Many self-taught artists who I have met, both on and off-line are apologetic about not having gone to art school. They don’t see themselves as legitimate or ‘real’ artists. Some are concerned that they missed out on something fabulous and mysterious by not going to art school. Where does this notion come from? Continue reading
I usually carry my camera with me wherever I go.
It is my visual assistant, my organizer and my memory.
I can’t stress enough the importance of organizing your photos. Otherwise it’s like throwing thousands of photos into a big cardboard box and rummaging through it every time you need to find one. Continue reading
I paint because I’m in love with my subject and I am delighted by the process of applying colour to a blank surface.
In the book Art and Fear the writers suggest that the observers who admire the finished piece of work have no interest in the artist’s process:
MAKING ART AND VIEWING ART ARE DIFFERENT AT THEIR CORE. To all reviewers but yourself, what matters is the product: the finished artwork…In fact there’s generally no good reason why others should care about most of any one artist’s work. The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars. One of the basic and difficult lessons every artist must learn is that even the failed pieces are essential.
I work on at least four paintings during every stint in the studio. This week I worked on ten.
It means that the most studio paintings are ‘works in progress’ so today I only have one ‘almost finished’ to show you. Continue reading
