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carrolls_art
Posts:45
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| 09/28/2006 8:58 AM |
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| I'm interested in finding out the "why" behind other artists' creative work. It is something I'm struggling with myself right now. I've always made art, since I was a small child and my dad, who was an engineer and artist, started teaching me how to draw. I took art classes and private lessons all through school, and studied fine art and interior design in college. I always believed I'd have a career in art. However I've learned that making money with my art is NOT my talent! I work as a church secretary. Yet, I can't not make art. So I am trying to understand what to do with the growing piles of finished pieces I have and why I should continue adding to the stacks. I can only hang so much on my walls and give so much away to friends and family. I love the creative process, the flow and intimacy of it all. I just don't know where to go next. What do you do - and why?? |
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heatherm
Posts:2120
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| 09/28/2006 1:00 PM |
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Why create art? Because maybe we want to? Each artist has a desire within that is different for each person. The creative process is a complicated yet simple one, it comes from within the artist. If you have so many paintings around, why not enter them in shows, or go to art fairs to sell them? Sometimes local businesses or library will hang the work of local artisits. Worth looking into.
You explained it yourself: "I love the creative process, the flow and intimacy of it all." There is passion in art, we all express ourselves through the creative process. My email signature says "Painting is expressing ones inner light". |
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Heather
http://www.heatherartist.com |
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carrolls_art
Posts:45
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| 09/28/2006 8:22 PM |
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Hi Heather,
Thanks for your comments. It really is the passion & expression that is so important.
I have shown my work, both in juried and open shows. I also participate in art/craft festivals occasionally and have had my work on display in public buildings. A show can be a pretty expensive venture and I'd like to at least break even - although I do enjoy being part of a show no matter what.
I guess what I'm gettiing at is that if you're tryiing to be a "successful artist" - what defines success? Or is that completely personal too? Just typing this in makes me see that it probably is.
Maybe I need to look at succes in a different light! I've been trying to define it as financially successful. My husband totally supports me and thinks I'm successful just with what I've done.
I think maybe just concentrating on the creative process is the main thing and after that "whatever will be will be"!
God bless,
Carroll |
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sammy
Posts:691
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| 09/28/2006 11:52 PM |
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| I think success can mean many different things to many different people. If you accomplish your goal of excellence, then you are successful. If you make others happy through your art then you are successful.etc.Whether anyone else thinks you are successful or not shouldn't concern you. Think-"What you think of me is none of my business" |
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bluiiz
Posts:522
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| 09/29/2006 8:33 AM |
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| I am asking myself the same questions, on a regular basis. My success came first when my family actually starting to jump to lay claim to paintings when I finished them. And second, when I painted a portrait of someone's dog who had passed. She cried and cried, because she didn't have anything life size that she could hang on the wall. And my painting made her feel like her dog was in the room with her all the time. That was success in its purest sense. Don't get me wrong I am still trying to get acceptance from the local guild, and may never get that, but if I am truly honest with myself, I really don't care what they think... and I will keep creating my "painting graveyard" until I can't do it any longer. Who knows maybe someday someone will find them in my estate sale and say "wow that's really beautiful" how much is it, I have to have it?! |
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Anna |
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sammy
Posts:691
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| 09/29/2006 1:36 PM |
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bluiiz,
That is so right on! |
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carrolls_art
Posts:45
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| 09/30/2006 4:23 PM |
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Thanks, ya'll. I'm glad to hear from you. "Painting graveyard" - I love it! Let's call it "pile o' potential." I think I'm waiting to be publically successful and that can sure be slow going! And I too hope that someday my family will reap the benefits of my work. or just enjoy it for themselves.
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bluiiz
Posts:522
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| 09/30/2006 4:38 PM |
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| I got rejected again, yesterday, and I gotta say its not that I was rejected as much as.... you don't mind too much when you see other great paintings in the "loser's lounge"... but it really bugs you when you see what made it, and you see a few paintings that really are not as good as you think yours is... now I'm pretty objective about my work, and can take critisism but 1st .... they don't tell you why or what their looking for... 2nd you feel like you just keep donating "dead money" and don't have a shot for some unknown reason going in... 3rd you see work that made it that shouldn't have... I know I sound bitter and it kind of contradicts what I wrote earlier, but anyone else feel this way when they pick up the declines..?? |
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Anna |
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Jim
Posts:2246
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| 09/30/2006 4:48 PM |
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I think a lot of us are waiting for that break through moment when somebody says "I have to have that!".
Someone other than friends and relatives. Yeah, I get the can you paint this for me? Or the I love your stuff
but I can't afford it.Can I just get you the paints and canvas and can you paint me a painting?
A lot of people do not understand the work or love that goes into creating. Our society is so much of the
I want it here and now crowd that it's hard for any artist to make a living at it. Mass produced paintings from factories in China, and Mexico. Computer generated oil paintings. Prints with frames for under $50.00!
Give me a break. The painting gravyard or pile o" potential or whatever you want to call it is something that
I think every artist has.The actor waiting tables, the musician on the street corner, the second string quaterback. We are all waiting for and some working harder than others for that break out moment when we
are under the spotlights. Good luck to all of us, and "break a leg!"
Jim
www.paintingsbyjim.com |
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clintavo
Posts:1
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| 10/04/2006 9:35 AM |
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Dear carrolls_art,
I am a software craftsman. Although I am not a visual artist, I feel a burning desire to CREATE, whether it be software, music, or literature.
In fact, I rarely meet a fellow who doesn't desire to create...if I do, well...he's not the sort of fellow I want to spend my time with. It seems [almost] all of us desire to create. My web services host web sites for artists who were once scientists, doctors, lawyers, engineers, and each one of them had a burning desire to create art.
But there is something deeper than art here...something more fundamental. Below the surface, it is a desire to create something beautiful. A desire to create something glorious. A desire to create something that shares a bit of ourselves with others.
we all posess this remarkable ability. We can create entire worlds in our minds. And we can bring those worlds to "life" through literature, music, theatre, dance, and art. As far as we know, animals don't create in this way. No, only, we humans can do this. We all inherited this desire from our Father.
He has an active imagination too. But when his mind concieves a world, it leaps into existence, no need for the arts. Our arts are the best we can do, but they are mere shadows of our father's works. Art truly does imitate life. He imagined a world, full of life and saw that it was good. So he imagined humans in his image and thus gave us his devine creative spark.
you see our Creator made us creators. We must create. When He said, "Let us make them in our image", this is what he was saying. We must create glorious works.
That, I believe, is why you feel you must keep creating your art. It's what your Father above wants you to do.
Sincerely,
Clint Watson
Software Craftsman and Art Fanatic
http://www.myfaso.com
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sammy
Posts:691
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| 10/04/2006 10:29 AM |
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Clint,
Your words speak the truth! Indeed from the earliest cave man drawings we know when man evolved as a homo sapiens. Sometimes I think of the infinite gap that lies between the creator and creature and when we produce a piece of art there is always some very intimate connection between it and ourselves. It is like we have given birth to a new creature and we own it entirely even though it is distinct from ourselves.It becomes ours and ours alone to rework it, keep it as it is, or even destroy it. I think there is a type of responsibility that emerges with our creativity which must be accounted for. Maybe signing a painting has its roots in this? |
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richard
Posts:596
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| 11/06/2006 5:59 PM |
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| Carrolls,
I can relate to your story and I understand your frustration because the same thing could've happened to me.
All my life all I wanted to do was make art. At five years old I painted my first piece of "art".
I was in my teens when I left high school to attend art college to study drawing and painting. I wanted to be a fine artist.
After leaving art college I realized it would be very difficult to earn a living as a fine artist.
And I wasn't prepared to be a starving artist all
my life.
I got a job in the commercial art field. At least I was still creating. I spent 40 years as an art director in advertising.
Now that I am retired I can spend all my time creating art and running out of wall space. |
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carrolls_art
Posts:45
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| 12/14/2006 2:14 PM |
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Your walls, my walls, my family's walls! I've decided just to give away what ever I can and enjoy having something to give!
Merry Christmas everyone! |
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scochran
Posts:205
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| 03/10/2007 11:19 AM |
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Why make art? I ask myself this everyday. I make art because it what makes me, me. If I didn't do it I would burst!! But saying that I never feel good enough!!!! Looking at this web-site I am amazed at the talent and goals people have. That is why I have started joining the disscussions. I love other artist. Although my husband is NOT ONE, opposites attract. He is supportive, but really wants me to make money. I taught public school art for 20 years, but have had some health problems in recent years(two brain tumors) and just don't have the patients for it anymore. I am trying to teach adult workshops and have joined art groups and have had shows; when I look at the work that is out there I feel like I just need to throw away my brushes. Maybe, I am just insecure.
What makes us artist? I believe I am just an instrument used to convey esthesia information to the viewer.The viewer has to make the art something personal to them.
If I fail in that the view walks away. That person never GETS IT and as an artist I don't make the connection.
So it is personal. When I went through my health problems, my fear was that I might not be able to create all the things I saw in my mind. So, I will just keep on keeping on until I can not any more, money or not.
Thanks for listening.
scochran |
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shana cochran |
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carrolls_art
Posts:45
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| 03/15/2007 10:33 AM |
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| I'm removing this comment because I agree that we've strayed from our intended topic - Art. I apologize for any offence I may have given. |
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GOwenStudios
Posts:67
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| 03/16/2007 12:06 AM |
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| I make art because it is my passion. I paint in the search of beauty. I like to paint pretty scenes and try new things. I paint to relax after a day's work and to recharge my batteries. And I paint to share my inner feelings, emotions, and thoughts. It is the process of making art that makes me happy, not the end result. If someone is bettter than I, then I don't think about them. I think about what I am doing. In my search for all the above I read, watch, and learn. I want to grow in my art. When I feel empty or discouraged I go and view all the art in the area. I always find art that I consider not as good as mine hanging, and I tell myself in the right party my art will be chosen and viewed by the right people. The right door has to open. Not all artists will be judged into a show or a group. Many things may play into their decision. It may be polity, or they may just be open to just a few styles. So, if you see something out there that made the cut that you consider not as qualified as yours, don't despair and keep painting. It is who you know, and how you market yourself that will get you into the artworld. |
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http://www.sitekreator.com/gowenstudios
http://www.zazzle.com/gowenstudios |
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GOwenStudios
Posts:67
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| 03/16/2007 12:09 AM |
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Hi Carroll,
If you choose not to sell your art for yourself, then consider having a show at your church and sell your paintings to raise money for your church ongoing charity. In this way, it will clean out your space and do some good with your art and talent.
Gary |
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http://www.sitekreator.com/gowenstudios
http://www.zazzle.com/gowenstudios |
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Materese
Posts:123
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| 03/16/2007 2:00 PM |
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I paint & creaste because it is who I am. I have a drive to do this and get incredible joy out of it.
Making a living at it is damned near impossible for the majority of artists. Only about 1% of all artists can actually make the mortgage payments on their art. Galleries, shows and exhibitions are ripe with politics. Many artists just are not good at running the business end of their art - and there is a whole separate art, to art business. So the elusive dreams of fame and fortune, or often, even validation of getting into shows, escapes so many artists. Nothing we can do about it - that just the way it is. So just pick up your brush, (pencil whatever,) and create. It's a very Zen type of thing.
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Materese
http://www.ghostwoodstudio.com
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klippie
Posts:1866
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| 04/21/2007 6:42 AM |
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Posted By clintavo on 10/04/2006 9:35 AM
Dear carrolls_art,
I am a software craftsman. Although I am not a visual artist, I feel a burning desire to CREATE, whether it be software, music, or literature.
In fact, I rarely meet a fellow who doesn't desire to create...if I do, well...he's not the sort of fellow I want to spend my time with. It seems [almost] all of us desire to create. My web services host web sites for artists who were once scientists, doctors, lawyers, engineers, and each one of them had a burning desire to create art.
But there is something deeper than art here...something more fundamental. Below the surface, it is a desire to create something beautiful. A desire to create something glorious. A desire to create something that shares a bit of ourselves with others.
we all posess this remarkable ability. We can create entire worlds in our minds. And we can bring those worlds to "life" through literature, music, theatre, dance, and art. As far as we know, animals don't create in this way. No, only, we humans can do this. We all inherited this desire from our Father.
He has an active imagination too. But when his mind concieves a world, it leaps into existence, no need for the arts. Our arts are the best we can do, but they are mere shadows of our father's works. Art truly does imitate life. He imagined a world, full of life and saw that it was good. So he imagined humans in his image and thus gave us his devine creative spark.
you see our Creator made us creators. We must create. When He said, "Let us make them in our image", this is what he was saying. We must create glorious works.
That, I believe, is why you feel you must keep creating your art. It's what your Father above wants you to do.
Sincerely,
Clint Watson
Software Craftsman and Art Fanatic
http://www.myfaso.com
what a mouthfull, I agree hundred percent with you. Couln't have said it better.
Retha |
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If at first you dont succeed.........don't ever give up! |
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claudiamah
Posts:86
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| 04/24/2007 8:00 AM |
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Since my experience as an amatuer artist has been brief, I may have a different "take" of the whys of being a creative person and using my talents in the field of art. Now I must say that my efforts have provided me with some additional income in retirement, so my livelihood is not dependent on my art, and my viewpoints may not apply to professional artists.
But ask any gardener, baker, teacher, carpenter, knitter, musician, comedian, good cook, etc., and I bet they will all respond the same way. They have a skill, a knack, a talent for creating something from raw materials or insights, that reflects their vision of life and the positive things around them. They can produce something new to the world. Their efforts produce positive results that generally are "beautiful" to the creator. In the case of artists, our passions result in paintings, sculpture, drawing, computer-generated pictures, etc. We hope that others will appreciate and receive enjoy from our work. Even if you are considered a talentless carpenter, you enjoy the process and want to continue with what you love. I guess most people have a talent of some type, and those that pursue it derive a great amount of happiness. Claudia
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