Fridge painting is done

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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:

Abstract art

Action painting

Cubism

Expressionism

Impressionism

Lowbrow

Minimalism

Photorealism

Pop Art

1 in 100

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?)

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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!"

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!"

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”

“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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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?

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

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

First post

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.