Say What?

“Coming to Life” 36×48

Recently I have read a number of articles and blogs that suggest that practice of technique is more important than talent.  In fact some have gone so far as to say that there is really no such thing as talent.  Putting in the hours, they say,  is what matters.  Say what?  I must object!  Being a colorist, I know that there are elements of my painting style that cannot be taught or explained.  It is an innate sense of what to do next, which colors to use, and how to manipulate them to enhance rather than detract from the overall composition.  Comments from other accomplished artists “Your use of color is amazing.”  “I don’t know how you can put those colors together and keep a harmonious and peaceful painting.”  “You have a fearless us of color that is admirable.” confirm my opinion.  

My personal testimony lies in the music world.  I studied piano for 10 years;  by the time I was looking at colleges my instructor encouraged me to pursue piano on the college level with the goal of becoming a concert pianist.  I enjoyed playing piano.  I did it well.  But I could never sit at the keys and create a piece of music which by the way frustrated me to no end because I longed for creative expression from my soul.  So I opted instead for another line of study that ultimately led me to the visual arts.  That longing for expression has been fulfilled now for years. 

Combine an innate longing to create with recognition that (even as an experienced teacher) there are techniques, styles, and colors I use that cannot be taught and I find myself firmly planted on the side that says there IS such a thing as God given talent.  That said, I also will be the first to say that every talented musician still needs to practice, every gifted painter still needs to paint regularly.  Both must study  if they are to progress in that talent.  But to say that practice, no matter how many hours, weeks, or years, can replace being gifted by the Divine?  Let’s just say I “strongly disagree.” 

What do you think?  Where do you land in the push/pull between talent and education?  I’d like to hear your thoughts. 

A Matter of Perspective

Memories, 48×48

“A good abstract should work from at least 3 sides”.  I heard this from a very accomplished abstract artist set up next to me at a show recently.  I know that; I paint that way; but I had never spoken it quite so definitively.  As my life has been on full tilt, as my career feels like it is a study of shifting sands, “Art imitates life” has smacked me full in the face.

As in, I can look at all of the changes I am dealing with and working through in a negative way, or I can take a new perspective and ensure a positive result with a positive  attitude.

-Because I didn’t sell well this year on my Florida circuit I have enough inventory to relax the painting schedule and take the time to write, build a marketing plan, and explore new distribution channels.

-Because there aren’t customers clamoring to get to the studio at 10 or 11 every day I can redefine my space from retail shop to artist studio and set new (more relaxed) hours which allow me to train for the half marathon without getting up at the crack of dawn.  Or sit here at the coffee shop to write my blog.  Or close early to enjoy time with my son from out of town who is in town for a visit.

-Because my studio is full, I have two complete bodies of work that I can present.  Relaxed from deadlines, I push the envelop of my own creative style and explore the next level of “What if?” with the painting currently on the easel.

Rotated, Memories takes on a landscape look

We all have the freedom to choose the perspective by which we look at things.  I am amazed at how we see the positive in others’ lives, but take the negative road in our own.  I see wisdom and strength in a friend’s face; she sees wrinkles.  I see a friend looking younger; she sees weight gain.  I see a woman’s hair as “silver fox” she sees it as old and gray.

As an abstract artist I am accomplished at looking at the world differently.  Emotion, color, line, texture, and composition jump out at me more than image, scene, location, or place.  I am enamored by the beauty behind and under the obvious.  “Life imitates art.”  We would all benefit if we started looking for the beauty that underlies the shifts in life. “Life imitates art.”  It is the highlights and lowlights that add dimension to a painting and to life.  Looking at life as an abstract painting.  Sounds like a great perspective to embrace.

Rotated again, Memories becomes an angel

What They Never Tell You

Things that “They” don’t tell you when you decide to pursue visual art as a living:

-Plan to  spend as much time doing the administrative stuff as the creative stuff

-Expect to understand accounting, bookkeeping, profit and loss, (or make enough money to pay someone who does )

-Become computer literate if you are not already

-Purchase or borrow a good camera or expect to pay a professional photographer for spot-on images

-Develop a thick skin for the tough times and the number of rejections that come along the way

-Hone your  social media skills

-Understand terms like “cohesive body of work”, “distribution channel”,  “streams of income”, “diversification” and how they affect your income

-No matter how pure you want to keep your creative voice, it will be influenced by what you sell

-Long hours and hard days, are the norm

-Dealing with other artists can be exhilarating and exhausting at the same time

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  All of it is secondary to the reason you are in the business of art to begin with:  creating art. Creating the “remarkable” all has to be done in addition to the above, not at the exclusion of it.

I love my work.  I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.  However you will find me chuckling when someone comes up to me working in my studio and says, “It must be so much fun to make a living at your passion” .  If they only knew….

Changing Scenery

Several months ago I realized my heart’s desire was to paint large.  A short while later I  came to the realization that the small paintings displayed in my studio gallery (shown above) were cluttering my mind and heart as well as the walls.  I grabbed a box and packed up a number of paintings.  Others ended up in baskets.  The freedom was intoxicating as the environment that surrounds me celebrated my heart’s desire.

Today I take another step in the same journey.  I have de-cluttered the studio of “nice” furniture and displays.  The goal is to simplify the space enabling it to serve my artistic exploration to an even greater extent.  Less of a gallery; more of a working studio.

If you want to go where you’ve never gone, you must take the first step in a new direction.  If you want to do what you’ve never done, you must try your hand at something new.  Easier said than done.  Today however, my spirit says “No fear!”.  My heart whispers “Embrace change.”  Today I have made a slight adjustment that feels like a major change to my artist’s heart.  A slight change in navigation can lead to a whole new destination.  I’m counting on it.

Who Knows Where

I recently returned from an art festival in Louisville where I have previously shown with success.  Not so this year.  Not one sale.  Zip. Zero. Nada.  I left the show thinking “I could have had so much more fun with the $600 I just spent to be here!”  The experience left me pondering.  If I look to financial success to define the weekend it will always and forever be an abysmal failure.  However (you knew that was coming)…

If I look to the results of the show I will be left with a different view point.  The results:  a decision to pursue different types of shows and festivals, a confidence to know it wasn’t about the quality of the art I create, a confirmation to be intentional with my pursuit of honing my craft and developing my personal style, a sensitivity to the art festival market, a beginning of a 5-10 year plan that might take my art out of the outdoor festival model.

Armed with a different perspective, Louisville will never be a failure.  It will be a turning point.  The ah-ha weekend.  The starting line of the next leg of this adventure I call life. ” Failure” is only the end of the line if I allow it to be.  I vote for allowing it to be a catalyst to a creative problem solving process that will move me forward in my journey.  Not the end, but the beginning of the next step.  Who knows where that step will lead.  The possibilities are endless.  I’m all in.

Milliner’s Delight or How Many Hats Can I Wear in a Day?

Life as a professional artist on the gypsy train is seldom boring and often a bit chaotic.  Any given day will find me wearing any number of hats as I navigate the waters of this business called art.  What is certain but often misunderstood is that I seldom spend one full work day at the easel.

When one makes the jump into the professional arena (throwing their hat in the ring so to speak) an entire millinery shop opens to the artist.  Creating art is just the beginning of a process that shifts time, energy, and resources to any number of tasks at hand.  Let me share the journey of the painting shown here:

Step 1:  Create a painting (the artist and/or development director hat)

Step 2:  Name the painting (the wordsmith hat) In this case:  “Serendipity”

Step 3:  Price the painting and enter it into computerized inventory  (the director of finance hat)  $145

Step 4:  Create an image of the painting (the photographer hat)

Step 5:  Download, crop, size, and color correct the image (the digital photographer hat)

Step 6:  Upload the image to the internet, facebook,and/or  newsletter (multiple hats here:  web master, social media guru, and marketing director all included)

Step 7:  Ticket, label and display the painting appropriately in the gallery/studio/tent (the director of visual marketing hat)

Step 8:  Apply, travel to and set up the tent at an art show (again multiple hats:  director of operations, navigator, manual labor, etc.)

Step 9:  Share the story of the painting to any and all potential customers (the storyteller/salesperson hat) “Coming across a wild garden full of brilliant blossoms quite by accident.”

Step 10:  Make the sale!  Record the transaction and make appropriate banking records (the accounting hat)

No one ever told me that I’d be wearing so many hats as a professional artist.   What I shared above is just those associated with creating and selling a painting.  In any given week I am landlord, painter, teacher, adviser, sales person, marketing guru, web master, photographer, writer, and the list goes on. The challenge is to juggle all of these caps and of course to keep them all straight.  Knowing which to wear at any given time in any given day is a matter of…well prioritizing.

And that requires the milliner to create an organizer/business/scheduling hat.  Wonder if I have room in my closet…

Act II: Got to Have Some Fun

I keep asking myself, “How do you follow that???”  The past two weeks have been full of life changing memories and miracles as we have watched our friend’s son progress from near death to going back to college next week!  Truly amazing.  What do I write next???

As I pondered that I realized once again the parallel to the art biz.  And perhaps the art biz is in fact playing into my emotional state about blogging as well.  As a part of our weekend to Indianapolis, I delivered a major piece and collection as I have shared previously.  Artistically I have also been asking myself “How do I follow that?”  It’s a familiar question upon delivery of a large commission or the end of a terrific show, or simply the completion of a painting that I know in my knower is a cut above.

The answer came in simply not trying to create another masterpiece but rather in having fun painting small pieces in a new technique.  When in doubt, let the child within play.  That is what I have learned through the years.  To force inspiration never results in a promising result, whether it be a painting or a blog.

So here I am, a week or so later, sharing the results of my labors this week…but really I was just havin’ fun!  Hope you enjoy!

  I even reverted to childhood memories as I named them:  “Grape Lollies”, “Lemon Lollies” and “Purple Tree”.  Fanciful, fun and oh so therapeutic.  All are just 6″ square and will adorn my tent as I travel to Madison, IN.  for a show this weekend.

Until next post…hope you let your inner child loose to enjoy the day!

Long Days and Hard Work

 

I know, I know, nobody said it would be easy.  It’s just amazing to me sometimes just how much hard work and long hours go into this business we call art.  I am in the midst of preparing for a pretty significant show (Penrod Arts Fair in Indianapolis) followed by a presentation of my three decades of being an art professional(Art:  Up Close and Personal sponsored by the Arts Council of Williamson County).  Oh and by the way, delivery of a major commission piece (finished:  see photo).  Most days I thrive on being busy.  After all, I hate being bored.  Lately however it seems I am trying to tell myself not to stress more often than not.

At our last art show, my husband encountered a gentleman (I use the term loosely) who suggested that all of the artists did this kind of thing as a hobby.  Can I just say that nobody but nobody puts themselves through what we professional artists do for the fun of it?  Do I love the gypsy train?  Indeed.  Do I appreciate that I make a living doing something that I’m passionate about?  Absolutely!  Is it grueling at times and mindless at other?  Too true!

Don’t get me wrong.  I wouldn’t trade my profession for another….ever!  As I posted last week (or was that two weeks ago???) I know that I know I was created to express myself artistically.  That said, I think there is a misconception that all we professional artists do is play all day.  Painting is fun;  it is the play part of the job.  Varnishing, wiring, framing…not so much.  Powerpoint presentations, email newsletters, social media marketing….work.

When your passion becomes your profession there will be long days and hard work if you want to succeed.  It goes with the territory.  Business plans, profit and loss statements, marketing strategies are all a part of the business of art.  Dare I say they are the work that balances the play.  But oh the pay off when a customer falls in love and has to have a painting I’ve created.  Then suddenly all of the hours melt away.  All of the hard work seems easy.  In other words it’s all worth the effort.  So to the studio I go to teach and paint and label and load up and…and…and…  Guess I’ll sleep well tonight!

Addiction and Recovery

Quotes from the week in the studio:  “Your use of color is fearless.  I love it!”  “You must be some kind of genius.”  “We wish we could do that!”  These are particular interesting to me this week as I’ve been tracing my career for an upcoming presentation for the Arts Council of Williamson County called ART:  Up Close and Personal. What has run through my mind is the eight year old Deborah telling people “I’m good (as in a good student) at everything but PE and Art.”  So, okay I haven’t become an athlete although I DO know what I’m talking about when it comes to football.  So how did I get from there to here?

The first step of any recovery is recognizing the addiction.  “My name is Deborah Gall and I am a recovering artist.  I am addicted to expressing myself creatively.”   It all began when I was a little girl and longed to let out that which stirred within me.  It would be decades before I recognized this as the need to create.  I searched for my creative voice through crafts and music and ultimately landed in the midst of a pile of fabric and thread.  Quilting became what fed my addiction.   However, in the midst of commissions, teaching, writing, and speaking I could not use the term”artist” to describe myself.  My tongue would get tied in knots and the word simply stuck in my throat.  When a gallery owner used the “A” word and commissioned a piece for her home I began to speak the word, but it felt like sawdust in my mouth and I was certain I was being branded as delusional.

Then, in 1995, someone introduced me to two books:  Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way”  and Madeleine L’Engle’s “Walking on Water”.  Voila!  My life changed as I began the 12 step recovery that Cameron outlines for recovering creatives.  She uses the term blocked, but for me it was more than being blocked, it was at the very core of my identity.  Within the pages of those volumes I found my tribe!  I was not alone in the (somewhat strange) way I looked at life or interpreted my surroundings.   Most inprotantly I found value to the very thing I was addicted to…creative expression.  L’Engle’s subtitle “Reflections of faith and art” summarized what I had desperately been trying to put together unsuccessfully in my heart and life.  I was transformed!

As I recovered my sense of safety, identity, power, integrity, possibility, abundance, connection, strength, compassion, self-protection, autonomy, and faith (all chapters/steps in Cameron’s book) I gained the freedom to say without apology or explanation that I was, am, and will always be an artist.   It is not something I do.  It is something I am.  This is recovery that feeds the addiction.  Backwards perhaps, but effective none the less.  With that…think I’ll go paint.

Photo above is part of a triptych I am currently working on.  It will hang in the same office as this pair called “Sara’s Sky”.  Sara purchased the left panel a year ago and commissioned the right panel to continue the design and form a square.  The art plan for her office is coming along nicely don’t ya think?

If you’re in the area I’ll be speaking at Williamson County Public Library on Monday, September 12 6-7:30 p.m.

Click the links above to start your own recovery.  Enjoy the ride!

Ready, Set, GO!

Today’s assignment was putting together the plan for tonight’s live painting event.  Or from my point of view, painting off site.  I hope I am always alive when I paint!

An hour and a half is not a long time to paint a 30″x24″ painting.  My layer upon layer process usually requires me to put the painting aside, work on another and come back to add the next layer.  For instance I will lay the sky in on a canvas and let it dry often until the next day before I add the background, mid-ground, and foreground.  Each might take at least an overnight before I move to the next design area.

Not so tonight.  So I have written a map of sorts, a sequence of areas to paint, hopefully allowing the background time to dry before adding the next design element.  I have also pre-mixed my paints with the medium I use for my first layer of color.

People often ask how long a painting takes to complete.  The hidden time is amazing:  pondering design elements, process, and specific paint colors can take a relatively huge amount of time.  The perfect color in the perfect spot is after all what makes a great piece of art.  Then there’s the time consumed in selection (as in where exactly is that tube of paint?) and mixing of the first layer, making sure I have the right tools in hand, the easel at the right height, the lighting correct, etc.  All before the first knife of paint has danced across the canvas.

Usually I paint the first layer before I select the detail palette and prepare my tray of paints for finishing.  Not so today.  Anticipating the details is what it’s been about as I have prepared my tray of over 30 hues to develop tonight’s masterpiece.  I am as ready as I can be.  Master plan in writing in case my mind forgets, enough paint to finish at least two pieces I’m sure (don’t want to run out!), palettes prepared, supplies boxed.  I am set.

Now it’s time to GO!