The Artists Life - Painting 101 Class #3

   Here we go - another Monday afternoon and it's 1:15pm. I've done this similar drill, at various locations, I don't know how many times, but it always gets my blood pumping. I walked into a dark, unlit studio space. No one was around. I flipped the light switch on, and the fluorescent lights seem to jump with the voltage now going through them. I put away my painting bag and remove my winter coat. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I take in the faint whiff of the oil paint used in last week's class as a few of the paintings were left behind. I look at them one by one. I began filling the glass jars with paint thinner and set them in their now familiar places. I then ripped out palette paper from the new book I purchased and the sound echoed off the walls. I placed them around the table along with the paper towels.

   When I finished, my students ambled in - well, almost all of them. It turns out that one of the participants preferred watercolor and that this "oil thing" just isn't her cup of tea. That's okay in my book; at least she was honest with me as well as herself. Once everyone settled in, and began smearing paint, my newbie Mary Lou, (remember her?), just sat there. I meandered over to her and gave her some sage advise a mentor gave me a long time ago; "The wonderful thing about oil paint is if you don't like something, you can always paint over it. Take this apple, for instance - you mentioned last week that it didn't look right to you. If you take yellow and white, you can paint over it and blend things into the background. Then, redraw the apple the way you would like it to look."

   "Well, alright then!" She smiled, began mixing colors, blended out what she did not like, and painted in what she did want. I suddenly had one happy painter! I slowly walked around my other students, answered their questions, and offered my advise when asked. Unlike last week, I was total hands off and ego free... well almost.

   Back to my newbie. For a few minutes, I stood quietly behind her and watched her create. I was also attempting to figure out what she was trying to accomplish as I had no idea. Then it finally dawned on me - she was replicating everything in the photo from the window ledge, shells, and the curtain. However, with her brush strokes as well as her color choices, it looked more like an abstract design. Her painting was becoming more interesting than I could have ever imagined. So much for keeping things plain and simple! I hung out with Mary Lou for a bit more as my other students were doing just fine and I only had to field one additional question about colors. It was about 15 minutes before class ended, when my stubborn newbie warmed my heart when she mentioned she was really glad I came to teach her over the past few weeks. That right there, my friends, is what it's all about. It's not about the money, or flaunting your expertise; it's being a grateful mentor.

   3 o'clock came all too soon, and everyone seemed to reach a comfortable point where they could stop for the day. Time to call it done, at least for this week. I felt the same way... until next Monday.

   Until next time,
   Jill

This is the painting that a student started, but dropped the class. In my opinion, it was a beautiful abstract work. I'm encouraging her to keep it.

The "studio" cat.

One of the paintings done by my newbie, mary lou.

The apple painting, also done by Mary Lou.

Water scene; in progress.

The start of yet another masterpiece!

The Artists Life - Painting 101 Class #2

   If you remember from last week I told you how we all survived, myself as well as my students, the first painting class that I'd taught in almost 10 years. The second session proved to be a little less dramatic as we didn't have anyone busting in towards the end of class stating they wanted to be a nude model. I was psyched that my four students arrived eager to begin their projects once again. One student showed me her photo of a painting she did years ago that also won a blue ribbon at a local summer fair. I must admit, it was a beautiful painting, regardless of how long ago it was created. Afterwards, I began wondering to myself, why did she call me originally to teach her to paint? Was I missing something here?

   My ego started punching me in the back of my mind - this is the place where I usually start second guessing myself. For a moment, I felt awkward after talking with her. My ego was jabbing me with thoughts like, "Yeah; why are you here teaching her about painting? She's won a 1st place blue ribbon. What can you offer her?" After I told my ego to shut its mouth, I now had the mindset that I had something to prove - I am a good artist and I am good enough! Which is just what my ego wanted...

   After all my students sat at their places, I gave them instructions to start at the top of their canvas and work from light to darker colors. Then I told them to do any shadows last. Remember my newbie from last week named Mary Lou? She was having a slightly harder time at the color grading than the others, so I helped her a little more than the others. That was ego problem #1; the infamous "you can't do this without me and you need my help".

   Next came an artist / instructor cardinal sin. She got frustrated, sighed, and stopped painting for a moment. That opened the door to ego problem #2; "Let me help you." At that moment I took the paint brush out of her hand and painted on her canvas. This is one thing I promised myself many years ago to never EVER to do to a student and here I was being Miss Control Freak Extraordinaire! It was if I stood out of my body and watched myself do this; similar to a premonition and I was just going through the motions to fulfill it. I finally mentally asked myself, "What the hell are you doing?"

   I quickly handed back the brush to my student, and told her to paint the apple red as best she could and walked around the room to the other students. There was ego problem #3; the tried and true "When all else fails, tell someone to do something and walk away." I returned to my struggling newbie about 5 minutes later. She informed me that the apple in her painting didn't look like an apple at all. I suggested that she set it aside and let the oil paint dry for a while. I asked her if she wanted to work on her Easter egg tree and she happily agreed and seemed visibly relieved.

   At that point, I took a breather myself and gave all my students ample breathing room. From a distance, I could see that my newbie was indeed following the directions I gave her of doing the sky first, then adding the trees and foliage to the background, and finally painted in colored Easter eggs. By that point, she was visibly more happy... way more happy.

   This was a valuable lesson for me, even if it was a refresher. I have to let my students make mistakes. It's how they're going to learn. For example, another student who used to be a watercolor painter, had accidentally poured some thinner into a plastic palette and mixed white acrylic paint in it and now had a horrid blue-grey clumpy sky. In this case, I couldn't stop the mess from happening and it couldn't be fixed. Ironically, she was pleased with her results. From my perspective, I was ready to try and "fix it". From her perspective, however, it was all good. Since it's her painting, it's her perspective that matters.

   The third class is tomorrow. I should have the kinks worked out in regards to my class. No unnecessary drama, leave my ego at the door, and let my students be students. Oh, and finally - have fun! Of course, if everything goes to hell in a hand basket, I can always click my heels three times and make each painting perfect... or possibly go back home to my studio... or something like that.

   Until next week,
   Jill

The Artists Life - Painting 101

   Remember last week I mentioned that I was going to start teaching art classes again? Some wise person (of Asian decent I believe) once said, "The hardest part of any journey is the first step." Still so true. It was one thing when a former student emailed me about a month or so ago and inquired if I would teach again. It was one thing when the activity director of the organization agreed on a time frame as well as a price for teaching. It was one thing gathering together all my supplies, my easel, and a materials list. It was an entirely different thing walking into the large recreation area on that lovely, sunny afternoon last Monday about 15 minutes before the class started.

   To my credit, my energy was running high all day along with anticipation. Nervousness really wasn't part of the equation. Even after I met the director face-to-face, I still felt confident. The room contained a very large table with four easels for my students to use. In case there was a student or two that showed up at the last minute, the director was prepared with two more floor easels at each end of the table. I was impressed! I set up my large easel as well as my palette tray with burnt umber (brown) and titanium white at opposite ends. One of my main goals that day was to make sure my students could grasp the concept of mixing colors and finding the right values. This step is called the under-painting.

   After my students meandered in, we had introductions, as well as a brief conversation of everyone's skill level. My former student was fairly modest in her expression of her skill level. It was apparent that she kept on painting and creating over the 10 years since the last time we painted together. Her initial sketch of the seaside landscape she wanted to paint was nothing short of amazing! Two other students admitted they had painted before, but felt they needed some "refresher" pointers. The fourth student confessed she had zero experience at all. Even though I told my students before hand to bring in a picture they would like to paint - which they did - my newbie did not. So, while the other three artists went off pretty much on their own, I hung with beginner named Mary Lou, and we began painting the basic work I had brought to the class; a still life with apples.

   However, before we began, Mary Lou had to switch glasses so she could see her canvas better. While she did that, I briefly went around the room to check on my other three students. Good thing I did, because one of ladies who needed "refresher" points was painting her work on the palette paper, not the canvas that was off to her right. I gently corrected her, she retrieved the canvas, and her partner-in-crime ribbed her a little about it. She coolly responded, "Thank you Jill. Getting old sucks. You're doing a great job. Now go find something wrong with her painting!" as she pointed to her friend. Wow!

   Back to my newbie Mary Lou. We managed to mix colors well, get the sketch part of the painting finished, dabble into perspective a bit, and get an under-painting done. Not bad for 90 minutes! As we began cleaning up, a rather large woman who was also extremely buxom burst into the room and flamboyantly flung her arms into the air and proclaimed, "I'm here to be your nude model!" It's been a while since I've been totally speechless. After about five seconds, I managed to compose myself, went over to our visitor and we shook hands. She just laughed and mentioned she was there to see her friend Mary Lou. I was grateful my first class did not have a display of exhibitionism.

   The activity director came in before everyone was finished and the paintings were still out to be seen. She snapped a few pictures for the organization. She seemed very pleased, as were my students, with this first go around. Thank God she didn't witness the almost naked model audition. After we all finished cleaning up, I collected my fees for my time - business is business after all - but at least we kept a huge element of fun in it... and that's the most important aspect of all.

Until next time,
Jill

The Artists Life - The Snail Farm

   Greetings from coastal Maine in almost mid-February! What this means is, the weather patterns are starting to change. It is yet another dreary weekend, weather wise, outside my windows. Most of the landscape consists of gray skies, snow that's dull in color due to getting watered down by rain drops, or the fact that they're dirty snow banks, and darkened soaked bare trees. You can tell Spring is just over a month away. It's not the prettiest time of year and this is one reason why so many people from northern New England take their vacations and go to warmer, sunnier climates. Mid to late winter fever is starting to set in who are still here. This is especially true when my two oldest grandkids came over to visit for a short spell.

   While I know kids will be kids, and being brother and sister does not help. They are 12 and 11 and getting very good at it. There must be some unwritten, innate law, where brothers and sisters MUST get on each others nerves that has been passed down through the generations. It happened with my brother and I, and it happened with my Mom and her sisters. Sometimes however, we as adults can't escape the occasional bickering, complaining, or bitching. For example, my husband Dave and I played a rousing game of Life with the grand-kiddos. For the um-teenth time, Dave picked the card where he purchases a snail farm for the tidy sum of $50,000 dollars while exclaiming that the game was rigged in some way. The tension mounted as everyone except my grand-daughter was sued by another player, whether it was vandalizing one's fence or smashing another persons prized tomatoes. After a few hours of that and other visiting, I was exhausted! Life whether the game or for real - is indeed exhausting at times. Sometimes I feel the art world can hold the same.

  If "life is what you make it", then interesting is the key word. I began Monday creating three more 8x10 inch oil paintings. I managed to complete one of the works, while the other two are in progress (and they still are). The second still had a perspective flaw and the third had a poor color choice for the water; it became too green for my liking. No matter what I did to those two paintings on Tuesday, I couldn't get either one to "behave", so I put them aside. By the next day, I had to pack my supplies away because I was going to be away for the next two days. By the time I returned, it was practically the weekend, visiting all four of my grandkids, as well as other friends stopping by for a visit. As a result, my paintings are having ample time to dry. If I venture into my studio and sit on the sofa I have there, the paintings can also taunt me because they are not only unfinished, but they also know I don't have the time to seriously work on them. If anyone believes the artists life is easy, then they are not an artist or doing it solo with no other income or both.

   However, this weekend was not a total loss, by any means. I made life what it was meant to be; seeing family and friends, going out on Saturday night with Dave to a coffee shop and seeing a cool, local band, cooking up a storm with him in our smallish kitchen, submitting our book to four more publishers in New York, or hitting up yet another gallery in hopes in displaying my works. Of course, Dave mentioned yet again that we need to open up our own gallery in either Rockland or Camden where there's lots of foot traffic and tourists. I know he's right - we both feel it in our hearts. We just need the right place at the right time. Ten to fifteen years ago, we would've both rushed into an endeavor like that head first and then wondering why 12 months later it failed. Today, we know better and it will come to pass... they way it's meant to be.

Until next time,
Jill

The Artists Life - The Dream Is In The Details

You are what your deep, driving desire is.

As your desire is, so is your will.

As your will, so is your deed.

As your deed is, so is your destiny.

 - The Upandshads

   Seems pretty heavy, doesn't it? But bear with me for a minute here, and I'll get to the main gist of this as well as the relation to art. First, let's dig a little deeper and clarify a bit;

"If you become crystal clear on how you would love your life, to such a degree that you can't see anything but that, it's almost impossible for you not to get it. Absolute clarity adds vitality and enthusiasm to your actions. You won't rise above and beyond anything you're charged and emotional about, so the best way to do what you love is to love what you are doing right now. State your dream clearly, and then ask yourself how what you're doing right now is preparing you for your dreams. When you love and are grateful for what is, you get the power to turn it into what you love. If you know that no matter what happens, your life is serving your dreams, then nothing can stop you."
 - from the book, The Breakthrough Experience; A New Approach to Personal Transformation, by Dr. John F. Demartini.

   So - what are we saying here? If you are sick and tired of the way your life has been going lately, or over the past decade or two, this book may shed light on your inner challenges as it did for me. Life follows certain principles and when we don't adhere to them, our lives can become a shamble. This book was a combination of three others I've read before. Only one concept was new to me. And while I can't explain it all here, I am still in the process of working the experience.

   However, I am grateful to have read the book, and to be grateful for where I live. Even though our current residence is tiny, I still have studio space where I've been able to paint almost daily for the past two weeks. Currently, I am only using a palette knife on 8x10 inch canvases and hoping I'm creating art that is worthwhile. I sold one work last week, and I've been showing the other works that have garnered positive reviews. I had two or three works that received mixed to colder reviews, but that's to be expected.

   With my somewhat new-found style, I have approached a few galleries over the past three days. While I have to submit images and follow some industry procedures, the meet-and-greet as well as the conversations went very well. One positive aspect is that all these galleries do not have spaces for large works, so the owners were pleased they were smaller in scale.

   Every day I do what I love and work towards my goal - to get more of my art out into the world; to spread the love. This week, I was challenged by too much detail for too small a space in one painting. In another, mixing the colors on the canvas had become tedious. Finally, on the third painting, creativity in creating a floral pleased me immensely.

   I know this a loaded question, but I'm putting it out to the blogging world and the internet void; which painting works the best for you? You don't have to explain yourself in great detail, but what draws you to a particular work? What do you like about one or more of the paintings, even though the style may not be the status quo? It's okay - let yourself go.

   Until next time,
   Jill

 

The Artists Life - The Game Of Life

   Who thought a classic board game that's been around (the modern versions anyways) since the early 1960's would be the source of this weeks blog? Our two oldest grandchildren expressed a deep interest for the game, so my husband Dave went to the local big-box and purchased the newest version of The Game Of Life for a mere $15 including tax. During the weekly grand-kiddo visit, we engaged in a wild, laughter-filled, sometimes stressed out, three hour jaunt into this board game. First off, this is not the same version I played as a child, nor even the one we played when our kids were young - not by a long shot. And what on earth does this have to do with art or being an artist?

   While some aspects were similar, like choosing our careers, numerous things were different. I was totally bummed that the profession of "Artist" was no longer available. What?? So, I became a doctor with a 130,000 dollar salary each pay day. Okay - not bad. For some reason, my husband Dave was a secret agent. Apparently, you now go to college for this. He also had a hot pink car, so he must sold Mary Kay products as a part-time job while in school. My grandson was an actor, until he got fired for bringing his cat to work, then became a singer. My granddaughter was a dancer, but also got fired (for sleeping on the job) and then became a professional softball player. Did you also know that when a player gets married, you have the option of choosing a same-sex or opposite-sex partner? Welcome to 2018.

   Throughout the game, we all went on vacations, paid for various things (besides houses and kids), but also did some pretty funky ventures. For example, my husband purchased a snail farm for $50,000, and I made $90,000 for cooking everyone's favorite pancakes without screwing them up. And this from a person who hates to cook. Glad it was worth ninety large for me. Another "venture" I had to participate in was telling jokes so an opponent would laugh. I found that I was seriously out of touch with funny jokes that I could tell an 11-year old and make her laugh. Between the cooking and the panic of not knowing any humorous bylines, I got seriously stressed. On the other side of the coin, I enjoyed a trip to France, made $50,000 from selling flowers from my garden and the home I purchased a "luxury" house. These turns during the game made me feel good.

   I realized something towards the end of the game - it really tapped into my likes and dislikes. My dreams as well as my fears. Either that, or I was being the artist that I am and taking this way too seriously and emotionally. But, as a professor once said, those last two attributes are what make you a good artist. My question is - why does life, the real thing or a family board game - have to be stressful, emotional, and competitive? Perhaps if it wasn't, and life was always massively easy and complacent, it would boring as fuck.

   The game ends when every player retires, sells all their assets, (including any and all houses, playing cards, and even the children!!) and then we all count up our funds. As usual, the person with the most money "wins". A deciding factor for a game, yes. But in real life, no. After the game concluded, my grandson inquired about my latest oil paintings I had completed and were in the process of drying. He asked what was the most money I had ever made form one of my paintings. I responded that to date, I sold a 24"x30" abstract for $1,850 dollars and one of my recent 8"x10" works (that was still drying) sold for $250 dollars this week. He was very surprised. This is one of the big differences between real life and a game. That dollar figure was very real. As a result, I told him I have to take my art very seriously. It's my "true and real" career. It's all fun to toss around play paper money that is supposedly worth $100,000 dollars, and basically engage in fantasy, but real life isn't like that. Lots of victories and challenges. Ups and downs.

   Painting is my life  - and while it's fun, it's also not a game.

   Until nest time,
   Jill

The Artists Life - Ambition 2018

   While cleaning out a cluttered corner of my studio this morning, I came across an issue of Professional Artist magazine and began perusing its pages. The first article I stopped at was all about ambition. The dictionary defines the term as a strong desire to do or achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work as well as an ardent desire for rank, fame, or power. Ambitions roots can be tied to a striving politician hungering for votes and clawing for power which connotes stepping on others to achieve status or fame. It's no wonder we feel so horrid at times about our own ambitions. They don't feel associated to the creative process in which its purest forms involves opening, deepening, and letting go - not plotting your next power play. So basically, there's nothing wrong with ambition; we just need the right role model or mentor.

   Yet ambition can be a positive force... the reason we push through a creative project. It can be the fuel we need to market our work and to present it out into the world - and not at the expense of others. I consider ambition to be a projects life force that moves through me... an activated desire. I have clarity about what I want and the perseverance to pursue it. I know ambition to be a powerful motivating factor to seeing my projects completion. Ambition has definitely kept me active and pursuing opportunities. I keep applying myself to new goals and stretching for things that may still be far out of my reach in the hopes of getting my art out into the world.

   "What I love about ambition is that "success" is a mountain with no top. There are endless vistas along the way where we get to rest a bit and enjoy the view before trekking on to what will transform us and our work next," states the author of the article Sage Cohen.

   Another article I read in the same magazine was about teaching art online. Hmmm. My inner wheels are turning. This week has alerted me to the wants and needs of various people in my community. I received a phone call from a former student of mine wanting me to teach palette knife painting, as well as possibly some other mediums, at her center of living. Over the course of this past weekend, I spent some time with my only grand-daughter who, off the cuff while I was teaching her the craft of rug hooking, said that I should be an art teacher - that I was good at teaching. I flashed back to the days almost 20 years ago when I taught art briefly in the public school system. Like many school systems today, there were far too many students in one class and I had to assign a grade to each and every art project that came across my desk. I've always felt that art shouldn't be "graded", but each work appreciated for it's merits.

   Eighteen months ago, my husband Dave has procured himself a much better digital camera that also has the capability to take decent video. When I received the magazine I was currently re-reading two years ago, we did not have the skills nor the equipment to produce a quality video. Perhaps I didn't realize it then, but maybe a seed was planted. Last night, the wheels in my head started turning concepts into ideas and things were in high gear. My goal is produce at least ten videos of my paintings from beginning to completion. I will have to re-prefect my knife painting techniques as it has been quite a long time since I've used one on a daily basis. The small local class my former student inspired me on will hopefully come to fruition and that will also get my feet wet again in regards to teaching, as I have not taught a class in well over five years.

   With said ideas and wheels turning in my head, I can sometimes get ungrounded. I had to dig out some of my older supplies and I had Dave go through the huge closet that's in my studio. He was about five minutes into the job when he asked me if I was sure they weren't the corner that I would eventually clean out. I didn't think so, but lo and behold, he was right. This is why I enlist his help with so many aspects of my art business - he keeps me grounded.

   Happiness is discovering. In the end, after all the decluttering, I found I had all the supplies I need to begin on this ambitious adventure. Yes, I am still involved with my sketchbook project that's going to New York and that is ahead of schedule. I won't start filming these videos until March after the sketchbook project is done and off to Brooklyn. I can block out an hour or two each day or as needed. I need to practice my creative process and get used to talking about it - to myself - as I go; that's going to be the weird part.

   I have to remember to take all this one day at a time. First things first. As I finished the article, I put the magazine down and raised my mug to take a sip of my now luke-warm tea. The quote on my tea bag stated the following; "If you let yourself be successful, you shall be successful." Works for me!

   Until next time,
   Jill