| Author | Message | ||
  Whitewatercolor Junior Member Username: Whitewatercolor Post Number: 23 Registered: 10-2006 |
Painting is my day job. When an unforseeable disaster drop down on my day job, I turned to my painting as a way to escape the reality of my situation. The more I painted the more opportunities opened up--the more I painted. It is like "what comes first the chicken or the egg." If you don't paint you don't get better and you don't sell. If you paint you get better and hopefully you sell. An artist is someone who creates art. It really does help to paint every day, even if it is a small loose sketch with a brush. If you don't have a lot of money, don't want to waste materials, cut a sheet into 5 1/2 x 7 pieces and practice. You can always frame them to 8x10 originals if you work them out. If you can't afford pigment, buy three primary colors and mix the rest. It is like exercise. You have to make yourself do it, but you feel so much better when you do. | ||
Eric Unregistered guest |
Whitewater, you must be retired from your day job. | ||
Whitewatercolor New member Username: Whitewatercolor Post Number: 9 Registered: 10-2006 |
I've read that when Turner died he left 32,000 pieces. That puts it all in perspective-- if you want to call yourself an artist you must paint, paint, and paint more. They don't all have to be full sheets. I try to paint everyday, if I miss some I paint 3 or 4 small paintings to warm up again. I feel good if I paint 300 paintings a year, which means approximately a painting a day. | ||
joanna Unregistered guest |
I gave it all up when I started my licensing as a broker (it's very hard work for three years.) But you know, life without art is not worth living. So I decided to paint on Sundays (cliche....) Then I found the evil little ATC or ACEO's (art trading cards, paintings the size of playing cards.) I knock these off like a box of chockies almost every day. My aunt, a fairly well-known painter, says to sketch and paint constantly. She does (and she's nearly blind now.) So now I paint and sketch a whole lot. The key was the scale--small works take only a few minutes and are less daunting. They keep me in form. | ||
Eric Unregistered guest |
Trying to juggle job and family (young kids) along with finding time to paint is difficult. I try to paint every day but end up only finishing one keeper every two or three weeks. The paintings pile up in a hurry. Because of the lack of time, it's hard to do any type of selling, especially since I'm not part of the art show circuit. | ||
Marie New member Username: Marie Post Number: 10 Registered: 8-2006 |
Oh yes, I put the failed paintings on a shelf. When the shelf gets full I throw them out. | ||
Marie New member Username: Marie Post Number: 9 Registered: 8-2006 |
I use the back side for practice, experiments, and preliminary studies. Sometimes my dog eats them. Eventually, when the stack gets too big, I throw them away. | ||
George Unregistered guest |
Forgive me for switching the subject, but what do you do with all those paintings? I know one must keep painting to get good, but if you don’t throw them away the closets must be stuffed with paintings. | ||
Marie New member Username: Marie Post Number: 6 Registered: 8-2006 |
I'm with you---on the average, one "keeper" a week is good for me. I will save about 1 in 7 paintings. However, I tend to be terribly inconsistent. Sometimes I might do three keepers in a day, and then everything is horrible for 3 weeks. I think some of it depends on on how tired I am and how much stress I'm under. The interesting thing is that the "keeper" rate never changes. As my painting gets better, my eye becomes more critical. Things that would have been "keepers" 3 years ago now wind up in the scrap pile. | ||
Eugene Junior Member Username: Eugene Post Number: 16 Registered: 8-2006 |
I average about 1 "keeper" a week. I find if I paint regularly I have more confidence and usually paint better. On the other haand, sometimes I get into a rut and a break is good. When I begin again I'm off to a fresh start. How many painting do you do in a year? I think I've done 250 in the last 5 years. |
