Dare we discuss?

Do you dream about art? If so, in what way? Do dream you are painting or working on something or do you perhaps get inspiration for your work from your dreams?

I confess I don't normally dream about art but I have had a couple of art dreams recently. The other night I had a dream in which I was painting abstracts. I think I was using acrylic or oil (not cps!) on canvas. I remember one work in particular quite vividly - I loved the composition of the piece as well as the colours that had been used. One day I am going to use this dream as the inspiration to create a piece that will hopefully look something like the one I imagined.

A few years ago, I had another dream in which I was painting abstracts. I was using cardboard type shapes - circles and rectangles - to block out areas. On these paintings I was using very thick paint, impasto style. Again, I considered trying to create what I had seen in the dream but I never did get around to it. I find it interesting that in both of these dreams I was painting abstracts with brushes and paint, not with my much loved pencils. Over the years this hasn't been my usual subject nor my usual method of working.

The other art dream that I had recently took place one night a few weeks ago. I must have been working on my CPSA exhibition entries at the time. In the dream, I had just arrived in California (where this year's convention and exhibition is taking place) and I was at the hotel. I went off to attend some sort of workshop or meeting and I remember not seeing anyone that I knew or recognized. I remember being surprised that the folks I had met in Atlanta last year had not gone to the convention this year. The dream then became rather disturbed - I couldn't find my way to my room, the doors had several different numbers on them, none of the numbers corresponded with the number on my key, I was going to be late for something, I was hungry and the restaurants had closed, I still couldn't find my room, I asked some people if they could help me and while I was being 'helped' my credit cards were stolen...not really an art dream now, yikes! Anyway, when I woke up, I remember being very glad that it had all been a dream and then I thought ruefully - hey, at least my art got accepted into the exhibition! :-) Of course the jury is still out on that one in real life...

So will you take a moment to delve into the workings of your subconscious and will you dare to discuss your art dreams? Tell me, do you dream about art too?

Dare we discuss?

Do we dare discuss procrastination?

Does this even apply to us?Really, one would wonder that artists ever wish to procrastinate. I mean don't we just absolutely love what we do - getting to be creative and all?

Well, what about that commission you know you should be working on, or that last one in your latest series that isn't really too exciting for you these days? You get the idea...

So what leads you to procrastinate and what things do you do when you attempt to avoid your work?

Me, I am apt to start procrastinating when a piece is almost finished. I have spent a lot of time on it and I am liking how it looks. I know that spending a few more hours to bump up values and such will really add to the piece but I start to get bored and I get itching to work on something fresh. I am also prone to put off working on a piece if I hit a technically difficult part or an area in which I have done the fun stuff and only the other stuff remains (like the background on Neptune's Leaves, many, many inches to cover and lots of pigment to get down).

I tend to put off dealing with the non-art part of the business. I receive many emails every week from arts organizations. They are advising me of conferences in other cities, opportunities to participate in charity auctions, would I like to participate in their art in the park exhibition this summer - that sort of thing. I need to think about these opportunities and see how they fit into my plans so unfortunately I cannot just delete or file these items as they appear. Also, if I am teaching, I tend to procrastinate setting up my studio as a teaching room (because I love it as a working studio) and I tend to put off printing off the material for the students and cutting the paper they need, etc. Dead boring...I also put off framing in a big way! (Simply because it is a lot of work.)

So that is what I procrastinate and now for what I do when I wish to procrastinate. Well, if I am at my drafting table and I start to get fidgety, my first act of diversion is to head to the kitchen for a cup of tea or something. Or I can suddenly need to get out of my chair to change the CD. I just might select a CD that requires some singing along and dancing... :-) I might think of something that I had been meaning to look up on-line and well gosh if I don't do it now I might forget later. I can be overwhelmed with a desire to check my email, or check for comments on my latest blog post. I will also start going through my reference images - I'm working, just working on my next piece. :-) Finally, I can procrastinate by sorting and organizing the stuff in my studio - this one is rather a last resort.

So now it is your turn in the discussion. Do you procrastinate? What are you avoiding doing and what are your preferred acts of procrastination? (I'm sure someone will mention chocolate!)

Dare we discuss?

Welcome to the first post in my new "Dare we discuss?" series. My hope is that you will choose to be part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts and ideas. As artists we often work in isolation. My goal here is for us to have a chance to chat about all sorts of art related topics. There will be thought provoking questions as well as ones that will require some true confessions! I am looking forward to this series and remember the more the merrier - don't be shy, please join in and leave a comment.

Today we dare to discuss what we wish we had known. Yes, that's right, what are some of the things you wish you had known when you started your art career? Humm...

I guess I need to go first here...

I wish I had known how much time it would take to become a 'player'. I found that I could do all of the right stuff, hand out business cards, run ads, do shows, have a website etc. and many people would still not remember who I was nor what I did - at least not initially. Business experts say that your name has to be before someone 7 times before they start to notice you. I would start analyzing my efforts, tweaking my ads or my business cards when the truth was I just needed to be patient and stay in the game. Successfully breaking into an established arts community can take a lot more time than one might imagine. I think artists need to know that they need to be determined and they need to persevere.

I wish I had known how much time the business side of my art career would take. Of course I knew I wouldn't get to do art all of the time but I confess my expectations were not in line with my current reality.

I wish I had known I would need storage. It doesn't take long for the stuff of art to pile up. I naively started out working in a spare bedroom, using the closet as storage. I had no idea... :-)

I wish I had known how friendly and welcoming other artists are. In my early days, I held back from getting involved in arts groups because the folks involved seemed to me to be the local pros. I was waiting until I was 'good enough' to join. I missed out on commaraderie and support.

Enough from me. Time to hear your thoughts on this. What is it that you wish you had known when you started your art career? See you in the comments section...and I thank you in advance for joining in!