"Paintings With Personality"

I saw this young woman at the playground when I was there with my granddaughter. I loved her look as she watched and waited for her son.

One day last week Honey went to a NJWCS board meeting at Gallery 1275 in Fairfield, NJ. Before he left, he asked me if I needed anything from Home Depot. I couldn’t think of a thing so off he went, after the customary good-bye kiss, of course. A few hours after Honey left, nature called. I headed to the ladies room (I’m trying to be polite) but when I flushed nothing happened. Why is it that something always goes wrong when Honey isn’t home? I lifted the back off the tank and saw a hook, holding the chain, had rusted through. That’s no big deal when you have the stuff to fix it, so I called my friend who owns Gallery 1275 and let her know that the commode (again trying to be polite) wouldn’t flush. I asked her to give Honey a message telling him to get the mechanism to fix the toilet (tired of being polite).

Lots of things get rusty, even people get rusty. Artists who don’t paint on a regular basis get rusty. This past year I figured out that a painter can also get rusty in a medium. I spent almost a full year painting in acrylic on canvas then a month ago I tried to do a watercolor. After throwing out at least three, maybe four, paintings, I’m still not satisfied with the results. I’ll try again tomorrow. The main thing is, never give up.

In art, we often learn more from our starts than from our finishes. Every painter has trashed a work of art at one time or other, the important thing is that we learn and grow. We take what we learned from our not so good paintings on to the next painting and we grow. That requires overcoming our disgruntled feelings and fears of failure and beginning all over again. There are many problems in art and that can be discouraging. The problems are inescapable; working our way through difficulties is how we improve. It is essential that we love what we are doing and keep at it every possible moment.

Daily living can be exhausting; we all have many things to do in addition to making art. If not careful our love of painting could become dread of painting and that isn’t what we want. We must have passion for our craft and taking a break can help us have that love. We shouldn’t guilt ourselves into painting but know when we need a break and set a time for when we will get back to work.

The break provides us with the space for progress and gives us a fresh viewpoint. When we get back we know what hasn’t been working and why. Getting away and resting gives us the answers we couldn’t find before. Perhaps we brought all the angst on ourselves to begin with. People often create difficulties for themselves and artists are no different. Often what we considered an unsuccessful painting looks better when we get back with fresh eyes and emotions. Creativity is there when we are relaxing and not forcing the art.

Speaking of breaks, I have decided to take a month long blogging break. I need some serious painting time without distractions and I hope to get that in September. I’ll be back Thursday, October 2^nd with a new and fresh outlook.

True contentment for an artist begins in the studio. 

Please leave your comments and suggestions.