Encouragement for artists

To Bless the Space Between Us – by John O’Donohue … extract from: For the Artist at the Start of the Day shared with my by my friend, Deborah Rossouw

May your imagination know
The grace of perfect danger,

To reach beyond imitation,
And the wheel of repetition,

Deep into the call of all
The unfinished and unsolved

Until the veil of the unknown yields
And something original begins
To stir toward your senses
And grow stronger in your heart

In order to come to birth
In a clean line of form,
That claims from time
A  rhythm not yet heard, that calls space to
A different shape.

May it be its own force field
and dwell uniquely
Between the heart and the light

Great art

April Gornick says: “Great art should be vulnerable to interpretation. It shouldn’t be a fixed thing.” That’s why I love contemporary art, because it’s so undefined.

Just do it – paint, that is

I read an artist’s comment (unfortunately I didn’t note who said it) that’s proven true in my own practice: “Paint a lot. Just get in your studio and make something, even if it’s crap. Finish it them make something else. Don’t just wait for inspiration, Creative thoughts come while you’re creating.”

Art is work. Good art is darned hard work.

People think that my hobby (making abstract art)  is fun. It’s not. It’s darned hard work. In fact, if it were a paying job I’d probably resign! It’s absolutely true to say that my day job is less of a slog than painting. Yet I keep doing it and no one is forcing me so I’ll shut up before it sounds like I’m complaining!

I’ve learned that what Chuck Close says is absolutely true:  “Inspiration is for amateurs – the rest of us just show up and get to work”

What’s in a name? Quite a lot, actually

I didn’t realize that titling your art is so important. Here’s why: Titling gives the artist an additional opportunity to provide more context or insight for the work. But there is a danger that the artist can push the viewer in his or her desired direction for interpretation through the title. As an abstract artist I want the viewer to make what they will out of the work – not what I want them to think.

Using “untitled” is not recommended – it leaves the viewer in a vaccuum and if you’re lucky enough to sell the painting and the gallery calls and says “We sold Untitled 6” are you going to know what painting it was? So titles act as a referencing system for the artist, too.