Steve's art blog

Blog slowdown

2008-05-05T12:26:00.000-04:00

On 5/5/08, Scott & Anna Dykema wrote:
Hello,
I have been reading your blog and checking out your site after looking back through some past issues of New American Paintings and have really enjoyed it.
Your blog has been a great read and I hope that it continues. Are you still painting regularly?
I hope you continue.
Thank you
Scott Dykema

Daydream Studios

-------------------------------------------

Hi Scott - what's up?
Yep - I am still painting. However I have stopped adding to my blog. I realized that I was focusing too much on trying to get outside "success", and I was losing the fun that I used to have with painting. I decided to stop blogging, which I basically was doing as an attempt to increase my notariety. I am lot happier now and am enjoying painting more.

Steve

Case for oil paint tubes

2008-03-21T11:02:00.008-04:00

It had recently become difficult wrangling all my 64 tubes of oil paint, so I made this case to hold them a few days ago. I got the idea from this web site. I bought a sketchbox easel, smashed out the innards, and glued some sticks inside to hang the paint from. It works great and I love it!
It took an assload of time - about 6 hours of sawing, sanding and gluing.

More about Ponytail painting

2008-03-07T17:04:00.005-05:00

I just wanted to share some more details about my painting of a girl with a ponytail that I finished yesterday. It took 26.5 hours; I know this because with this painting I used an electronic kitchen timer to "punch in" and out when I was working on the painting. I ended up painting almost every individual hair on the girl, using a script/liner brush, the smallest brush type available.

I briefly thought about ironically titling the painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring".

Ponytail painting is done

2008-03-06T15:06:00.005-05:00

My painting of a girl with a ponytail is done. It took a lot longer than I thought it would - about 25 hours, spread over 3 weeks. That makes it one of my most laborious paintings to date.

Looking for air purifier

2008-02-28T11:22:00.004-05:00

For the current painting I'm working on, I bought several grey/black oil paints from Gamblin. The advantage of these paints is that they are completely neutral - they have no hue at all. The disadvantage of these Gamblin paints, I have discovered, is that they have some kind of very noxious thinner or something in them which stinks and has been making me feel headache-y. I thinking about buying another air purifier, possibly one from Aller Air. I currently have an Austin Air Healtmate Jr. for my living room, but I'd like to get another cleaner to cover more of my apartment.

Aller Air is pretty cool - they actually have the purfiers broken down by what kind of art material you use.

Art is like the Oscars

2008-02-25T11:22:00.003-05:00

The Oscars are coming up, and I was thinking, success as a painter is like trying to get an Oscar. Oscars are awarded to what the average voter thinks is impressive or difficult. For example, actors are more likely to get an Oscar for playing a character who is disabled, weird, etc - what the average non-expert thinks is diffcult to do.
So, in other words, to be a successul artist, you have to do well at something the average person thinks is difficult.

Misunderestimated

2008-02-22T10:03:00.002-05:00

I realized that I underestimated the number of days it would take it finish my current painting. I thought that I would be able to work on it continuously for several hours. However, I have been only working on it for 20-40 minutes at a time. This is due to the fact that there are only 3 distinct areas on the painting, so I can't just jump to another area while I am waiting for one area to dry.

Next painting

2008-02-20T14:53:00.003-05:00

I decided to start thinking about my next painting while I'm still working on my current one -why wait? I am considering painting a hamburger, and some other topics. Some of my ideas would involve a lot of work, so I am not leaning toward those.

Progress on latest painting

2008-02-19T11:17:00.001-05:00

I made a lot of progress on my latest painting this weekend. I have done a total of 9 hours so far on it. There is still a decent amount of detail work to do. I estimate about 3-4 more hours.

Too many other people

2008-02-15T09:52:00.002-05:00

I was thinking recently about the topic of becoming a rich/famous artist. I realized something - becoming rich/famous is not something that you can sit down, and make happen, yourself. There are just too many other people involved.

There are just too many other people, out of your control, each with their own thoughts, preferences, opinions, interests, etc.

Gallery owners

The general public

The media

Museum curators

Finanical investors

Magazine editors

Art buyers

Perfectionism and art

2008-02-14T10:46:00.003-05:00

I am kind of a perfectionist. I am very demanding as to the "quality" of my paintings. It might seem like being a perfectionist would be "helpful"; however, it tends to make my paintings look stiff and, "perfect" - for example, many of my subjects are perfectly centered on the canvas.
As someone I know once said, "But, art isn't perfect."

Not done

2008-02-13T11:29:00.002-05:00

I started my latest painting yesterday, and (obviously) it isn't done yet. For some reason, the entire period between when a painting is started and when it's totally "in the bag" is kind of bothersome for me.
Right now the painting looks extremely messy and sloppy, because I just did the first layer of paint. I probably won't be at ease until the 3rd layer, when the paint finally looks smooth and creamy.

Next painting started

2008-02-12T13:36:00.000-05:00

I have started my next painting. It will be a picture of a girl's ponytail. It is oil on panel, 12x9". I think I might be able to finish it over the 3 day weekend coming up. It doesn't have a lot of detail.

I have been researching how to paint hair. Painting the large number of hair strands will probably be the most intense part of this painting.

Internal v. external

2008-02-11T15:01:00.000-05:00

Last week I talked about how I'd like to start changing my painting goals/orientation. I have become very External (see below). I would like to become more Internal, like I used to be.

External goals / viewpoint
- Trying to get into art shows
- Trying to get galleries
- Trying to get reactions from people
- Trying to sell paintings
- Trying to figure out what critics like
- Studying what art has "worked" before
- Analayzing the "contemporary art world"

Internal goals / viewpoint
- Trying to improve your painting ability
- Painting something you can hang on your walls
- Enjoying yourself
- Finding something fun to paint

"Oh, how creative!"

2008-02-08T11:05:00.001-05:00

I have painted a total of about 50 paintings. Most of them get an OK response from people, but a couple of them really seem to impress people. I have been trying for a while to figure out what it is about these paintings that people really get excited about. I think I've figured it out - it's a factor I call "Oh, how creative!"

"Oh, how creative!" is the response that a typical person has to a painting that has some unusual design element to it, that the viewer thinks is an incredible leap of human imagination. For example, my painting Snowed is a painting of a room, where snow has fallen on the furniture, etc. If there was no snow in this painting, the viewers would be bored. However, add the one element of snow, and it's, "Oh, how creative!".

Another example is the painter Josh Keyes. At first I, like many viewers, was very impressed with his paintings. But then I realized that his paintings are actually very simple scenes, with 1 or 2 simple "gimmicks", like cutting off the edges of the ground (see pic below). This is a perfect example of "Oh, how creative!". If you imagine the painting below without the ground cut off, you probably would not be impressed.

Photorealism

2008-02-07T10:25:00.002-05:00

Today I'd like to talk about Photorealism - a painting style of where the result looks very similar to a photograph.
I like Richard Estes a lot; he was actually one of the first painters that I liked, when I saw his paintings at about age 12. His paintings are sort of an improved, cleaned, shiny hyper-reality that I find yummy.
However, I don't like paintings where an artist perfectly reproduces a photo, and then seems to want credit/ praise for how much it looks like a photo. I can understand why such artists think they're great - 99% of people are probably stunned/impressed. (see "Wow that looks like a photo!")
I consider artists like this to be very talented craftsmen, but not strong creative artists.

Worth it?

2008-02-06T09:28:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I talked about a painting that took almost a year to complete. This relates to a question I have been asking myself lately - is painting "worth it"?
You put many hours of your life into a painting. What is necessary, if anything, for it to have been "worth it"? Does that painting need to sell for a certain amount of money? Do you need a certain amount of reaction from people? Does the painting need to get into galleries and shows?
I must admit that I sometimes feel like certain paintings were "a waste". This is often based on the reaction to the painting; if it wasn't well-received, I feel like, "Was it even worth it to paint that?"

When I first started painting, I didn't really care about how the painting "did" after I painted it - I just focused on enjoying the painting. I plan to start getting back to how I was back then.

A year for one painting?

2008-02-04T11:48:00.000-05:00

A while ago I talked about people who create a painting every day. I recently bought a DVD called The Treasures of Long Gone John, which shows a time-lapse video of Todd Schorr painting A Pirate's Treasure Dream. It took him almost a full year to do it.
Can you imagine?? I don't know if I'd be able to do it. My paintings take about 15 hours of painting time each to do. Any more than that, and it starts to seem like too big of an "investment" for one painting. Maybe someday I'll do a larger-time-period painting - who knows.

How the Modern Artist Rises to Fame

2008-02-01T10:58:00.000-05:00

If you read this blog, you know that I am semi-obsessed with becoming a famous artist. As a part of this effort I recently purchased a book subtitled "How the Modern Artist Rises to Fame". It was written in 1989 by an art crtic and buyer named Alan Bowness. Bownes studied the history of how various artists became famous, and he has some interesting ideas. I don't know if I agree with them all. Here's a summary of his ideas:

Fame is not arbitary. Fame comes to special, "genius" artists.

Paintings from artists who eventually become famous "stick out like a sore thumb" when compared to other artists. Bownes says their paintings are clearly much better, to almost any viewer.

Talented artists don't really "die in obscurity". If they live long enough (25+ years after they start painting), all talented artists will become rich and famous.

Art critics know what they are talking about, and become very good at spotting great art, after looking at so much art all the time.

Artists almost have to be part of a larger group/scene to become great; they need the competition.

New American Paintings results out

2008-01-31T11:29:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess the results for the Mid-Atlantic 2008 issue of New American Paintings are out. I found this blog entry and this note and this note from artists saying they're going to be in the mag. I haven't got a letter either way yet - I optimisticly assume that I am a "runner-up", like last year.

Meet the judges

2008-01-30T10:17:00.000-05:00

I'm currently trying to decide what to paint next. I've been mulling this over for a while, and I though of a "weird" solution - how about befriending some art-judges, showing them my painting ideas, and having them tell me what to paint?
This would of course be the ultimate in pandering to an audience.

I have recently been struggling with questions about what I want for the future of my art career, how to make it happen, and what I am prepared to do for it. I am starting to wonder if an artist can have financial success without painting what certain gatekeepers want. Would it really be so bad to paint what I know someone else likes? I was gonna paint something, so why not paint something I know people will like - right??

Painting-to-painting comparison

2008-01-29T09:11:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I talked about the art on the show The L Word. There is a scene from a recent episode that I'd like to talk about today.

In the scene, Bette, a high-level art figure, is talking to a character named "Michelangelo" about art. Michelangelo says that he saw a recent show at a local art center, which featured at least 10 paintings that were all better than the Eric Fischl painting Bette owns. Bette considers this for a moment, then concedes that it might be true.

This is what I am calling a "painting-to-painting comparison". It's where you choose a single painting by a famous artist and compare it to a single painting by a non-famous artist (for example, yourself), and determine that you are "better" than the famous/rich artist. I used to do this a lot a few years ago - I'd choose a single painting in a magazine, gallery, museum, etc., compare it with my best painting, and decide that I'm better than this guy, and wonder why I wasn't rich and famous.

These painting-to-painting comparisons are not valid. It's sort of "fun" to do them, to make yourself irritated about how unfair the whole art-world/ fame thing is. For a reality check, how about comparing your worst painting to the other artist's best one?

The L Word

2008-01-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

The L Word is one of my favorite TV shows. I am especially impressed with how it incorporates contemporary art. One of the characters, Bette, has had various high-level art-related jobs over the course of the series. She regularly mentions various artists, displays paintings, etc. These could have been various throwaway, obvious references like Andy Warhol. Instead the artists Bette mentions and the art displayed in the show is always perfectly spot-on for the plot or character point the show is trying to make. The L Word must have some kind of expert in-house contemporary art advisor. Excellent work, people!

Cool art

2008-01-25T10:18:00.000-05:00

Most people who know me know that I love Prada clothes. So, yesterday I was searching around for Prada stores, and I happened upon what appeared to be a strange store in the middle of nowhere. Upon further investigation I realized that this is actually an artwork callled "Prada Marfa".

It's a reproduction of a Prada boutique, built on the side of a highway near Marta, TX. I freakin love it! This is my kind of art!
Click here for more info/pix

Big break?

2008-01-24T11:59:00.000-05:00

Earlier in my art career, I used to believe in the idea of a "big break". I thought that all an artist needs is a one big event, and then they never again have to worry about what art they produce, promoting themselves, sales, etc. (see How to become a famous artist).
I have been watching a lot of movies lately, and I just got the DVDs of my all-time favorite show, Dinner for Five, a talk show about the entertainment industry. I realized this: an artist sometimes gets a "big break" (a job, press, etc.) early in his career. Then the artist must continually keep "snowballing" or working on his career in order to get to a higher level. At any time, the artist can get either "bigger", or slip backwards and become less prominent. For example, even actors that starred in multiple movies slip backwards, and you start seeing them in TV series or even commercials.
So, I realized this applies to my painting career; I'm not going to get some "big break" and be "set for life". Like an actor, I'm going to have to continuously work on my career if I want to be "huge".

Gatekeepers

2008-01-23T10:44:00.000-05:00

There are gatekeepers in each of the artistic fields - they decide which artists will get "past them" and have access to a level of success and popularity. Music has record labels, acting has casting agents, and painting has gallery owners, juried show judges, and museum curators.

The thing about gatekeepers is that they use their own likes and dislikes as a basis for deciding who gets past them. One book I read called it "taste buds" - if art "tastes good" to a particular gatekeeper, s/he will let it through.

The thing to realize about these gatekeepers is that there tends to be little relation between what the gatekeeper thinks will be sucessful, and what ends up being successful. I used to work in a record store, and we would receive about 10 albums from the major record labels per week. The labels clearly thought each of these artists would be successful. However, about 98% of these bands quickly vanished into obscurity.

So, is it a good idea to "target" these gatekeepers with your art? Is it better to make your art for the gatekeepers, or for the general public, or for yourself? I don't know - I do tend to target the gatekeepers, after dealing with them for several years and semi-understanding what they prefer.

I like it

2008-01-22T11:29:00.000-05:00

I realized recently that I decide what to paint based on my own emotional reaction to the subject. In other words, I paint what I like. I went to the bookstore yesterday to take a look at what subjects/images other people are into. There's a big difference between what's featured, for example, in photography books, and what I paint.
I get the feeling that people look at some of my paintings and think, "what's that a picture of?" Meanwhile, I am having a huge emotional reaction to the image.

Between paintings

2008-01-21T11:48:00.000-05:00

Right now I'm not currently working on a painting. I like to use this time to work on various art skills that I'd like to improve. Below is a picture of what I've been doing - teaching myself how to draw heads better.

Planning next painting

2008-01-18T14:15:00.000-05:00

I'm currently deciding what to paint next. I have a list of several possible ideas. I kind of want to "take it to the next level" with my next painting, but my current ideas are "more of the same" of what I'd usually paint. We'll see what happens. Since I love to paint, if I don't find something "spectacular" within a period of time, I'll paint something from my idea list.

My dream

2008-01-17T10:54:00.000-05:00

Today I asked myself, "What exactly is my 'dream' that would happen to my art career? What is my ultimate art-career fantasy?" Well, I did some web research, and I realized what my dream is.

There is currently a trend happening in the art world. Art "speculators" scout hundreds of artists, and then choose about 1% of them. This 1% then experiences immediate, huge financial success and fame. Waiting lists develop for their paintings, galleries fight over them, and they suddenly start selling for $1000s instead of $100s.

Check out the articles below. I "dream" that this happens to me (kinda shallow, aren't I?)

I just wanted to mention that I cannot discern any difference between the artists in these articles that were selected for ultimate success, and any other semi-competent artist. It just seems like some get picked and some don't. Note that the people doing the picking are not art experts; they are business investors like Michael Ovitz.

Hot art market stokes prices for artists barely out of teens

Warhols of Tomorrow Are Dealers' Quarry Today

First Come the Dealers, and Then the Diplomas

Left / right brain

2008-01-16T11:07:00.000-05:00

I actually became an artist through reading the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I was looking to improve the right (creative) half of my brain, found this book, and "the rest is history".

I still am more of a left-brain (logical, analytical) artist. Most of my painting work involves studying, researching, making lists, etc. I would love to improve the free-flowing, creative half of my brain. I'm envious of other artists whose paintings are more imaginative.

They don't get it

2008-01-15T10:32:00.000-05:00

I was thinking recently, and I realized that for about 95% of my paintings, people do not get the message or point that I was trying communicate. The only painting that a lot of people seem to "get" is Cheesy Beef Squares. This is probably because Cheesy Beef Squares actually has text within the painting itself that explains the painting.
On my web site, I have a "Notes" section for each painting that explains my thoughts, goals etc. for the painting. I had previously thought that the average person would get all of this info from just looking at the painting.
I guess I'm OK with people just enjoying my paintings at a "surface" level. It does bother me sometimes when people miss what I was going for and think that I'm not that good of a painter; for example - people often don't realize that Heather Is Apparently Frightened of Something To Her Right is a parody - I don't really paint like that.

Art City DVDs

2008-01-14T14:11:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my first product-review. I wanted to talk about a set of DVDs called Art City. These are 3 documentaries that I think really give you a good insight into the contemporary art world. The films basically follow around various contemporary artists as they work in their studios, go to openings, meet with collectors, etc. I found it very eye-opening. One of the main realizations that I came away with is that there is very little difference between a "major, important" artist, and an unknown, average artist. In fact, I didn't know which was which until I looked up the various artists from the DVD and found that some of them are in my "Most important artists of the 20th Century" book, and some of them don't even show up in google.
I recommend these DVDs for any artist who hopes to "make it" in the art world.

Winning

2008-01-11T10:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I talked about how I won a science fair competition. Today I want to talk more about winning / success.

Some people see success in the arts like winning the lottery. One day you are just living your normal life, and the next day you "win" some huge success, having put in very little work. These people think they will suddenly get selected to have a solo show at a museum, for a music record deal, to star in a movie, etc.

I see winning / success differently. To me "winning" in the arts is really more like winning an Olympic medal. Olympians train / work their entire lives, and then are rewarded.

If I told you you just won $40,000, you'd probably be pretty happy. If I then told you all you have to do get the $40k was work at your current job for a year, you'd probably then be pretty disappointed. To me, success is more like a job; you work, and then (hopefully) are rewarded.

More work

2008-01-10T09:34:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been talking about the topic of work. I would like to tell you a story from my past on this topic.

In 1986 I won the Atlantic County Social Science Fair, computer programming competition. The fair was pretty big - there were hundreds of kids there from throughout New Jersey, and I had to walk up in front of all of them to accept the award.

But let's step back a bit and talk about how I "made" this happen. The year before, I had entered the same competition. I wrote a computer program called "Geography Quiz" - it showed you pictures of the Earth and asked you questions. I spent about 10 hours on it. For some reason I fully expected to win the contest that year. I had a very rude awakening when my entry had zero impact.

After losing in 1985, I decided to create a major program for the next fair. It would be similar to the movie Wargames - a graphic simulation of a nuclear war. I spent months on it. I went to the library and did research on the types of nuclear missles, cities in Russia, the pyhsics of nuclear explosions, etc. I remember getting to the room at the fair where the computers were running our entries, and sitting next to a "smug" kid who seemed to think he was a shoe-in - just like me the year before. He was in for a similar rude awakening.

As you know, I ended up winning that year. I was completely un-surprised. I again fully expected to win; I had put in about 100x the work of any of the other kids.

The point if this story is about the amount of work people put into their creative works. Whoever puts more hours into their work will most likely be at the top of their creative field. Some people seem to think that their "talent" will carry them; such people will easily be topped by someone who simply puts in a few more hours than they do. People sometimes tell me I'm "talented"; I respond that I could barely draw 7 years ago, before I read over 50 art books and put in 100s of hours of practice.

Factories

2008-01-09T10:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I talked about how much work there is when producing art. Some artists manage this work by creating "factories" around themselves through which they delegate much or all of the work to others. In the TV show Iconoclasts, Jeff Koons' factory is shown - he is basically a "factory foreman" and idea generator, and the art is manufactured assembly-line style. Damien Hirst also has a factory through which many of his works are completely created by others. This factory tradition actually goes back as far as the Renaissance.
Some artists get to a point in their career where there is a huge demand for *anything* by that artist. Some of these artists decide to take advantage of the situation and produce the largest possible amount of art that can be attributed to them.
I am ambivalent about whether I'd like to be in a position where I'm a "factory foreman". But, it might be cool to just think up ideas all day.

Work

2008-01-08T10:20:00.000-05:00

Let me start off by saying that I really hate it when people call their art their "work". This really irritates me! I think it sounds very pretentious. That being said, art is work. Let me bring up another Edison quote:

Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

Art is a lot of work! I think that a lot of potential art simply never comes into being because no one sits down and does the hours and hours of work involved in getting it from the idea stage to the "exists" stage. Getting the idea is exciting and the completed painting is cool, but in between is work to be done.

New American Paintings update

2008-01-07T09:56:00.000-05:00

I contacted New American Paintings last week to find out what was up with the 2008 Mid-Atlantic issue - the results usually come out in December. See their response below. I'm still hoping to make it in this year!

We expect to begin sending out notifications early next week.

Best,

--
Jessica Fortin
Open Studios Press
617-778-5265

Emo

2008-01-04T09:38:00.000-05:00

"Emo" is a term for a type of current pop-rock music. Emo is also used is the romance-novel industry; writers and editors try to maxmize the emo (emotion) that is contained in each section of the text.

I think emo also applies to painting. One might argue that the whole purpose of art is to inspire emos in the viewer.

I try to paint images/subjects that I have a lot of emotions about. I find that painting these subjects helps me work through the emos. Below are some of the wide variety of emos that I feel toward the subjects I've painted.

affection

irritation

bad memories

anxiety

nostalgia

"yumminess"

attraction

calmness

stress

excitement

comfort

loneliness

amusement

apprehension

My process

2008-01-03T09:17:00.000-05:00

I am looking to make changes to my process of getting an image to paint. Here is what I currently do:

1) I think up a subject to paint.
2) I either take a photo of the subject, or search the web for a photo I like (ebay / amazon.com / gettyimages.com / yahoo images).
3) I "tweak" the photo in Photoshop.

I am getting kind of disatisfied with this process. I feel like there is probably a more spontaneous, creative way to work.

Knifing your paintings

2008-01-02T11:31:00.000-05:00

I read that, later in his career, Monet was really bothered by his early paintings. He hated knowing that they were out there. Collectors would bring early paintings to him, knowing that he would slash them and have the collector take a new replacement painting.

I sometime feel like knifing my early paintings. As I get more and more skilled, those paintings really bother me. For now, I'll let them continue to exist!

Here's a related article

Consume / produce

2008-01-01T18:31:00.000-05:00

I saw a TV show recently that said that people have begun producing creative content like never before - things like YouTube videos, blogs, etc. Some people (like me) are not satisfied with consuming creative output; we "must" generate some ourselves.

If you like to produce art, I think it's a good idea to voraciously consume all the art you can. I find that the more outside art I take in, the easier it is for me to create art of my own.

Fridge painting is done

2007-12-31T09:20:00.000-05:00

I finished my painting Admiral Duplex on Saturday. It took more work than expected - a lot of hours went into the various bottles, plates etc.
I used an entire roll of masking tape on this one. I wanted a crisp look for the edges.

Edison

2007-12-28T09:28:00.000-05:00

Thomas Edison was a hero of mine when I was growing up in our mutual home state of New Jersey. I loved reading biographies about him. I also loved the inspiring quote below (which I discovered today that I have mis-remembered):

Edison was asked about inventing the light bulb. He had tried 10,000 different materials that didn't work, before finally finding one that did.
Edison responded, "I haven't failed 10,000 times; the light bulb was an invention with 10,001 steps."

I believe this philosophy can be applied to painting. Don't overly concern yourself with any individual painting. Just get the painting out the door. Later you will look back and see that each painting was an essential step in getting you to the point you eventually reach as a painter.

Here is the exact quote, by the way.

Motivation

2007-12-27T10:27:00.000-05:00

I think that motivation to paint can be a problem for some artists. Staying motivated can be particularly sticky if you are very attached to external reactions. For example, if you paint primarily to show the painting to a particular person(s), you will probably find your motivation being very unreliable and you may even become de-motivated based on how the person reacts.
The same thing can happen if your motivation is attached to sales or competitions. Make a sale or get into a show and you are motivated; a lapse in sales or shows and you are discouraged and dispirited.
I think the best motivation is simply to create paintings. My motivation revolves around getting the current painting into existence.

Acrylic vs. oil

2007-12-26T10:50:00.000-05:00

Since I am nearing completion of an acryilic painting after painting with oil for a while, I wanted to make a comparison table.

Acrylic	Oil
Great for flat solid areas	Great for smooth blending
Flat, "plasticy" look	"Creamy" look
Completely non-toxic	Can start getting toxic with all of the solvents, cadmium, cobalt, etc.
Requires multiple coats to cover fully	Covers decently
Paint flows well	Paint is somewhat "sticky"
Paint is easy to modify with various additives	Oil and solvents can be added to modify paint
Dries within 90 seconds on the pallete	Stays wet for over a day
Better if the subject your are painting has a wide variety of color areas	Better if the subject is a single color

Painting is like Xmas shopping

2007-12-25T08:55:00.000-05:00

Merry Xmas yall!
I recently bought gifts for my mom and her husband Bob. Every year this involves hours of web research, looking up various topics I assume they like, and then mulling over each potential gift trying to determine if it has the specific elements that they will react to. (Did I mention that I'm a perfectionist?)
This process is actually exactly like what painting is like for me. I do hours of work trying to get pictures that I hope viewers will emotionally react to. It's actually quite difficult because I have never met the potential viewer and must brainstorm what they could possibly like.

Painting is 90% casting

2007-12-24T11:10:00.000-05:00

There is a saying in Hollywood that 90% of the success of a movie is a due to casting - who's in it. I believe that that the same is true about my paintings - 90% of the popularity of a given painting seems to due to the subject I choose.
I used to think that technique, colors, composition, etc. were what make a painting a "hit" - however now I feel like, once I have decided to paint "X" item, the painting's fate is about 90% decided.

Painting in progress

2007-12-21T10:32:00.000-05:00

I thought it might be cool to show what it looks like when I'm working on a painting. Here is my painting table while painting "Admiral Duplex", a picture of a refrigerator. There is still a decent amount of work left - there is a lot of detail with the food items.
Click on the picture for a larger view.

Are you good?

2007-12-20T09:53:00.000-05:00

If you're an artist, do you ever wonder if you're any "good"? Well, according to an article I read a while ago, the fact that you're wondering about your abilities probably indicates that you're at least competent. According to studies, people who are bad at a skill often think they're very talented and "good".
So, keep on wondering!

Anybody could've painted that

2007-12-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

My friend Tony (star of my painting Tony is an engineer!) has a Monet poster in his house. A while ago we were standing in front of it and talking about the art world. Tony remarked that although the painting is a famous Monet, really "Anybody could've painted that." I actually agreed, looking at that 1 painting. If this painting wasn't "a Monet", and was submitted to a competition or show, it would probably be ignored.
I thought the same thing when recently viewing some Monets in person at the Barnes Foundation. The paintings have sort of aquired a magical mystique, but when you look at any individual painting, you do think, "Anybody could've painted that."

New American Paintings results

2007-12-18T10:05:00.000-05:00

I noticed that several people have been searching for the results of the New American Paintings competition, and have found my blog. Like you, I am awaiting the results, which I hope will be out soon. While we wait, here is some info that I have learned from being in the magazine previously:

The results are mailed out around December 12th. *** Update: I got the following email from N.A.P on 1/4/07:

We expect to begin sending out notifications early next week.

Best,

--
Jessica Fortin
Open Studios Press
617-778-5265

If you are accepted, you get forms for you to fill out, etc. They ask you to send them 6 additional pictures, so that they have a total of 10 to choose from for the magazine.

If you are not accepted, you get a simple letter telling you "sorry".

There is a third option, which happened to me last year - if you are an "alternate", they will keep your slides until around February 8th; you are kind of like a runner-up in the Miss America pageant - should one of the other artists be unable to perform her duties...

What you intended

2007-12-17T12:30:00.000-05:00

The book Art and Fear has a fascinating section that talks about what happens when you view one of your recently completed paintings. It says you recieve "uncomfortable feedback" concerning how you couldn't get the painting to turn out like you wanted.
I think you know you're getting better as an artist when your finished paintings look more and more like you intended, and you don't feel sort of like you have to explain to people, "Well, actually I was trying to go for..."

A painting a day

2007-12-14T09:15:00.000-05:00

I was searching around the web yesterday for ideas about how to make a living as a painter. I happened upon a "job" some artists have where they continously paint small paintings, and sell them on eBay for about $100 each. I especially liked this guy - Justin Clayton

There is a whole "society" of these "daily painters" -
check it out. I was surprised how much I really like these paintings.

So, it looks like these guys make around $40,000 a year, and about $20/hour. Interesting. I'm not sure if it would be right for me...

a "daily painting" by Justin Clayton

The house, the museum, the ribbon, the heart and the dollar sign

2007-12-13T10:16:00.001-05:00

I went to an art seminar a few months ago, and one of the speakers told us about a interesting concept. She said that art can be classified by 5 icons - the house, the museum, the ribbon, the heart and the dollar sign.

- the house. This is the type of art that people like to hang in their house, as decoration.

- the museum. This type of art is shown in museums.

- the ribbon. This art wins awards - juried shows, competitions, etc.

- the heart. This art is loved by people and considered their favorite.

- the dollar sign. This art sells for a lot of money.

I think this "icon" system is fascinating. Note how art that excels in one area is often unsuccessful in another - for example:

the paintings that a typical person has on their walls (such as Thomas Kinkade) will never be shown in a museum.

Art that is people's favorite often isn't very expensive.

I think an artist has to think about which type of art he wants to produce - is your goal to get into museums? Then you probably won't be selling every painting. Is your goal to make a living? Then your paintings probably won't win juried shows.

Next painting started

2007-12-12T09:56:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd take a break from all my recent art-philosophy posts and talk about what I'm currently working on. A couple of days ago I started my latest painting, which is a picture of an open refrigerator. It is 12x12", acrylic on panel. I haven't used acrylic for a while and I am liking its ease of use.
I am on vacation all next week and hopefully I will be able to finish the painting. The pic is pretty simple and doesn't have a lot of shading. It does however have a much larger number of hues than I usually use - I usually try to limit the hues so that the painting has a "unified" feel. However, this painting might benefit from having a lot of hues because I am trying to give a sort of "overwhelming" feel from all the different food items in the fridge.

Not art

2007-12-11T09:44:00.000-05:00

In the movie Art School Confidential, the main character has a goal to become "the greatest artist of the 21st century". However, his drawings are extremely traditional portraits of pretty girls.

I was thinking about this, and I realized - very few of the painters considered "important" in the last century painted anything traditional. In fact, what many of the "important" artists created was not even considered art at the time. The public at the time looked at these paintings and said "What?? That's not art - art has to have a subject, can't be copied from a photo, has to be of high craftmanship, etc."

Here are a few examples of art that was not considered art when it first came out:

Pop Art

1 in 100

2007-12-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

In the movie Art School Confidential, one of the professors tells his class that only 1 out of 100 of them will eventually make a living as an artist. This is also mentioned in the book A Life in the Arts, which says that 90 percent of artists earn less than $5,000 a year.

Am I currently the 1 out of 100? Nope.
I think that to have a continuous cash flow, your art must be:

decorative

attractive

simple

the kind of art which the average person can picture sitting on his wall for years

repeatable/ repetitive. This gives the buyers a "catalog" of various paintings to pick from.

My paintings do not meet the above criteria!

"A machine could've done that"

2007-12-07T10:38:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the first of what is sure to be many posts insipred by my recent viewing of Art School Confidential.

The film's main character is Jerome. He's an artist whose drawings are what probably 98% of America considers impressive and considers "art" - pictures of people which are realistic, accurate to reality, and attractive.

In the film, there is a scene where a class is critiquing each other's self-portaits. There are a wide variety of styles, from abstract to even word-art. One of the students attacks Jerome's drawing, saying something like, "Look at yours, Jerome! A machine could've done that!" The self-portrait that the class prefers is an abstract expressionist drawing which consists of a series of lines.

This scene perfectly demonstrates the difference between what the average person admires and what is truly creative and expressive. I picture Jerome being heavily praised his entire life, by "average" people, for producing these accurate drawings. Now that he is among other artists, his art looks almost ridiculous by comparision. The student that criticized him is correct - a machine could have produced his drawing. Why do we even need an artist?

Art School Confidential

2007-12-06T10:08:00.000-05:00

I saw the movie Art School Confidential a couple of days ago on cable. I did not go to art school myself, but I have been waiting to see this movie for a long time. It was quite thought-provoking and brought up a lot of issues about the art world, what it means to be an artist, what success is, etc. I will definately have lots of blogging material for many days to come!

More on fame

2007-12-05T10:50:00.000-05:00

Here is a thought I had recently: if you want to be a famous artist, the average, Walmart-going, sitcom-watching American must like your art. This may sound "weird" at first, but when you are famous, by definition, a lot of people like your work. However, there simply aren't enough "highbrow", arty types in the country to make you famous - you'd just be a "niche".

How to become a famous artist, part 2

2007-12-04T09:52:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about it, and here is my opinion about how someone becomes a famous artist.

The person has a simple, understandable, new, unique concept that appeals to a large number of people, and he has a decent level of technical skill.

The person begins making a number of artworks.

The person catches the eye of someone in the art world.

The art world figure validates the artist and introduces him to the world.

Because the art has a broad basic appeal and is easy to "get into", many of the people who encounter it like it.

Soon the artist is famous.

Examples: Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko

How to become a famous artist

2007-11-30T10:28:00.000-05:00

A while ago I read the book Lives of the Great 20th Century Artists, in order to figure out how artists become famous. I did an extensive analysis, and it appears that what happens is that the artist initially works in obscurity, undifferentiated from other artists. He then receives a major "validation" from the art world which sets him up for life. So, based on the lives of th artists in this book, here's how you too can become a rich, well-known artist:

be selected by an influential gallery or exhibition

be written about in the press - reviews, etc.

have your art purchased by a "major" collector or museum

be associated with another famous artist

Materials

2007-11-29T10:50:00.000-05:00

I thought people might want to know what materials I use.

oil paint - Maimeri Puro

acrylic paint - Liquitex Medium Viscosity

panels - Ampersand gessobord

Shirt painting is up

2007-11-28T14:16:00.001-05:00

Yep. You may want to take a few moments to prepare yourself for the emotional impact of my artistic virtuosity.
shirt painting

Latest painting is done (or is it?)

2007-11-27T10:17:00.000-05:00

I think I'm done my latest painting. But how do you know when you're done painting something? I used to really struggle with this and was never really confident in my decisions. Lately I started using a strategy where I find a photo of a similar painting, and when my painting looks like the photo, I stop.

Basquiat

2007-11-26T11:06:00.000-05:00

I have seen the movie Basquiat several times over the years. It's sort of an artist's fantasy in which you are picked from obscurity by an art-world figure, and reach success and fame to such a level that a drawing you do on a napkin sells for $2000.

Quality or quantity?

2007-11-23T14:53:00.000-05:00

The book Art and Fear talks about whether it's better to focus on making a few artworks as well as possible (quality), or to focus on simply making as much art as possible (quantity). The book recommends quantity, and I agree. I try to simply get as many paintings out into the world as possible. The way I see it, the more paintings, the more chances for success.

Entertainer

2007-11-21T09:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I saw painter Robert Ryman on the TV show Art in the 21st Century. He said that he refuses to be "an entertainer" (trying to give people what they want). He said that he instead does what he wants and lets people "come to him". Interesting approach. It seems like it may have been successful - he is considered one of the most significant artists of the 20th Century, at least according to The 20th Century Art Book.

By the way, below is one of his paintings. Yes, it's a canvas painted entirely white.

Latest painting almost done

2007-11-20T13:19:00.000-05:00

I'm basically done my painting of a shirt. It didn't end up exactly as I intended - I wanted it to be smooth, but the grain of the canvas is still visible. I painted 3 layers/coats, which is about what I usually do.
I will take a picture of the painting shortly, make any improvements, and then put the pic on my web site.

Colors book

2007-11-19T09:18:00.000-05:00

I recently finished reading the book Color: A Natural History of the Palette, which I was fortunate to find at a used book sale for $1. It was interesting - it talks about the history of various pigments /colors.

The viewer

2007-11-16T09:56:00.000-05:00

On an artist message board a while back, someone asked if we consider the eventual viewer when we are creating our art. A number of artists responded to the question. They all basically said variations of, "I make art for me and me alone. Screw the stupid viewers." I was the only responder who said he thought about the viewer when creating art. I mentioned how I constantly think about what the viewer is going to think, what the painting will remind him of, if he will understand what I am trying to communicate, etc.
I'm not sure if my being so concerned with the viewer is "good" or "bad".

"You cheated!"

2007-11-15T11:16:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago I talked about how people sometimes compliment me about how accurate my paintings look. Another interesting occurance is how these people respond after finding out that I use an opaque projector. They often remark that I "cheated", and seem like they feel "lied to".
This again goes back to what I was saying about how some people see art as simply a contest of getting it to look at much like the subject as possible, without, of course, "cheating."

"Wow that looks like a photo!"

2007-11-13T09:59:00.000-05:00

Occasionally, well-meaning people compliment my paintings by saying how real or "accurate" they look. It's interesting to me that "accuracy" is how many people gauge the quality of art.

In the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Betty Edwards talks about how children initally love drawing, but then become frustrated because they are unable to "make it look real", and give up on drawing.

When I'm working on a painting I frequently find myself trying to make it look as totally accurate as possible. Is art really about duplicating reality as perfectly as you can? It is true that I will get admiration from a certain type of person if the painting looks like a photo...

“Nobody knows nothing”

2007-11-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

“Nobody knows nothing” is a statemement made by screenwriter William Goldman about the movie business. He meant that even after making movies for over 100 years, no one actually knows exactly how to make a successful movie.
This is actually how I am with my paintings. I don't know how to sit down and make a "hit" painting. Some paintings I thought were boring end up being popular, and some paintings I thought were profound and dramatic end up being ignored.

Painting is like building models

2007-11-09T11:09:00.000-05:00

Did you ever build models when you were a kid? That is what painting for me is like for me. Most of the fun is in the actual putting together; I don't really get a thrill from looking at my completed paintings.

Books

2007-11-07T13:36:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading 2 used art books:

The Painter's Problem Book: 20 Problem Subjects and How to Paint Them

Light for the Artist

They were OK. Not to sound arrogant, but they didn't teach me anything I didn't already know!

Shirt painting started

2007-11-06T09:13:00.000-05:00

I officially started work on my next painting last night. I have been impatient with waiting for each layer of oil paint to dry, so I bought a great clip-on work lamp last nite at Home Depot to speed up the drying. It pumps out 300 watts of incandescent light/heat, which I direct at the painting.

More painting practice

2007-11-04T10:44:00.000-05:00

I finished painting the small painting below as practice for a larger version which will be my next painting.

I bought a 12x16 canvas last nite & I am now ready to start.

Art Basel Miami

2007-11-02T08:41:00.000-04:00

I was thinking about going to Art Basel Miami this December. It's a huge annual art expo. To help me make the decision, I ordered the book of last year's show. After reading through it, I decided not to go. It looks like it's basically just a collection of galleries selling random paintings.

Pre-work for next painting

2007-10-31T12:24:00.001-04:00

I have started the pre-work for my next painting. I plan to do something new for this painting: have a completely smooth surface with no visble brushstrokes, like the paintings I saw at the US Artists expo.

I did the painting below to practice having a smooth surface.

Baking cakes / the butterfly wing guy

2007-10-30T09:51:00.000-04:00

Picasso said about the average artist: "they've made their mold – they just go off and bake their little cakes in that same mold." I try not to do this - I try to repeat myself as little as possible and always move forward.
A book a read through recently advises against my strategy. Taking the Leap talks about an artist who liked to paint butterfly wings. He was becoming well known for this, to the point where people began saying - "Hey - I know you - you're the Butterly Wing guy!" The artist resented this, and moved on to painting other subjects. The author of Taking the Leap scolds the artist for "sabotaging" his career. She says that the artist should have embraced the "pigeonholing", and points to successes such as Warhol ("The Soup Can guy").
An article I read on about.com also recommends the repeat-yourself strategy. It says:

Decide on a style, subject matter, palette, and value range that you love, and are comfortable doing. Narrow it down. Dogs? Too broad. One breed only. Too broad. One specific dog only. ... Do that one dog over and over, in the same narrow range of colors. ... . Case in point -- Cajun artist George Rodrigue with his famous Blue Dog.

Consumers drive art

2007-10-29T10:47:00.001-04:00

I am currently reading a book I got at a used book sale called Art After Modernism. It talks about how consumers dictate the the kind of art that is produced at any given point in history. Consumers buy a certain type of art, then galleries favor that type of art, and then artists make that type of art. Art that consumers don't like soon falls away into obscurity.

New American Paintings

2007-10-26T09:11:00.000-04:00

I submitted an entry to New American Paintings magazine. It's basically a competition where the winners are shown in the mag every year. You may know that I was in the May 2004 issue.

I would like to talk about my process trying to get into this mag. What I do is:
- I continuously "audition" my paintings by submitting them to various small juried shows.
- I keep track of which paintings are accepted into the most shows.
- I then submit the "greatest hits" to New American Paintings.
- I then note which paintings I submitted and what the response was.

I wanted to mention this because people might think "just make great art and you will be successful!". There is this whole other "cheezy" part of the equation - figuring out what people like.

"All garden, no snake"

2007-10-25T09:17:00.000-04:00

I was reading a free issue of Fine Art Connoisseur that I got at the US Artists expo. In it, the editor talks about how someone commented that his magazine was "All garden, no snake" - meaning all the art in it was decorative and viewer-pleasing, and none of it had any challenging or slightly bothersome aspects. I agree with the critic. The editor of F.A.C. responded to the critic by explaining how his entire next issue would be devoted to disturbing, violent, political art!
I am quite interested in this area about art being pleasing vs. disturbing. I always try to combine both pleasing and disturbing elements in my paintings to balance the painting out. In an issue of Juxtapoz I read a while ago, an artist talked about how it's better to have a painting that is neither entirely pleasing nor entirely disturbing.

Gallery interest

2007-10-24T09:48:00.000-04:00

The Heineman Myers gallery in Bethesda, MD is interested in my paintings. I plan to visit D.C. and show the owner some of my art.

U.S artists expo

2007-10-23T13:43:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday (11/20), I went to the US Artists expo in University City. It basically consisted of various booths where galleries were showing their paintings. I liked a couple of things, but in general the paintings were too "decorative" for my taste.

What's my best painting?

2007-10-23T12:21:00.001-04:00

I am interested in what people think is my best painting. Check them out and respond to this post to let me know.

Latest painting done

2007-10-23T12:15:00.013-04:00

I just uploaded my latest painting, "Good job". Check it out on my web site.

First post

2007-10-23T11:59:00.000-04:00

Hi gang! Welcome to my art blog that I just started. In this blog I will talk about paintings I'm working on, shows, events, etc.