Pride & The Struggle

                                                                       Unfinished

There needs to be a struggle with one's painting. Without a struggle there is no art. Struggles come when we are learning. When our vision is greater than our abilities. We push for perfection not knowing what perfection is. Only when we recognize perfection do we understand why we are struggling. We want each painting  to be better than the last which creates the question of what is better? So we need to better define for ourselves. These are all ideas passing through my mind when working as an artist.

I create the struggle though challenging myself with new ways of presenting old subjects or taking on totally new subjects. My struggle, at present, is how impressionistic to go with my present painting. Too impressionistic and it will not be me. The subject is totally me but how I handle the paint could totally lose my characteristic look. Pride will not let me go too far astray from how I do things, I want people to recognize my work without having to look for my signature.

For me impressionism is a difficult style. Photorealism, for me, is fairly simple. It is just spending more time working on a single piece. With impressionism each stroke matters. I take my time placing each stroke and every stroke has a different color. Maybe I am doing it all wrong and that is why I struggle so much... One peony took me all day to capture on canvas the other day because of how I wanted it to look. I wanted it to look as though I just whipped it in there, but still have some of the individual characteristics of the peony I had actually photographed. It required some careful placement of each stroke . Had I used live peonies some would have been put into the painting dead... I love painting from life which is something I struggle with. It hurts my pride to resort to photos, but to get what I want in this case I have to use photos or artificial flowers. 

In my head I see these paintings that I struggle with framed and hanging in people's homes before the canvas is even on the easel. I see my collectors pausing to look at them and smiling, appreciating the work I put into them with out seeing the work itself. I want to lift their spirits and so I paint visual candy. I am lifting my own spirits while doing these paintings so I do not mind the struggle as long I get a smile at the end of completing each painting. I myself need those smiles at times. 

Artists are aware of all that is depressing going on in the world. Sandy Hook threw me off for weeks and still does. I paint for myself but my hope is I am helping in someway with what I do. I know seeing the works of other artist lifts my spirits every day. Thanks Brian, Bruce, Cate and the rest of my buddies on Facebook. Actors, dancers, drummers all make the world a better place.

Painting is Team Work

Coffee and a bagel from Jake's is how I start my day. Some mornings I have them at Jake's and bug other patrons with my stare, trying to see if they will spark a possible painting. Other mornings I have my coffee in my studio at my computer checking out the art people post. Butter all over my key board, I type in comments and press the "like" button a few times, and when I really like something I hit the "share" button. 

Every so othen something will cause me to pause and really think. The other day it was a painting in which the artist did not consider how people might see his painting. His painting was obviously done from a good photo, what he missed were the hands in the photo and how they were in bad positions to translate into a great painting. People accept things in a photo because people believe everything in a photo to be true. Where a figure appears to have only three fingers on each hand in the photo, they know the missing fingers are hidden somehow and accept the photos as being perfect. An artist has to realize people look at a painting differently, so that great photo may require some serious thinking.

Too many artist are slaves to photos. I use photos, but I have learned to be the master of my photos. My last painting took twenty-some photos that I actually used, planning for this painting I took hundreds of photos. It began with an image in my head then a photo session with models. I let each model contribute to the painting with how they hold their hands, how their hair falls on the ground, how the dress clings to their hips how theirs eyes connect to each other. One model may be perfect while the other is off just slightly. I need my art on the walls in my galleries to continue telling the stories I want to tell, and to keep those walls, I push  paintings beyond what they can be to what they have to be.  I push my models to push back with challenges, joining in on the creative side.

Painting is team work for me. My mind has to be in the right place. My hands have to be in tune with my mind and the colors on my palette have to speak the language I am working in. Each subject, each still-life, figure, landscape - each have their own language. Painting takes over an artists body, mind and soul. There is an unbelievable peace for me when my paintings smile at me. I thank all my models when I finish, they may not be present but I believe they hear me when they see themselves in my work.