends are still. I thought I was going to have a heart attack the first time I had something hanging on the wall of a studio art show! I turned purple and blue and had sweat running down my body...it was truly a traumatic experience for me. And I hid and didn't want anyone to know it was my work hanging there among the other pieces.
Now I go out and listen to the negative (and positive) comments at the shows and it has started to have little to no effect on me anymore. I have realized that no matter how good you are or not...has very little to do with what people will say. The Impressionists were attacked vigorously and refused to be allowed in shows when they first began their 'new art', and today it is loved and adored by millions. You just never know. It really is all a matter of agreement after all.
a cuppa coffee
I tried to post here earlier this morning and ended up deleting the whole thing because I couldn't think properly. There's nothing new about this...it happens all the time. It's just that when you post something out there in public for others to read, it's important to try not to look like a complete idiot. Now that I am having a latte, I might get the correct mind-think going...it's that age old consideration...have to have the coffee to get going. Actually, I quit drinking coffee for the most part until my recent trip...and while I was out roaming the countryside and visiting friends and family, I fell back into the habit of it because everyone else seemed to be drinking coffee in the morning.
I am going to go back to drinking much less coffee, however. In spite of the mental benefits, I don't actually think it does my body much good at all...nor do the health gurus in the books that I have been reading this year. Coffee gives me a good reason to get up in the morning..it has become that kind of addiction.
I wish that I felt that way about painting..."can't wait to get up and paint in the morning". But this is not an addiction yet...it's taking a long time to develop the discipline that really good artists have...paint and paint and paint some more. I do it mentally all the time...thinking about mixing the colors, mushing them around to get the right shades, brushing them onto the surface...this is a constant with me. Unfortunately, it doesn't always transfer over into the physical universe so easily. That seems to require much more effort than I am willing to handle. Alas.
When I do get on a painting spree, I make a lot of work all at one time. But all the pros tell me that they do it daily and not in spurts. They consider this to be their 'job' and they do it diligently...their work shows it, too...usually.
When I was working a full-time job I always thought that having nothing but free time to paint would be the solution for me. I have not found this to be the case, however. I used to think that being an artist was all about being happy doing what you were doing. It took me no time at all to realize that painting has its ups and downs like any other occupation. Sometimes things just aren't going the way that you want them to go with a particular painting, and it's so frustrating that you feel like crying. I've had some paintings that I redid 8 times! And of course, they are my better ones.
That's why I am working on my Alla Prima techniques now...doing it all in one sitting is the definition of that term. I'm going to smaller pieces, simpler formats. At some point I am bound to start turning out some pieces that I really love...not there yet!
A good workout
Amen to that...I got one today!!! I was in my storage unit searching for my missing art slides so that I can apply to some shows that have a deadline of Oct. 1st..which is coming up fast. When I moved a few months back, I shoved lots of STUFF into storage, and now I can't find my slides.
I moved mounds of stuff around this morning and was dripping with sweat from my exertion. I never did find the missing slides, but I got about 4 boxes of art books out of there and will be putting most of them up for auction on eBay. Why do I have 75-100 art books in my collection? This is complete insanity. And I got rid of at least 20 of them when I moved a few months back!!! Please, help me...I'm a compulsive art book buyer!!!
They are great for learning new techniques and some of them I can't part with no matter what. But I have taken this idea too far now. Not to mention the fact that DVDs and video tapes are now the best way to go because you actually get to see the artist at work! My collection of them is still quite small, but I have watched each of them repeatedly...it's fascinating to me to watch an artist at work.
So the books have got to go. I think I will set myself a target of 30 art books max. I am in the process of selling mostly watercolor books at this point because now I am into oil and acrylics instead. Selling books on eBay is easy and fun...people clamor to get bids in on them...it's great! I look forward to the day when buyers are clamoring to purchase my artwork like that...
Cirque du Soleil
I've made plans to take my girlfriend to Orlando this weekend to see La Nouba...she recently suffered a big loss and I'm hoping that this event will help her to feel better. The show is Saturday night and we will spend the weekend in Orlando. I'm very excited about it because both she and I absolutely love Cirque du Soleil.
I'm sending out another newsletter today and since it has only been a week since the last one, I hope that people aren't going to get irritated by the frequency. Well, some will, I am sure...and they can opt-out of the newsletters at any time. My friend, Shelly Keck, the Raw Artist, sends out newsletters several times a week and she has a large following of art buyers and collectors. She is very aggressive in her marketing and that seems to be what it takes to be successful in this career, so I am going for it.
I've got a couple more Florida paintings that I want to get finished this week. They are smaller than I usually like to paint, but small makes it easier to ship them. Besides, I'm working on my Impressionsitic style of painting, and I feel more comfortable with the smaller format until I get better at this style. My brushstrokes definately need more work...
Less confusion in the afternoon
Things are smoothing out a bit here in duuuuhhhhland. I have thought further about what I was yammering on about this morning...the learning curve and how steep it can get at times. Particularly for artists who are not techno-nerds. Please, don't get discouraged by this fast-changing computer-based society that we live in. If I can learn how to do some of these things...I KNOW that you can, too.
I have taken a few courses over the years to increase my understanding, and this was very helpful. I found some free classes at the local library last year that went over lots of information about being online, word, excel, etc etc. I was one of the youngest people in these classes! Which was grand in that normally I am surrounded by teenaged people who whiz thru the classes and sit there doodling and playing computer games while I try to catch up on the lessons.
But again, the perseverance factor is very key! The number of times that you go over something, you will find it easier and easier each time. Just don't give up!
All of us artists wish that we could just paint and someone else would handle the marketing, sales, online affairs, etc etc. In a perfect world, this would work, but as we all know...this mudball that we are living on is definately not perfect. So just take a little bit at a time, learn what you can, and listen to what other people tell you. Most artists are more than willing to help a 'newbie' as we all share the dream of a world full of aesthetics and each of us flourishing doing what we love to do. If you have any questions at all, feel free to email me at debcoart33@hotmail.com. I'll do whatever I can to help you and if I can't...I can probably find someone who can.
So...what can you create today???
Monday morning confusion
Somehow yesterday when I created this blog...I managed to create 2 accounts. When I tried to log in this morning, I couldn't find my post from yesterday and after mudding around for about 20 minutes, I finally made my discovery that I was in the wrong account. This techie stuff is enough to make a person crazy.
Particularly if you are in my age bracket! Younger people seem to glean information about how to do something by looking at a computer screen, while myself and others my age go completely blank and get dazed and confused.
I swear...that movie Dazed and Confused should have been written about 55+ people! Who can keep up with this constantly evolving technological age? Yesterday, my son was coming to visit me and sent me a text message on my cell phone.
What???? A text message? This was my first one ever and I had seen all of this on TV, but never considered that such a thing could actually happen to me. My phone didn't beep or ring, so I didn't even know the message was there until he arrived at my home and asked me if I got his message. I thought I was doing so well being able to email people, download photos, and even owning and USING a cell phone...and now there's this text messaging thing to learn? It's not going to be high on my list of priorities.
Figuring out how to blog is also a monumental accomplishment for me. And finding the right account to be in. Using eBay. Without the help from fellow artists on eBay and my son giving me pointers and tips...I don't think that I could ever accomplish what I have done so far.
And now I want to make a video to show me painting...something in QuickTime...meaning it will only be about 2-3 minutes long...which is something else that I saw and learned about on eBay. Shawn (my son) tells me it won't be that difficult to make the video and set it up with a link that I can put into my newsletters to send to people on my email list.
Oh yeah...the newsletter. There again was something that took a lot of struggling for me to accomplish. I must have been monkeying around with the various tutorials on Constant Contact for 6 weeks before I ever managed to get a newsletter sent out. I would do a 10 minute tutorial lesson, get confused and leave the computer, go back and redo it later in the day or even a day or two later...and this went on and on and I was convinced that I would never learn how to do it properly. The eBay artist groups were again helpful to me, as well as the people at Constant Contact.
Just when I have been reduced to tears and am frustrated beyond belief...someone comes along and rescues me. But what I have learned about this learning process is that perservering is the key factor in any of it. Just don't give up...keep going, keep working at something, and eventually you will sort it all out and understand it.
debcoart on the air
Just getting started with this new blog...which has been very intimidating to me for some time now. I have been reading about them forever and a lot more lately in the discussion groups on the eBay art groups in which I am a member. I finally took the leap!
I've been keeping a personal journal almost daily for most of my life..since I was about 12. No, I don't wander around lugging all of the old journals with me...from time to time I have a huge bonfire. I like the process of recording thoughts and working thru my daily processes of creativity and artistry by using the written word. Creativity and painting do not necessarily come easily to me, whereas writing does.
Being an artist rather than a writer...as a profession...is more appealing, however. And if I could sing...believe me...I would be up on the stage doing just that!
What I found the most intriguing about this idea of a blog was...who in the world wants to read the ramblings of a fat old artist? Only time will give me an answer to that question...
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Doodles 124
6:30 am on a Sunday??
Black & White image
Florida 59
Viacom vs Google
Tour de Chaos
Pet Video Contest #10
Klimt revisited
A lot to be grateful for....
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