Follow Your Bliss

I have wanted to be an artist since the 5th grade but didn't know how to make it a reality.  The only information available to me came from my elementary and high school art teachers, but still limited.  As a senior in high school I made the decision to go to college to study art.  My Dad was a working man so I was a bit hesitant to approach him about my future plans.  The panic in his eyes was apparent after informing him I wanted to go to college.  I know he was mentally trying to figure out how he was going to pay for college. Although, the mention of grant and loan opportunities calmed his fears somewhat. Though his panic intensified as I said I wanted to study art as he had no clue how I could support myself in art.  Quickly I threw in the idea of teaching art which seemed to satisfy some of his worries.  The truth is that I had no interest in teaching at that time. Despite his qualms, he supported my choice 100%.

Looking back on that conversation I wonder how I would have reacted if Dad had rejected my plans.  Luckily this did not happen.  Every day I remind myself how fortunate I am to have a very strong support system from my entire family.  Every dreamer needs support from those they trust.  But with or without a support system, art is still a difficult field to follow. I knew it would require hard work, determination, and sacrifice.  I consciously made the decision to forego marriage and children to follow my dreams of being an artist.  I have to say many did not understand but I did not know how to "have it all".  I do have great respect for women who have succeeded in this feat.

As an artist I was creating art, learning about life, and I was a happy little clam!

Drawing is a Skill

Drawing is a skill that can be learned.
I find myself debating this concept almost everyday.  Is drawing talent or skill?
I believe if you have at least average intelligence, strong work ethic, and most importantly a desire to learn, drawing can be learned.  The learning process of drawing is not much different than the learning process of any other subject.  If a child is continually exposed to a subject, that child will improve in that subject.  When the exposure stops, the learning stops.

Drawing is not something that can be mastered in a semester or a year, it is a lifetime study requiring a passionate commitment.  There are no short-cuts or recipes.  But success does require a belief in the ability to learn and the courage to step outside your comfort zone.

Learning never came easy to me.  I had to stay focused, practice repeatedly, and take diligent notes.  Were there days that I questioned my ability, skill, and intelligence?  Absolutely!  But I never let doubts or fears impede my development, at least not for very long.  I crossed paths with some very difficult  concepts and subjects but never allowed myself to give up.  It may not have even been a subject that was necessary to my area, but I was going to win.

I have continued to develop my visual skills through intense study and practice. Learning to allow myself to listen to the drawing, giving it what it needs is a priority.  This means putting aside my preconceptions of how the finished product should look.  I focus solely on the process that requires me to slowly build a composition through pattern, value, and line.  If I can stay within the process from start to finish, the drawing will have unity.  Do I make mistakes?  Yes, I have not been able to complete a drawing from start to finish without making mistakes. But this is the driving force that makes me want to start the next composition.  I learn from the mistakes, not the successes.

For me, failure is the result of a lack of desire.

Creativity is Natural

Looking for ideas?  Where do you go?
Try going back to your childhood.  I believe that every child is born creative and adult training slowly constricts innovative thinking to the point that it can completely disappear.  What kind of adult training am I talking about?  Well, lets go back to elementary school.  Many educational lessons involve restricting choices and I am not talking about discipline.  I am referring to specific problem solving skills required in all areas of study.  Many subjects such as Math are objective and do not allow for self-expression.  The Fine Arts do include elements of discipline, but are specifically subjective and allow for freedom of choice and personal expression. This is the perfect opportunity to allow for imaginative thinking and for understanding how a student processes information.

Children love to create. They only need the proper materials most appropriate for their age.  Its no surprise but my favorite class was art.  I can remember a project that involved learning how to draw my initials in perspective creating the illusion of depth. Very cool. We then were allowed the freedom to choose two colors to use on the letters.  I chose brown and black. I wanted black for the sides of the letters (for shadow) and brown for the front.  My teacher repeatedly lectured me that I should have chosen pretty colors like yellow or red.  I recognized the teacher's concern regarding my color choices as she felt I was suffering some emotional strain that made me choose brown and black.  My success at perspective was never indicated and I felt so pressured to change the colors (although I did not) that I did not feel comfortable explaining the true reason.   There was no big emotional reason as to my choices but my teacher missed the opportunity not only to understand something about me but also succeeded in adding a brick to my wall of creative inhibitions.

I was so excited to learn about perspective and so proud of what I had accomplished, both achieving an illusion of depth and applying my ideas to an image. This pride was diminished by criticism of my personal choice that had no relevance to the assignment.  My self-esteem definitely took a hit that day, but alas I survived, but certainly understand more clearly the importance self-expression.  Although my creative ideas continued, I developed a distinct fear of sharing those ideas. Sadly, I believe everyone has experienced a similar occurrence that ended many an art career at a very early age.

Brown is the color of chocolate and I imagined my initials as blocks of chocolate.
 

Draw, Draw, Draw

There is no substitution for drawing.

May, 1989, Eureka Springs, AR.
I wanted to see. I wanted to see lines, I wanted to see shapes, I wanted to see patterns, I wanted to see movement. Daily drawings like above helped me understand the importance of seeing the way an artist is suppose to see. This allowed me to make the connection between artist and object through intense observation of reality. Drawing the object without drawing the object.  Focusing on the light, pattern, shapes and the object will appear.  I love the object but the drawing is not about the object. The object is superfluous. Pattern is the subject and must be established in order for the object to make sense.  To see the pattern, I had to train my eyes to see beyond the surface. Seeing cannot be accomplished through anyway except drawing.

     Welcome to my new blog.  I'm new to this so bear with me as I prepare to share my artistic experiences.  (I am not referring to "bear" as in the animal, however, "bear" as in be patient with me.)  I consider myself a fairly proficient writer, but found myself struggling with the first sentence of my blog due to my confusion of the proper use of the word "bear" or "bare".  I digress as this is a blog about art.
     "Art is the process of life" or some kind of shit like that.