This week I went on an artists trip with a group of artists. I was part of the group that traveled together in one large vehicle. It was a very pleasant drive. I really enjoy the company of artists. I learned a lot about art classes in the area, shows, and how others approach the business of art. We also talked about art in general, and there was a buzz of anticipation in the vehicle as we were headed for the resort.

The first night there I had to teach on-line, so I could not join the others for dinner, and could not explore the area. What I did, since it was late after I ate dinner, was some contour drawings. I didn't want to stress myself, and contour drawing is an important exercise that I have to admit I don't do often enough.

I was worried because it rained the whole way to the resort, and it was raining that night with a 60% chance of rain in the morning. I had been really excited about this trip, because there was a lighthouse within a short hike from the resort. I love lighthouses, and this was my primary target for the trip.

As it turned out, there was about a three and half hour break in the rain, and I used that time to draw the lighthouse. I never seem to understand the limits of my time. I packed way too many supplies. Watercolours, pen and ink, brushes for ink, charcoal, and graphite. I actually only had time for one graphite drawing of the lighthouse that morning. In the afternoon it rained and I toured a local museum with a number of our group. At night we saw an art movie about the life of an artist. The movie was very good. I was just surprised about how little time there was to draw. Before breakfast that day, I did try a quick watercolour of the resort, but the moisture in the air made it impossible to dry, and the watercolours stayed so wet they ran into each other. Not a great experience, but the result was better than I thought they would be with the moisture conditions.

Some of the attendees only took photos. I wondered why, but I guess that some prefer to work from photos, and they only took references. I also wondered if they were afraid to work from life. I know I was a bit intimated, in case others wanted to see my work. As it worked out I used some of my photos of the lighthouse to add details I didn't get when I was sitting outside drawing the lighthouse. I got cold and was late for lunch, so I did not quite finish. Reference photos can be invaluable for finishing off a direct drawing if weather and time cause you to quit early.

I was proud of my experience with working directly outside. I set myself up by the edge of a woods, so if it rained, I could stomp down some of the underbrush and get protection from the rain in the trees. Luckily, I didn't need to do that.

One hazard I encountered that I did not expect, was the lighthouse keepers dog. The dog was really friendly, and layed down by me, like he was mine. What I didn't realize was that the dog had snuck into my pack, and stealthily removed my bottle of brown ink. Lucky for me the lighthouse keeper caught the dog with my ink, and luckily for me the ink bottle, though plastic, only had tooth marks, but the dog hadn't punctured the bottle.

The joys of working outdoors.

I was really surprised when I came back and went sketching with my sketch club. I did a sketch of a little harbor and I was really disappointed with the results. I realized some of it was due to an experiment with brown paper and graphite (they didn't go together) and more importantly, I just didn't get excited about the subject. I spent alot of time chatting with a woman who was on the beach with her dog. I understand now what a difference real interest in the topic can make to the success of a drawing.

I can not post the drawing with this post, because I left my camera behind at lunch with the sketching club, and I have to pick it up to photo my sketch. I am including another sketch from the work I do with my sketching club.

Going Back to Move Forward

Sometimes to move forward, I have to go back. I am trying very hard to improve my drawing. Drawing has been my focus for the last six months. I believe art is a journey not a destination, and learning is how we move along the path.

Recently, I did a copy of a Tintoretto, and it had a profound effect on my thinking and my art. At first, I just copied this master work because it looked easy to me, and I wanted something to draw. It was mostly line, and the human figure of a man, and I like drawing people. So I went about copying this master's work, and I started to feel different. I had had this experience before when I copied a Van Gough. When I copied the Van Gough, I got angry. I couldn't believe it, but the strokes I had to make with my charcoal were bringing up anger in me. This seemed amazing. Since that time I have been studying the mind/body connection, and physical memory, and don't find the idea of the body/mind interaction all that strange any more. But this time I was copying the Tintoretto, and I found a real flow going on in my drawing. It felt almost like ice skating. The most amazing thing was when I went to life drawing. I found I suddenly started to see the model in curved line, just like the Tintoretto I had copied earlier in the week. I still can't get this mind shift out of my mind. Whenever I go to life drawing, I still see the curves in the model in a way to mimics Tintoretto's work.

I have been studying master works and have not had time to copy them, but even reading analysis of them (Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters by Robert Beverly Hale) has effected the way I approach a lot of subjects, and how I see them, and approach them to draw. I would not see the master strokes without a guide, but seeing the analysis, I can apply the techniques using the right side of my brain. By copying the masters, I think I must be engaging the left side of my brain, because the feelings I get when I am drawing or seeing changes based on these experiences.

A third way I have benefitted from studying the masters is that I carry these lessons to my painting and well as my drawing. Drawing is a great way to learning value, composition, and structure, and then painting adds the complexity of color. For me, painting is just drawing with a brush and color. They are not separate art elements, but rather just different stops on a single continuum.

Each human starts out in art in the beginning, and must learn himself or herself all he or she can during his or her lifetime. Studying the masters and what they have learned just speeds up my trip down the path of art.

Measuring Progress

I once was walking down a street with the vice president of sales and marketing of my company. He said to me that if his sales people where closing 100% of all their sales calls he was not happy. Why? He said that his people were not trying hard enough. His criteria for success was 50% closing rate. Then he knew his people were trying hard and doing their best.

I think this philosophy works for art as well. Except I think the percentage of art I am satisfied with is more like 10%. Art is something that is very skill oriented. I find that most of the art I produce is practice. I draw sketches, I try new materials, I draw preliminary drawings for ideas and for paintings, I try some images multiple times to improve my ability to get the result I want, and I am learning all the time.

I have heard about artists who paint the same elements in every painting, just move where they are. They get the paintings done, and charge the same as a new design, so commercially they are doing quite well, but they are not growing.

I have also found artists who have developed a "method" for creating their art, and use the same formula over and over again. Again, where is the experimentation and growth? I struggle with this because it is important to learn new solutions, and then to use these solutions over and over again, but when does the inclusion of past solutions become the "method" that stops growth and learning.

I guess for me, art is continous learning and exploring. I am very eclectic, so my exploration brings me to try new materials, new techniques, and new subjects. I always go back to people, and they are by far my biggest interest, but I have other interests too, and like to explore them and do.

I find my study of art goes in two general directions - breadth and depth. I am constantly testing new materials, and techniques in the hope of finding a material or technique that I will want to use in the future. I study subjects like people and anatomy in depth, since I need a vast knowlege to correctly draw and paint people.

My biggest struggle is with my ego. I want all my drawings, and paintings to be good. I get very disappointed when I create some art, and I see obvious problems. When I do, I have to remember that failures are the signposts of progress. If I am constantly producing work I like, I am not progressing and growing. I believe all the great masters worked on growth and improvement right up until their death. Afterall, art is a path that has no end in this life.

My Own Backyard

It is really quite amazing to me. I go out with my sketching club to the city all the time to seek out new and different places to paint or draw. Yesterday, as I started out for my walk around the Sooke Basin, how beautiful the place I live in really is. It was getting close to sunset, and the light was just perfect. I noted a sunk fishing boat, by some pilings probably no more than 40 feet off shore. The boat had been sunk out there for I can't remember how long. Yesterday was different. The marine works next store had move their crane barge out along side the boat. I realized that the scene was going to be gone before today was out. So, after my walk, I went inside and got my camera, and returned to the shoreline (about 40 steps from my front door) and snapped an number of photos of the barge and the sunken ship.

How many times had I said to myself, what a picturesque scene that would be to paint. I really must get out and paint it. Now, all that I have is a photo of the real thing to paint. And so it goes. The marine works is right across the parking lot from my condo. I can see the giant shed where they pull the boats out of the water to work on them. I can see the area where the boats are docked. It is a very old and run down marina. It has more charm and character than any other marina I have visited to paint and draw.

I think I finally have gotten it. Last night I finally realized that some of the best marine landscapes where right outside my door. And with the weather getting a little warmer, I am going to make a promise to myself to do some alla prima painting in the next couple of weeks and become intimate with that quaint marina right next door, before it too is swept away in the modern rush to build condos, and boardwalks along the water.

The painting I have posted with this entry is one I did of Sooke Basin. It was early in the morning in the winter, and the moon was still visible high in the sky while the sun was starting to light the sky. The lone sailboat anchored out in the basin added just the touch I wanted for the painting. An interesting story about the painting's sailboat. I met the owner's father on the beach during one of my walks. I told him how I liked looking at the sailboat. The man then told me that his son had to bring the sailboat in and couldn't moor it any more, because the sea lions were climbing in to sunbath, and they were heavy enough that they almost sunk the boat! Growing up in New York City, that was a hazard I never considered before.

Curating an Art Show

Yesterday, I hung the first art show I curated. It was month's in the preparation, and I was scared stiff yesterday as the process began. I started month's ago with the idea of having an art show for our sketching club so we could exhibit our sketches. Once the club decided to go forward, I was excited and ready to run with it. I got lots of interest and moral support, and so I started to try to find venues for the show. There were about four I compiled into a list, and started contacting each to see if any would have our show. Two were enthusiastic, one was in the process of a move, and unsure how ready they would be, and I actually never succeeded in contacting the fourth. I slowed down when suddenly as the show started to become more of a reality than a concept, I was suddenly getting people pulling their support (not wanting to participate) which made me very nervous. After all it was my name in the requests for space for the show.

The sketching club is approaching its first anniversary, and many of the sketchers had never entered art in a show, or had a bad experience with another show prior, and didn't want to get involved again in showing their art.

Once a venue was acquired, I really got worried. The area was 8 feet x 8 feet x 8 feet approximately, and presented us with a lot of space to display art in. Two months before the show, I got support from two other really ardent members, that if we had too, the three of us would each produce twenty sketches for the show, so we could make it happen if everyone backed out on us.

It was the winter months, and the club had moved inside at the local university for life drawing, and we were down to about 4 active members who still continued to come even though we were indoors. The president and I started to email the other members and really talk up the show. Slowly more and more sketchers took an interest, and we were able to belay the fears of the many. We pointed out this was not a juried show, these were sketches and not finished works of art, and it could be great fun if this was a person's first show.

Until I put together the first draft list of paintings, we really had no idea of how many we were going to have. We wound up with over 70 and there was still potential for more. We went from not having enough to having too many! So, some of us who were willing to work extra hard to get extra sketches done, again filled the gap by removing several of the sketches we originally intended to show. That is how we got the number to 68.

My next worry was how was I going to hang so many sketches in three and a half hours (the time frame the municipality requested). I put out a call for help to the sketching club, and again I was amazed at the support. In the end there was five of us there to hang the show, and we got finished with 15 minutes to spare!

I have to say I am really proud of the show. All the club members except for one displayed in the show. A photographic artist in the club (who sketches with us) provide high quality photos of club activities, and the president did up beautiful brochures, flyers, and information sheets which we have at the show as well. What makes me so proud though, is the quality and diversity of the sketches, and the wide range of materials and styles. The show has great interest and is tons of fun for the club.

We are planning a night together to see the show as a club, and then socialize over finger foods and coffee. What a cool way to into our first anniversary together. Bravo to the bit sKetchy sketching club!

I am posting a photo of the exhibit and a sketch I did with the club. The sketch is probably too much of a drawing, and it still needs work, but I will wait until the club returns this coming summer to that location, and finish the sketch/drawing then.

I really enjoyed curating this show, and all my fears and anxiety proved to be unfounded. And it gave me the knowledge to curate my next show, which is going to be my people drawings! I guess the best way to help yourself is to help others.

Intensity

I was at life drawing today and I had a very intense session. I have done this before. The last time was when I had broken my ankle and I was in recovery. I was at an art class that I found absolutely fascinating, and I got completely lost in the process. It was a day long session; I was standing the whole time. I got so intensely into the work, I wasn't eating, I wasn't breaking to do anything. At the end of the session, I left and went to buy a printer for my computer.

When I got to the store, I guess I finally defocused from the art, and was overcome by pain in my recovering ankle. I had to sit on printer boxes for over 45 minutes because I could not stand or walk. I was embarrassed so I did not ask the store staff for help. I didn't want to be carried off. It was intense and I never forgot how lost I got.

Life drawing today was like that. I stood to draw, and completely exhausted myself from concentrating so hard. I was developing a new technique, and took all my concentration. I usually can see the image emerging from the paper. This time I was just drawing areas of light and shade, using contrasts to form shapes. Suddenly, the image appeared. It was fascinating. It was confusing. It was a totally different experience than I was used to.

After the session, I went to lunch and I was famished. I went home, and I laid down. My feet where on fire, and I had to sleep. I woke up hours later, and I was disoriented. Art can have this effect on me. It is like I enter into another state of mind. Time seems to stand still. My normal worries, concerns and thoughts get suspended. I become very calm. It rejuvenates. It is powerful, but it is also disorienting. When I come out of this state, I need to pick up the threads of my life again.

The best times are when I do art and slip into this calm, peaceful place where I create my art, but without the overwhelming intensity. I love my art, but like loving a person, if the feelings are too intense, I burn out.

Life is like Doing Art

I am surprised at how it took me so long to realize that running my life is like doing art. I love art, and have been working hard for years to hone my skills at bringing a drawing or painting together, successfully, and yet I never made the connection between managing creating a drawing or painting to my personal life.

I have been really doing a lot of self introspection lately. I just broke up with my partner, gave up the house I always dreamed of, and moved back into my old condo. Life seemed to turn upside down and inside out. It was like my life had been an experiment that went wrong. Only, the experiment was all the things I ever dreamed about. I even had my own studio.

Now, I am in my old condo, a bit out of the main stream in a little village, but on a beautiful body of water. I had to re-evaluate what was important. And the best way I could do this was to look to my art for inspiration.

I remember hearing a little story years ago, and now that story is my guiding light as I re-engineer my life. The story goes that there is a sculptor working piece of marble that is his life's work. The marble is in a park near a public street. He goes out every day with his hammer and chisel, and chips away at the marble, ever evolving his sculpture to create the one masterpiece for his life. Now the question is, would you hand the hammer and chisel to any passerby who wanted to try his or her hand at sculpture, and let them go at your masterpiece?

The answer of course is a resounding "NO". As an artist, you would protect the piece, and would only lovingly chip away at it to bring out your vision of what it should be. Well, life is the same thing. My life is my lifelong masterpiece. I should not be handing my hammer and chisel to anyone else so they can take a whack at my life. I should be the only one chipping away, and I should go at it with the love I do when I create a painting or drawing.

So in this great transition, I have been reevaluating myself, my goals, and looking at my life like a piece of art I am creating. When I do this, things become clear, and it becomes easier to give up the more connected location, the relationship, and the studio, in return for peace and happiness in my life, and more time to create and enjoy my art making.

Since the beginning of the year, I draw every day and paint on average every other day. I am honing my art business skills, and am curating an art show for the first time. I will be taking over a life drawing group for a month in May, and with each new experience, I am fleshing out myself as an artist.

I just read a quote in a book or art magazine, that art is a jealous mistress. Well, if you devote yourself to your art mistress, she is also the best companion you will ever have.

I have just scanned in some of the coffee shop sketches I have been doing over the last year. I had gotten away from this when I had the flu, and the leg operation, but I was just back sketching in a coffee shop today, so I thought a coffee shop image might be appropriate to post with this entry.