Saturday, September 10, 2011

Feeling better about failure

So I've now started three paintings (notice the absence of photos) and realised they were failures.  Failures in the way that they were not conveying what I wanted to say.  It's annoying and slightly frustrating.  I see the picture in my head and when the old hand goes to form it a gap appears.  For some reason the eye in the head doesn't match the eye in the hand.  Sigh.  Practise will help but it's truly frustrating.

One of the reasons I didn't do art for a long time was that I was afraid of being talented enough to paint but not talented enough to be good.  And good means (in this case) having that ability to translate the eye in the head to the board or canvas to the eye that lives in the hand.  I took art in high school and the teacher instructing it only encouraged her favorites.  If you weren't in her in crowd you were just out of luck. 
I got into college (San Antonio College) and got a cross section of mixed reviews.  Some good, some bad.  Mostly people (Frank Hein, my painting instructor, repeatedly) who told me my art was cartoonish and not very well executed.  (looking back the comments now makes me go "Well, duh! That's why I'm school." )  Back then it meant failure and I left doing art behind. 

When I moved to Austin I decided when I went to school I was taking art courses only because I was approaching 45 and thought myself "too old" for a career.  I decided to take art history because I liked it.  Love history - love art so why not.  One of the first instructors I got was a woman by the name of Sylvia Orozco who encouraged me to switch to studio art.  She said I had talent.  A little later my watercolor  instructor (William Kolbe)  said something (nicely but true)  "It doesn't matter how much talent you have -you have to have the discipline to use it. "  Tactful but his message was true and he was kindly telling me I had to kick it in gear. 

I listen alot to people talk about me and art.  They all are correct and they all have valuable advice. They are also wrong sometimes but worth listening to even if only to disagree with. 

1. I have talent.
2. You have to have discipline as well as talent or your talent doesn't mean anything.
3. Practise all the time - draw, draw, draw.
4. You should have a good time when you do art.
and my newest piece of advice from my current art instructor
5. Out of 10 paintings you do, at least one of them will be really good so it's important to keep going past the 9 that aren't so good.

and one of mine (I just thought of it).

6. Gesso erases all mistakes on canvas.

It's okay to have failures.... you learn something from every one of them and that's what is really important.

Monday, September 5, 2011

I start my first ETSY!

So I decided because of the whole unemployment thing to try and sell handmade things I make.  Eventually I will list altered art but currently it's jewelry and loose beads. I have a ton of loose beads from my Celebration! days which I say I'm gonna use but I haven't.  If I use all the beads I own everyone in Austing would have a necklace.  So far I've made 4 sales- all from beads, not any from earrings. I decided since I rarely wear jewelry to let some of my vintage stuff go as well so I'm slowly posting that.  Here's the link.

Minerax's Shop on ETSY

I'm planning altered art to go on.  Still I'm happy to stay busy.