Showing posts with label personal statements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal statements. Show all posts

Saturday, 23 August 2008

Encouragement from Professional Artists


I read the following words just when I needed the encouragement to continue with my efforts. Today I’ve decided to share them with you - I hope they bring you the same comfort and sustenance. Enjoy!
  • “Create a supportive group for yourself.” – Christina Acosta
  • “Maintain a daily connection with your ideas and your personal mark-making. You can achieve this with just one thirty-second drawing a day.” – Jen Bradley
  • “Trust your instincts and find your own way. Learn from artists you admire personally and professionally. Don’t be too hard on yourself as you discover who you are and how to best express it.” – Cynthia Britain
  • “. It’s never too late to be what you should have always been.” – Robert Burridge
  • “If you’re painting your emotions, it’s your visual self.” – Bonnie Casey
  • Collect samples of everything you like, things that move you. Take them home and analyse what it is that moves you…look for the ‘Aha!’ Then do it your own way.” – Cheri Christensen
  • “You need a dedicated space where you paint, even it it’s a corner of the living room. When you put things away, you put your art life away. Make a space for your art.” – Connie Connally
  • “Take classes from people who are technically gifted. Get a profound grasp of the technical side.” – Brian Davis
  • “Talent is helpful, but it is the constant working that moves and artist to a new level. Also, don’t fight your true self.” – Rhonda Egan
  • “The most important thing is not to worry about selling your art. Just play. Play with all the materials. So much of what makes a painting beautiful are the accidents.” – Anne Embree
  • “I am interested in painting the sublime, that aesthetic experience of being overwhelmed and filled with awe at something so majestic that it evokes a sense of the eternal.” – Nicora Gangi
  • “Just stick with whatever looks and feels right to you. Try lots of things and see what might fit you best.” – Vince Gasparich
  • “I stress the value of simplicity. That one clear response, the message behind the painting, should sing out loud and strong. Select the essence of what you are painting and leave out all extraneous detail.” – Jean Grastorf
  • “I believe that every artist has his or her own vision of the world; our job as artists is to find and express that vision. The most important thing is to keep exploring, yourself and your materials.” – Carole Katchen
  • “Time to paint isn’t something you find, it is something you need to make.” – Linda Kemp
  • “Accepting yourself is where you find your fufillment.” – Liz Kenyon
  • “The best tool for good composition is one’s instinct. Painters must be loose and nurture confidence in themselves.” – Madeline Lemire
  • “Remember that you are not painting a picture, you are creating a painting.” – Peggy McGivern
  • “You paint your heartbeat. You have to follow what you respond to, not what you think someone else expects from you.” – Joan McKasson
  • “Paint often and joyfully.” – Helaine Mclain
  • “Don’t worry about being influenced by others, because it is natural. But you need to make it your own so you can go on.” – Carla O’Connor
  • “Keep a book of clippings of paintings you really like, such as unusual compositions and good designs.” – Camille Przewodek
  • “Try to stay out of your own way. The biggest Challenge is this.” – Barbara Rainforth
  • “Your nature should dictate how you paint. You may love a painting and a painter, but it might not be you. Everyone has a certain greatness; your greatness is your uniqueness developed. So you have to discover you uniqueness.” – Susan Sarbeck
  • “Work hard and get the basics.” – Marilyn Simandle
  • “At times, put yourself in uncomfortable situations with your artwork. Enrich your life with experiences.” – Shawn Snow
  • “You have to make yourself uneasy at times to make a painting successful.” – Leslie Toms
  • “Learn to love nature and love life. If you appreciate life and nature, your paintings with show this.” – Lian Zhen
Words of encouragement indeed!
Keep Creative and Happy,
Debs

Above painting, "Wheatfield View" © 2008 Deborah Eileen Burrow

Sunday, 13 April 2008

Coping with Bad Creating Days

Thanks to Nicky (www.myspace.com/nickyclarkestudio) for inspiring my subject this week.

I know you will appreciate what I’m talking about when I tell you of days when the paint won’t work for me and the subject gets lost and the brain is in a state of frustration.

What is the best way to cope with these days where clear flowing creativity eludes us?

Well, here goes:

  1. Step away from the area!! Take 3 deep breaths and go and make a cup of your favourite drink. Relax!
  2. When you are in a state of calm, decide whether you want to go back to the project or take some time out.
  3. If you decide to take time out, remember NOT to beat yourself up because you’ve had a bad session – creating is creating, and there are no mistakes, only experiments. You are still talented and deserve to be an artist. Your contribution is undiminished, even at rest.
  4. If you decide to go back to the project, ask yourself 2 questions. Will you feel better if you carry on with that project, or is it time to move onto something else for now?
  5. Whichever you decide, do the 6 phrase breathing exercise (from my previous blog, “Stopping Before We Work??”).
  6. Next, remind yourself of your basic elements to your art. Are you following these? For example, colour theory, subject matter, personal statements…
  7. If you are trying something new, do you have too many changes happening at once? Do you need to do some research?
  8. Is the light good in your work space, and is the music right? Or do you need to turn it off? Is the room the right temperature?
  9. Now I’m getting you to think about this process, is there anything else to consider?
  10. Finally – keep your mind open to allow flow at all times. Allow yourself an extra break or two today where you get some fresh air.

    Oh yeah, and Nicky reminds me that sharing with a friend always helps to dispell the negative frame of mind :)

To finish I have a small challenge for you!

With your favourite music on, doodle with your 3 primary colour pencils. Remember, this is fun, not a test of your ability! After 5 minutes, swap hands and doodle with your other hand. Carry on for another 5 minutes.

What can you see?

How you feel?

Write it down beside your doodle and pin this up on your notice board.

Thanks for joining me this week, and I wish you fun and happiness in your creating.

It’s what you were born to do :)