Art Lessons With Jamie

A new Miracle every day.

Little things can mean a lot… think about it…that small unexpected phone call from an old friend, or a quick hug from your grown up son…little details on a table like a special plate that has a beautiful design painted on it… how special it makes you feel to drink from a china teacup instead of a styrofoam cup… just a little thing….but so full of expression and thoughtfulness .

We take a lot of things for granted and sometimes we forget to stop and smell the roses…read this quote from Georgia O’keefe… then take a little minute to think about what she was thinking as she said it.

“Still-in a way-nobody sees a flower-really. It is so small, we haven’t the time-  and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”-Georgia O’Keefe

Georgia had it right… we often pass over the small  seeds of beauty or growth in our lives- We  just don’t have time to think or look for them… we are to busy searching for the big important breakthroughs : you know…the ones that are going to zoom us to the top of the artistic  success mountain peak. Maybe we need to reconsidered the word important… or the idea of what a successful artistic life means.

So with that  in mind….I thought it might be nice to take the time and give you a few little  success seeds to plant… and then watch them grow. 

Let’s think about …A little thing… called Success.
    Can little things make a difference in your committment to success as a artist? Think about these little {seeds} or  suggestions .
    Little ideas, put into practice, will help you create your artwork more professionally. Who knows…It could  help you get into galleries and sell some of your art.
     It could even make you take your artistic life more seriously.
    
     First above all… Think of each work you create as a masterpiece. Treat it as such.Even if it falls short..you were thinking of it as something that had value.      All art work has value…even the failures…for they are the motivators to make you push to understand what went wrong. [And a lot of times it may be just a little something that is wrong.]

   Another small way to improve your work: Invite someone you trust to evaluate the quality of your art.  Present 5-6 pieces. Ask the question “what are three things I could do to improve the quality of this painting?”If no one is available or willing ask yourself!  Be objective…and write down the answers.

    An serious observer will see your art in a way you never could. Repeat this process every now and then and make a commitment to constantly check and improve your artistic quality.
 
   
  Begin to visit galleries and interact with customers or gallery owners/collectors.  You will find they love to talk about the art hanging there or about their artistic history.
    Strive to understand the major art movements from the impressionists through the present day. This understanding will also enrich your work as you are inspired by the great artist’s lives and works.It will open new vistas to you. Try copying some of them as a study.

Read a Book.

    This is a real winner in the little things list. Visit your local book store or Amazon.com and order a biography of one of your favorite artists. Commit to read so many artist biographies per year. Don’t limit your reading only to artists you like. You may not be a fan of some old master until you read about his/her life and what made him or her paint and why. [I did not understand Picasso at all until I began to investigate his career through a book about his life.]

Analyze others artists work. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to creating your work. With a little work, you will find hundreds of artists whose work is comparable to yours. Learn from them. Do what they do.Take classes if you can.

    One last little thing to work on: Every week, devote some time to researching your artistic mentors online. Type keywords describing work you like into a search engine and you will quickly encounter artists whose work you may like and or admire.. . Develop a list of 10 artists you feel are closest to you in style, genre, subject, and/or experience. Analyze them.
Ask a few little questions about them while you are looking at the artwork they do.

Where is the artist from?  What is his/her background?  What does the artist’s resume look like? What about his/her bio and artist’s statement? What does this information  tell me about him/her as a person. Who does He/She admire and study with?

    The insight you will gain through this weekly exercise will prove invaluable to you as you develop.  By studying other living, working, creative artists work you can get inspired to improve your own work.
   Join an art class or art guild/group…a little step to feeling like a “real” artist. Nothing keeps you focused more than having an event to plan and work toward… then try selling at a small show or consignment shop to get your feet wet… you will be doing little things….but the pay-off could be HUGE!
 After all… you know the old saying…. it’s the little things that count.

A page from the sketchbook can be a start for a larger painting...

Why is  a sketchbook such a big deal?
 A sketchbook is a portable resume’ of who and what you are about as an artist or creative type. I have been asked by Art gallery owner’s  and publishers to see my sketchbook. Why do you think they would be interested in some scribbles and quick little drawings? Think about it. Paintings are the current event… a sketchbook shows a little more about me as a person and my mindset about my work.
It shows a glimpse of the future paintings and ideas that  are in the incubation period, and  a sketch could explode into a full fledge piece of artwork at any moment.
It outlines tidbits of information in your own “shorthand” style. I may not have the time to write down every word at  a demonstration or lecture… but I can do a quick-sketch  and scribble important points I may want to remember.
A sketchbook is a Record and a History of Images I have sketches of buildings that are falling down or completely gone. I may have taken a photo.. but could not find it if I had to, since I have way too many photos.
It often has phone numbers, names, and addresses in it. Since I keep it in my purse, it is a catch all for little bits of information I need later.
6. It is Transformative… I can see the things that I need to work on in my drawings and sketches. I can look at pages from older sketchbooks and compare them with newer sketches… it tells me if I need to study and work harder on a certain subject or principle. As I learn more I can understand why that particular sketch just wasn’t working. I may not have  had enough knowledge at the time to know how to improve it or grow. Not a condemnation… more of an A-HA  or discovery moment.
7. In my art class, I often need to do a quick demo to explain or make a point to students. I can quickly show them a sketch and a few notes I made to help them understand and compare what they are working on to how I “did” it. So it is a beneficial teaching tool
8. As I have mentioned in other ways…it is just flat HANDY to have.
9. It is inspiring. The words, the poems, the pictures and paper clipped and pasted into it… all inspire me at some time or another.
10. IT IS PRICELESS … to me anyway…need I say anything more?
Buy a small book, keep it handy, and start a sketchbook habit today..

Below is a   “thinking about it” list for you to consider..

 1. Keep a sketchbook HANDY. You will not start this habit if your sketchbook is too big or put away on the bookshelf… place it in your purse, or on your nightstand by the bed. Just make sure it is where you are.
2. While you are talking on the phone… doodle in it , or write down words or anything. Just start getting rid of those pristine white pages. Until you get some marks of some sort in it… you will just think about starting. I
tell my students: START WITH A MARK…not a masterpiece. Sketchbooks are private. No one is going to judge your ability . You only share the pages with others if you want to. I have 2 or three sketchbooks or journals in different places. That way one is always handy. I never label them. {as in “Studies of Flowers”} that is a sketchbook habit killer. It immediately turns a random skill building exercise into a task.
3. Sketch only what you like in it at first. Think back to what you drew on your papers when you were a kid. Learn to sketch what appeals to you. To find out flip through a magazine… if you pause at some photos and flip quickly by others, that will show you what is “catching” your subconscious “eye’. We are hardwired when it comes to subject matter likes and dislikes, and it is very disheartening to have to draw subjects that just aren’t interesting to us. *Read the article on the website about Sharing the Creative Vision.
4. Sketch only the essence of the subject at first… you aren’t trying for a completed drawing. It is a sketch. There is a difference in drawing versus sketching. Think about the minimum amount of information you need to make a recognizable shape or outline . That is a sketch. To understand this … lay your hand on the page and draw around it like you did in elementary school. This is the essential shape of your hand… how much you “dress it up” or enhance it is up to you . Coloring books are good examples
of essential outline sketches.
Focus on one part and practice sketching it.… if you like to draw faces… find faces in your photos or on
T.V.[ wherever you can find them]… but just practice on one part at a time…. Sketch lots of eyes… or maybe practice the mouth… This gets you familiar with that piece of the puzzle before you try the whole “portrait”.
Think …simple lines… not I have to draw this eye to look real. Try to develop speed as you sketch the part you picked out to sketch… over and over again. Repetition is the best way to remember.
5. Don’t erase! Just redraw and restate when lines go wrong…. Erasers are confidence killers. They scream MISTAKE ! BAD ! DO IT OVER! Just draw over it with a darker line or make a note on the page of what you need to think about reading or studying to improve it.
6. Go back and look at all your sketches occasionally… pat yourself on the back for the interesting ones and try to remember what you were thinking about at the time you sketched that subject. Were you relaxed and just sitting on the sofa? Or were you waiting in your car to pick up someone… I promise that doctor’s offices are not near as boring if your sketching.
7. Start sketching Now and Not later … you know, after or when you go to town and buy the perfect sketchbook… Find an old book and draw in it… just do it. Then make it a habit by sketching everyday for at least 16 days. They say that is how long it takes to develop a NEW HABIT!

 Enjoy and Relax You will be surprised at your quick artistic progress.

Wow! The Drawing Classes online are up and running and the students have by now recieved their first introductory lessons and Challenges for the week. I can’t wait to watch their progress and see what they can do. I love to teach drawing and I know it is the most important skill anyone needs to learn… but color and paint are so enticing that it is sometimes hard to get folks to commit to a drawing class. I’m really not sure why…. maybe they feel that painting is more “forgiving” if they make a mistake. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Anyway I am so proud of the new group for getting back to the basics, and will do everything I can to help and encourage them.
Even tho it is too late to join the critque and teacher comment group… you might still be able to order the “Let me audit the course” set of lessons …think about it, then “Start with a Mark”.
Discovering new talent, Jamie
p.s. The beautiful drawing at the top is a work in progress by art student Toni Davis. Toni is a member of my class at Hobby Lobby in Paris, Texas

Getting into Balance

“The creation of Art is not the fulfillment of a need [like food or shelter}--- but the creation of a need.
The world never needed Beethoven's 5th Symphony until he created it. Now we can't imagine a world without it."
Louis Kahn

Look at the quote above and take a few moments to think about it's meaning to you. It is talking about the intuitive needs that we have to bring a peace and joy into our lives by listening to music that sooths us from the "noise" of the practical voices in our head that say things like.... you need to... get to work...you need to...pay the bills... you need to... you need to you need to….etc.
Striking the balance between the practical side of our mind and the intuitive side is key to a balanced creative life. Are you living a lopsided life? When are you going to let creativity be a bigger force in your day? Did you know that studies show 90% of all activity is habitual... things like brushing your teeth, checking the clock to see what time it is... eating and snacking... talking on the phone...etc.
Those habits are mostly things we do with little or no creative thought whatsoever... almost robotic.

Creativity demands a new process of thinking and can make you step out of your comfort zone by stimulating your brain to problem solve in a new and unusual way. It also can be explained as taking a new approach to re-creating the familiar.

Did you know that when you are in a creative, intuitive state of mind, that all other thoughts, like worry and even pain, are suppressed. Have you ever painted a picture and could not believe that 4 hours had gone by? A little distressing to that pot of beans you just burned...or the clothes that have re- tumbled in the dryer all that time... but not to you. You were enjoying what is clinically called pure bliss!
Come up with creative ways to experiment and rejoice in letting the intuitive side of the brain take over.... here’s a good example: Sing the "name-game"; remember it? Billy Billy Bo Billy, banana fana fo filly...fee fi mo milly... billl-y... Do you think it is silly? Good! If it makes you laugh or smile at yourself, it has done the right thing. It has broken the cycle of seriousness and judgment that we impose upon ourselves 90% of the time. You see being oh so serious is a habit too!
Don't fear taking the risk of allowing the intuitive side of your personality come through. Start with a creative challenge. Think about it and then just DO IT! Don’t talk yourself out of it… “maybe later” is the first argument your practical, habitual brain is going to throw at you. {I don’t have time or the money” will be the second one.] Think … “I am going to go fling some paint on a piece of paper and I really don’t care what it looks like!” AHA! Now your cooking. …creative balance is starting to bud in that brain already.
Here is a list of things to think about and then put into action.
1. Acknowledge the importance of process over product.
2. Experiment and rejoice in the efforts- not results.
3. Learn to visualize and generate new images based on a memory and not on a technical reference. What did it look like in your memory of your grandmother’s flowerbeds? What did you best friend look like when you were 8? Draw it … paint it.. or cut out pictures for a collage that appear to be similar to your memories. These are examples of creative challenges. Set up one or 2 to do each week.
4. Quiet the critic that says I don’t know how… experiment , persist, learn from your mistakes, and then practice and even pretend until you do KNOW how.
5. Any kind of exercise takes commitment, make time, you have it…. you just haven’t made your mental balance a priority for your health and well-being.
I am always surprised at the number of folks who spend $100′s of dollars on doctors, gyms, and special diet foods but won’t spend any money on their intuitive mental health needs. Art Lessons, music lessons, quilting groups, scrapbooking, singing in a choir, cooking classes… all healthy for the brain. All use the intuitive side of the brain in balance with the practical, analytical side.
Please do SOMETHING that is unusual today….It does a body [and your brain balance] good!
Remember that to create one’s own world takes courage…but you only have to do it one step at a time. Tell yourself to get out of the way… and let everyone else do the judgment, censorship, and belittling. After all they may see it as their job. [Especially since you seem to have gone a little over the edge because you keep walking around insanely singing, "billy, billy , bo - billy, banana fana fo filly...fee fi fo filly....billy.]
Enjoy the balance… and the creative therapy. Jamie

It seems that every morning when I open my e-mail there are several pages to read about the new darlings of art marketing:   blogs, seminars, e- books, and newsletters about artists needing to learn the “how to’s” and facts on “selling their artwork.”

We have things I had never heard of years back… Career Coaches… Webinars…Social Networks… Internet Conferences…and all sorts of things to help us sell our paintings and have fun doing it!

These guys are persistent and they aren’t afraid to throw out words like MONEY… SUCCESS … BUSINESS…TIME MANAGEMENT… DISCIPLINE… all the dirty words most artists only embarrassingly “whisper” to their other artsy friends, and usually  then only under cover of the late night telephone conversation.

They are not going to let us live in denial any longer. It hurts to know that our cover has been blown… and this marketing stuff just exposes the hard truths that we don’t want to deal with.

Truth Number One

We are terrible salesmen…and most of the time even worse at business strategies. But this marketing success stuff is always jumping out and reminding us over and over that we can’t just paint and bask in the beauty of being an artist; that the bills may be the only thing for sure that will  ever come to our “field of dreams.”  We actually have to do work and sell some of it in order to live LIFE…

Truth Number Two

There really is not anything about the “Starving Artist” myth that is very romantic or creative.  Face it. When the water and heat have been cut off, it’s hard to get motivated to paint with a heavy parka on, and when your fingers are frozen around your paintbrush… and you’re without water, it is extremely hard to create those flowing washes you hope to be famous for.

Artists are “Dreamers.”That is one of the strengths that keeps them going… (even when their parents are suggesting that they get a real job). We thrive on the illusions of Creative Talent and discover after all, illusion is what we paint, and realities like marketing is a very rude wake up call.

Can we really balance it all, creative energy plus business sense. The Career Coaches say we can. I don’t know, somehow after paying bills I usually want to run away for a week… not go on a creative binge at the easel.

But that brings to mind coaches from the past and their favorite mantra …If you played sports, you’ll remember this hated bit of encouragement. “NO PAIN>>> NO GAIN,” they would scream. They always called that one out when your face was ready to explode from the lack of air.

No pain, no gain. I hated it then and I still hate it now. But I knew then and I know now that it means. You can still dream of being successful and your work being whisked away by a concert crowd of buyers or you can face the stark pain of truth number 3.

Truth Number 3

We have got to get on the web-train… sign up for the career coaches, spend more money on Webinars and e-books, because the last and final truth is number 4.

Truth Number 4

There is only one way to really enjoy being an artist. That is when you can pay the piper, the muse, and the bills, and still go to your studio and paint. Amen.