Looking for air purifier

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!"

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

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?

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?

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

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.