MAKING ART

 A friend sent me a link to a video.  The video showed a very interesting artist who did monumental mosaics.  I was fascinated watching the video.  His medium reminded me of the gorgeous show that I saw recently at the National Gallery of Art's showing of Pompeii.  The lifestyle that he lived was very extreme and his art was a result of his manic personality or was it the other way around?

  Which brings me back to the notion, does art foster insanity or do you simply go crazy making art?  I think it is a little of both.  I think the image of the tortured artist living in a garret is a cliche but sadly true for some.  I don't think it is neccessary to live the "bohemian" life in order to produce great art.  Clearly this individual was a bit of a character but if you look at the work he produced he "needed" that extreme facade to produce the work that he does. He needed to bounce off of his crazy life to create his biographical interpretations of his world. The fact that he ended up in a mental institution from time to time is a fact of his life not a product of his art.

I liked the first clip better.  The second one begged a little too much reference to the tortured artist Van Gogh syndrome.  The point that the film made that the artist, who suffers from extreme bi-polar ups and downs do definitely benefit by someone else who can anchor them to reality was a good one.  I think the image that his wife gave him, which was a comparison to being a "bird" was very appropriate.  In order to make art we all have to "fly away" from reality to paint.  The physicality of that reality to seek a new reality in the paint.  My favorite parts of the video were the images of mixing paint.  The physicality of that reality is so sensual and so gratifying.  I like to pre-mix my colors on my palette before I begin.  It gives me a point of reference.  The whole time I am doing it, I feel excited and full of anticipation and hope that this time the painting will really work and not work against me.  Art is a craft after all.  anyone can do it.  I really believe that, but only a select few do it really well.

  

GETTING OUT OF A RUT THROUGH WORK

In response to Keith Bond’s last article I agree that change is always a good thing and yes, it does not happen over night. Real meaningful change comes from hard work, and is a result of diligence, patience and perseverance. I love these two quotes by Einstein:

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”

I love this analogy. In order to ride a bicycle, you must physically move your legs, press down with your feet, which are on the pedals, which in turn move the chain that moves the tires, which when in motion move you forward and keep you from falling down. It’s a simplistic idea, to ride a bike. It is also said that once you know how to do it you never forget how.

Being an artist and creating a work of art has many similarities to riding a bike. It is a balancing act. Life is complicated and sometimes very overwhelming. How lucky we are though to have our art to retreat to. Then there is the physicality of the act of painting. Nothing will get accomplished if you sit around complaining because you don’t know what to paint or simply don’t feel like painting today. There are many days when I do not feel like painting. I do not beat myself up for the lack of motivation, I simply accept that it probably is a day for doing “something else” related to my art. I still go into the studio even if it is just to move things around and evaluate what it is I have already been working on. Just being around the paints sometimes triggers something. Looking through books of artist I admire, surfing the web to see new artwork, galleries, writing in my journal (I highly recommend keeping a journal), hopping in the car and driving to a favorite painting spot or a new place that I have never been before with a small sketchbook and a pencil, just in case the spirit moves me, dropping into a museum, …. Anything that gets those creative juices pumping and you moving forward and not backward or worse losing your balance and falling down into the depths of despair and self-doubt.

Climb back up on that bicycle, even if it is a stationary one today. Act and through the action will come a reaction and you will most certainly be painting again. You may not have an “a-ha” moment every day, in fact, the reality is these kinds of inspirational moments occur after much work and applied effort.

One must keep a fresh approach. Knowing what it is you want to say in your work is achieved by keeping in touch with your feelings and not painting to please others. Keep working and you will go the distance!