One Artist's Journey

I realize I have a problem if I want to be a professional artist. I don’t think I like selling my paintings (my babies). Painting/creating is such a personal matter that I think it is hard for me to sell my creations.

If that is the case, then I am going to have a difficult time being a professional artist. So, I need to come up with a mind game that helps me to be able to sell my paintings.

I could use the money – yes.
I like it when other people appreciate what I create – yes.
I want my paintings to have a good home – yes.
There is no way in the world I can display all my paintings myself – yes.
If my house burned down, all my art would go with it. If I sell it, I am spreading out the risk so that something would survive – yes. (Don’t laugh, I think the weirdest little concept is what will do it for me!)

If any of you reading this have an answer to my problem, please let me know in the comments on this page. I read all the comments you send, even if I don’t reply back.

Please don’t let this post discourage anyone from buying a piece of art from me. Perhaps you can be part of the cure.

I have really been seeing the correlation between art and music lately. Music has its meter, tune, beat, musical “hook”. Is the vocalist a male or a female or a group? Is there harmony, a little bell in the background, cowbell? When does the chorus come in? Is that as good as the verses? Does it carry the theme or change it completely? All these parts create the whole and determine whether the piece is fun to listen to or not?

Art is the same. What colors are you using? What is the size? Is it vertical or horizontal? What size brush are you using? What is the medium? How is the energy? Is it hurried, energetic, fun, crazy, languid, smooth?

A lot of planning goes into creating a work of art, whether painting, sculpture, music, poetry, literature, etc. I am really appreciating the elements that go into a beautiful work of art, and they all need to go together well.

Abstract # 12 - 12” x 16” Acrylic on Masonite - $200

Finally! I closed my eyes, pictured what I expected the picture to end up like based on the expressive drawing (bottom left corner) and started working. I didn’t over work it and came up with this. I am very happy with it. I would like to continue exploring shapes in space.

I like the dwellings series, but I think what I am shooting for is a cross between this one and the dwellings. I have to continue to loosen up and abstract the building shapes so that they end up as “boxes in space.” Roofs make triangles, walls and windows are boxes and rectangles. Hills and plants are organic shapes.

Abstract #11 - 16” x 12” Acrylic on Masonite - $200

This is the next one. It turned out with smaller boxes. I don’t think I like that as much and I added boxes on the insides of a few boxes. It started getting to ornate and patterned. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It just isn’t my style. Hmmm. It is getting farther from what I saw in my mind’s eye based on the expressive drawing. How can I get back to what I really liked about the expressive drawing?

Abstract #10 - 12” x 16” Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $200

The idea for this started as a few squares in space. But then I started linking them up and came up with a grid. This isn’t what I wanted, but I have decided to trust myself and go with the flow. I started filling in the boxes and it turned out OK, but I really wanted to cover up some of the lines and when I tried that it just didn’t look or feel right.

I filled everything in and played with the outlines a bit. It turned out OK, but was just the beginning of this exploration.

Initial sketch of boxes

Expressive Drawing #2 used as idea for abstract series # 10, 11 and 12. I really liked the bottom left corner.

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 3
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 29

Today is Saturday. Soccer games are over. Everyone has gone somewhere. I think I have about 4 hours alone today and I am in the studio. I’m excited. Here we go!

I started the day working on an expressive drawing. I don’t really like it, but then I wondered if I could learn something from it.

I looked at different sections and realized I really liked the bottom left corner. I then took that idea and made a series of abstract paintings. I am happy with them and I really like the last one. Here is what happened…

"Big Daddy" - 12" x 12" Acrylic and graphite on Massonite - $200

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 2
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 26

I painted much more freely today. I fixed the canvas (board) from yesterday and I think it looks OK. I have a problem with faces. I can draw them just fine, but when I paint them, it gets all messy.

I went back over some old art I had done of faces and realized the best ones are just a series of shapes that I then outline and fill in with whatever color feels right. I tried that today on both these faces.  Again, they are OK. Just like most artists, I am my harshest critic.

I did, however, try to remember that painting is all about having fun and letting the inner child express itself. That made it easier to just let go and “have fun.”

I know why artists do self portraits. They are their own best and most willing model. It isn’t that they are stuck on themselves. I would much rather paint other things, but if I need to paint a face, it might as well be mine. It is probably the only face that artists don’t get tired of painting over and over again.

Postcards of Modigliani's Portraits in my studio

I really like Modigliani’s portraits. They are images of faces. Not all twisted and abstracted like Picasso’s, but they are drawn like a child might, but I really like them. That simplicity is what I am after.

"Swim LIke a Duck" - 12" x 12" Acrylic and graphite on Massonite - $200

I have been wanting to get back to were I was when I was doing art full time 13 years ago. But you know what? I don’t think the search ever ends. I can get back to the level I was at, or better – but I hope that when I get there, I am still driven to be better and better.

Aren’t the great artists always searching for the next great breakthrough in their art? I don’t think that for a true artist, that journey ever really ends. Henry Moore, the sculptor said, “There’s no retirement for an artist, it’s your way of living so there’s no end to it.” I think I have to agree Once one has chosen this path, it becomes a way of life, and there really is no end.

I am going to make an effort to live in the moment and follow my bliss. I keep trying to catch up. I need to enjoy where I am.

Going to the studio. I have 1.5 hours until the boys get home. Let’s see what I can come up with today – being in the moment.

Music Hall - 16” x 12” Acrylic on Masonite - $200

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 1
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 24

Got to paint today and did 2 paintings, but then I washed all the paint off of the second one, so I guess that doesn’t count. That is why I love acrylics. If you paint fast enough and then catch it fast enough, you can take it to the good old kitchen sink and wash the whole thing down the drain.

I am going to try and fix the second canvas tomorrow.

Spent the morning getting all my new paintings posted to my fine art blog. Can I just share the steps it takes to get a photo online?

1) Create the art

2) Take a picture of it

3) Download the photo from the camera to my wife’s computer. there are invariably family pictures on the camera and she is keeping track of them on her machine.

4) Choose the best photos (straightest, best color, etc.) and put them on a thumb drive.

5) Transfer the photos to my computer.

6) Open the photos in Photoshop, crop the photo and make sure it is straight. Then optimize the color and contrast and change the size and export for the web.

7) Make sure the images go into the right folder. Drag the optimized photos into iPhoto

8)Drag the photos from iPhoto into iWEb where I have created my galleries for http:/www.shaunellsworth.com.

9) Import the photos into Wordpress (where I have my blog at http://www.oneartistsjourney.com) and then import the image into a blog post.

10) Double check everything. Make sure I didn’t forget or leave one out. Whew… done.

Now I am done. Time for lunch and then down to the studio for some “fun and natural” painting before the boys get home. And no, I don’t paint in the nude.