Me, Teach Art?

I have been encouraged on a couple of occasions to teach art. The problem for me is that I don’t understand why someone would want to watch me show them how to paint something so they could go away and duplicate what I have shown them.

To me it’s kind of like getting instructions on how to write songs from David Bowie.

I wouldn’t want to learn how to write “The Wide Eyed Boy From Freecloud” it’s been written.

Art is predominantly about the war to secure some kind of originality. It’s kind of hard to work towards that goal if you are being shown how to paint or being provided with too many techniques.

Take Sandra for example:

http://www.sandramucciardi.com/

You can’t teach that kind of art.

That art is the result of someone who has discovered something from within.

Granted, there is brilliant technique there. That takes some knowing. That takes quite a few late nights of agony. Perhaps she did learn a couple of techniques from a mentor or two over the years… and yet, maybe she didn’t.

But there is something very loud going on.

I’ll tell you what it is…

It is art that clearly represents the person who created it. The hesitation has completely gone (if it was ever there to begin with) . It’s like hearing a Alicia Keys song– you listen with confidence because you just know she is always going to hit every note because it’s no longer about technique, it is all about who she is.

What comes to mind when you look at Sandra’s art?

Well for me….

Purity.

An unrelenting dedication to something or someone close in her life outside of art.

A reminder that we all have a purpose – therefore keep searching because these eyes are looking out for you.

Perhaps Sandra is looking out for someone.

There is a sense of…

“I have had some experience with life, I have not let it make me jaded. There is so much that is still very mysterious about life” in there too.

The thing is, I don’t even know Sandra personally.

And yet I somehow managed to pick up a few things about her through her art.

But I’m certainly not an art critic. I don’t need to be. I am the public. I just need to know what I like.

So my point is, you don’t need to learn technique as much as you need to learn how to get your voice on the canvas.

Focus on the message and less on the paint.

That is the only real art lesson I can give in terms of “how to paint”.

However, I truly appreciate the requests I have had for me to show you a few things, but I have to be honest and tell you that I really am not in the business of teaching art.

Besides, I wouldn’t even know where to start (wink).

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Is Someone Making A Virtual Buck From Your Art?

I received an email some months ago from a lady who is a player/participant on the virtual world game…

Second life.

If you haven’t heard of second life, in summary here it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life

It’s not my thing, but it has given some people a chance of living out their fantasy world.  SL actually has it’s own currency (Linden Dollars). You can buy Linden Dollars with US dollars.

And Linden dollars is exchangeable to US dollars. I’m led to believe the exchange rate is something like L$275–285 per US$1

Anyway…

This lady wrote to tell me that she owned an art gallery in SL and that she had been selling images of my art (obviously taken from my website at CAKUart) to people who want art for their “virtual homes”

Kooky, but true.

Due to some new enforced copyright issues, people such as the lady who owned the gallery were forced to re-assess where and how they were accessing and distributing the art and images of real life artists.

Hence why I was contacted.

Ultimately she wanted permission to continue using my images to on sell to people who wanted some cool art for their virtual homes.

I rejected her request.

It’s nothing personal, its just business.

I said that unless I can see how the images of my art were being distributed for sale, and how they were being represented in her gallery, I no longer wanted her using them and requested that she delete them from her gallery.

I am aware that there are artists using SL to promoted their art. I have even heard of one story where an artist has done quite well for himself in terms of recognition. His popularity as an artist has shifted from the virtual world to the real life world.

Good for him.

Though I wonder if all that time spent on SL promoting his art could have been time better spent promoting his art in the real world.

Who knows for sure.

What’s your opinion on this?

Perhaps you are an artist who is using SL to promote your art. If so, how is it working out?

Or have you had any similar experienced with virtual galleries using your art to sell the images to members of SL so they can decorate their virtual homes and offices?

Perhaps you don’t even know they are using your images. Do you care or are you not phased by it?

Power to you and your art!

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Missing Out

There is a popular art and music festival happening in my home town in December. Like always, I am so head on in my work I forget to arrange to have a spot in the festival.

Yeah… I have made notes so many times to contact the organisers… but missed the boat this time. In other words, I missed my spot as entries are now officially closed.

So I request the cancellation spot (it’s not the first time either).

Essentially, I am asking the organisers to “pick me” first should there be a cancellation from another artist.

I’m not betting on getting in, but I have glued my “huge interest” to the organisers consciousness at least… I think…I hope (gulp).

Things like this TRULY annoy me because I am generally punctual with most aspects of keeping my art biz pointing upwards. But I have to be honest and admit that I do sometimes drop the ball.

I have no one to blame but my self.

Yeah, I will swear at the walls for a day… but then I’ll encourage myself with, “Hey wait a minute, you may still get in… so don’t lose hope yet,” kind of talk.

It’s just the idea of not seeing my name on the “artists who are exhibiting list” that deflates the mood somewhat and leaves me feeling a bit like a like a waterlogged ball.

(sigh)

The big tip is… don’t let your work get in the way of your progress.

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Breath

There always seems like we have a million and a half things we need to do. So rather than get all flustered and overwhelmed, simply stop, take 5 minutes out and just… Breath.

Sounds stupid right?

But try it. Give yourself permission to stop whatever it is you are doing and think of nothing for 5 minutes. And concentrate on breathing.

It is a great way to super-hydrate your brain… so to speak.

Try it, and see if you don’t fall back in love with the day again (wink)

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My Nemesis

There is a problem I suffer from after completing each piece of work. The problem is my ego. I have to wrestle with it. And wrestling with my ego is tough. As tough as it would be to convince a 10 foot gorilla to lie down and surrender his last banana.

Do I always win?

Nope

But I win most of the time… at least enough to continue working on new pieces.

The battle I have is trying to live up to my personal expectations with every new piece I produce.

There is this little voice that somehow finds itself in my head all too often, and this voice is somewhat a pain in the ass.

The voice, the super-ego, tells me, “Hmmm, you know something… that painting looks kinda okay. Not bad actually.”

Then the voice breaks into a little chuckle – I freaking hate the chuckle!

And then he continues his rant…

“But here’s the thing…(he always starts the second sentence with “here’s the thing” – I hate that too)…

“I’m sensing that you are out of juice buddy boy. I think it will be very tough to exceed that kind of quality in another painting. Err… I just don’t think you got it in you”.

And this is the very point where I think to myself…

If my ego were a real person, I’d scrub the toilet with his toothbrush. If my ego were a real person…I’d wear one pair of socks everyday for 10 weeks and then stuff them in his pillowcase.

If my ego were a real person…I’d wash his boxer shorts in poison ivy…I’d take to his umbrella with a hole puncher.

If my ego were a real person, I’d stuff his shower curtain rod full of prawns. It’ would take him weeks to find out where the smell was coming from.

But of course, carrying out these types of revenges would simply use up too much of my creative energy – energy that could be better spent on starting a new painting.

My latest personal piece, the portrait of my father, was quite an intensive project. In all it took around 3 weeks before I eventually managed to capture the whole concept that had been living inside my minds eye.

So while I sometimes think that if my ego were a real person I would fill it’s life full of paybacks and nasty pranks, I have gotten better at accepting it’s existence.

Our egos are always going to challenge us. Our egos are always going to lead us to believe that we need to have something that we don’t actually need to have at all.

Our egos have a funny way of creating that kind of frustration in us all at times.

While we all want to get better at being who we are and what we do, we don’t want to be dragged there by the earlobe – which is what an ego that is off the leash and running wild can often do.

I’m better at dealing with the ego these days.  I don’t have to wrestle with it as much as I used to.

To be one step ahead of your ego, get excited and inspired by your minds’ silence, fall in love with the act of creating new work and try to avoid establishing strict starting points and finishing points in your work. The ego will often drag you past the point of the piece feeling wholesome; which is the point where you should have stopped.

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Patience

I make sure that my studio is stocked, reasonably organised and feeling slightly fresh when I start each new piece of work. If it’s an intense project like the one I just completed 48 hours ago (4 week project), then I tend to rinse my brushes and shut the door for at least 24 hours.

I very rarely even pop my head in the studio for at least 24 hours unless I have left my ipod behind.

So I fairly much just drop everything and walk out for a day or so. I just need that space, that feeling of not being committed to anything that requires any level of creativity.

That is why having a blog is such a great leveler. It allows you to document during recess, so to speak.

I don’t like the idea of trying to force my art. While I will spend some time during my short 24 to 48 hour break prioritising my workload and flicking through my reference material files for the next independent project, I don’t make any big plans. It’s not often that I don’t feel like starting again after a couple of days.

But if for any reason I “don’t feel like it” then I won’t force it. I don’t see the point in trying to create for sake of it. In other words, I don’t speak for the sake of speaking.

With each project I learn something new about myself in regards to my own ability and inability.

Those close to me would agree that my lack of patience at times could be referred to as my Achilles heal. But I have become quite good at understanding that patience in essence is an active strength an artist must be equipped with in order to produce good work. I do believe I have become quite good at concentrating into agony when it comes to producing my art.

As for all other areas of my life, well… I guess I can honestly say that my patience is getting much better than it used to be (wink).

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