no more boring art, get personal

It is Friday and my Friday newsletter has been published to my Newsletter Subscription Group...as usual, here is an excerpt...

(If you wonder what is in the newsletter that doesn't appear here, well there is some personal chat and this week I answer a question about my 2015 teaching schedule plus I also posted about my poppy project. I don't want to overwhelm blog readers with a lot of text so I just post the main article. If you would like to recieve the complete newsletter in your in-box each week, visit this link: newsletter)

This week I am going to chat about how as artists we can sometimes start to lose a sense of freshness with our work.

Let me ask you this, is your art feeling a little stale? Are feeling connected to it or do you sometimes feel you are just making ‘pretty’ pictures?

Today’s newsletter has a remedy. I shall give you one way you can really ramp up your connection and your enthusiasm for your art work.

Here is the cover of the latest issue of American Art Collector Magazine:

 

http://www.americanartcollector.com/ July 2014, Issue 105

The artist who did the cover art is Heather Neill: http://heatherneill.com/  

(Her work is gorgeous; do take the time to check out her website. I especially like her room interiors.)

Heather’s work caught my attention from the moment I saw the magazine. I immediately wanted to know why she chose this subject.

Why did she choose to paint two older fellows, looking out to sea? I doubted she was enraptured by their um, buttocks! J

I suspected there was a story and I love art that tells a story or captures a mood; art that conveys something.

I quickly flipped through the magazine to read her story. Heather stated that she painted these two gentlemen just for herself and she said that these portraits were “very personal and straight from the heart”.

  She went on to say that “these portraits are all about love at the deepest part of my soul.” Woo-hoo. That is something to aspire to in our art!

One of the fellows in the painting was 97 yrs old and a long time friend. He died last year and his friend Pete, also in the painting, died shortly after. “I needed to see the two of them together – relating to each other but really relating to the ocean. They would sit together and wouldn’t look at each other and would exchange maybe five words in the three hours.”

So, there was a story and what she was painting was meaningful and personal for her.

So what does this have to do with you?    Well, I ask you, is your work personal?

Or are you just going through the motions, doing another still life, floral, or landscape even though you feel rather bored by it all? Maybe folks like these paintings, they expect this from you. Or perhaps you have done them so often you are comfortable, (and therefore safe, no risk involved if you do what you have already mastered). Maybe they sell well and you don’t want to rock the boat.

If your answer is yes, and you feel like your work has gone a bit stale and become a bit ho-hum why not try my fix:

My remedy is for you to examine your motives and put yourself back into the art making process.

Decide to do work that is personal, meaningful. Choose passion.

Even if you are a beginner, the best way to ensure that you will hang in there, doing what it takes to get better, is to do art that you want to do.

I occasionally hear people say that they took a drawing class and it wasn’t for them. When I start asking questions, I find out that they were drawing something that bored them to tears. Imagine spending every Monday night for 12 weeks drawing the same fruit basket arrangement. And yes, drawing classes like that do exist.

Why not draw and paint what you are passionate about?

If you want to draw dogs instead of still lifes, draw dogs! Simple, no?

(I took piano lessons as an adult and I couldn’t get into the kiddie stuff. I asked my teacher for something meaningful and she found me beginner classical stuff. I was soon learning a watered down version of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and it was a darn site better than plunking along with train songs and froggie stories.)

Bottom line, your art supplies are at risk of getting covered in dust, if at some point your art doesn’t make your heart sing.

The next time you choose a subject, before you grab your paint brushes or pencils, ask yourself why you would spend time on this.

Is the subject meaningful to you, is there a story (and it is okay if only you know the story), does this ‘float your boat’, is there a flicker of love for the subject, some passion?  If the answer is yes, proceed with joy and enthusiasm. If not, I suggest you pass.

your summer reading list and your stash

My Friday newsletter just went out to my subscribers. Here is an excerpt that continues with my theme of how we can add art to our summer holidays...

What is on your summer reading list?

Have you noticed the book reviews that come up in early summer, citing all the hot picks and the recommended best sellers to take to the beach?

Well forget those lists.

Who needs the latest who-done-it or romantic drama? Not you – you have your own mysteries to solve and your own romance to immerse yourself in – and yes I shall explain...

But first up, I am going to get you rooting around in your stash again. And by the way, turns out many of you found some fun things in your stash exploration two weeks ago (thanks for the emails). I posted one of my own stash finds on my FB biz page. (in case you missed it:  Facebook )

This time though, we are not exploring your stash of unfinished work, we are exploring your stash of art books. Yes, those piles of books that normally gather dust in the various corners of your house are now going to get your attention.

You are an art lover – which inevitably means that over the years you have acquired books - probably lots of them – everything from how to books, to coffee table sized art picture books, to biographies. Oh and let’s not forget about art magazines, maybe you have a few of those. (I have way more than a few.)

You assignment is to go find those books and magazines.

Forget the book store’s who-done-it, go solve your own mystery – pick up that book on colour theory (or whatever topic you have wanted to know more about), perhaps that beginners book on oil or pastel or whatever medium you thought you wanted to learn about. Seek to solve the mystery this summer by examining these books closely.

Romance – hum, well a lot of us eventually end up taking art for granted, it is just this ‘thing’ in our lives. Now is the perfect time to fan those flames of interest and to fall back in love with everything about art.

A fabulous way to do this is to gaze upon the gorgeous art in your books. How can you not get stirred up when viewing such delights? Seriously folks, this works. You will find yourself stirred up, suddenly feeling the urge to grab that sketch pad or the canvas or perhaps even motivated to sign up for a course.

(And guess who has just a few spots left in two coloured pencil courses this fall? Click here for details: classes)

 

 

Besides your stash, your local library is another great resource for some free reading to take to the deck or the cottage. Take out a book on a medium or a style of art that you thought you didn’t like (dare to get reacquainted), grab a biography on a famous artist (turns out they struggled with the same stuff you do) or explore your favourite time in art history.  Your library will have some of those gorgeous coffee table books too but be warned, they can make that beach bag pretty heavy to carry!

So here is your call to action, finish this newsletter, then leave your computer and go find those art books. It will be like hearing from a friend that you haven’t heard from in ages...relish the delights of reconnecting.

I would love to hear what you found to read this summer. You can leave a comment on my FB page, on my blog or you can write me an email.

Enjoy.