Two artists

I like this contrast between two painters. It is similar to one I read once comparing Leonardo da Vinci & Michelangelo, respectively. Leonardo studied with the best and worked very very slowly and diligently, and often had to waylay work in art to do some plumbing for his benefactor (boss) (or strategize a new weapon or create some theater prop), while Michelangelo was 24/7 into his art and worked quickly, getting more jobs, btw. I like to read about artists and their struggles. It’s always great to see someone succeed so brilliantly – monetarily – as your 2nd example does. And not hard to see why, really. She just decided to do it and does it. She has a strong vision of what she wants and apparently it is what others want also. You didn’t mention what kind of work she pumps out – 100’s of cute kitten pictures? Dozens of great landscapes? Nudes? Not that it matters. But your other example wants to put a lot of thought into each thing he does. Possibly overthinking it. Possibly with less gutzpah. Or possibly creating masterpieces. The Last Supper took 12 years. Other artists, including myself, might do both things. I used to pump out a lot of work, doing 2 or 3 things at a time, and using any kind of materials I could find as canvas. Now I’m more meticulous, trying new things, always learning from the last stroke. I like a lot of my previous work – it was more spontaneous. But I’ve created some good stuff now, too. I used to have more gutzpah and care less if something was marketable. And it wasn’t always very marketable. But it taught me to paint in a hurry. Se la vie. You can be over-schooled in art to a point where you lose the ability to jump in feet first. On the other hand, learning how someone else does things is good also.

Dear Robert, The BULK of any good artists work is done AFTER any schooling. I have been at dozens of pseudo-intellectual artists exhibitions and while there were epic and incomprehensible statements about the works, at the end of the day, it all seemed so half-assed. And while many artists who have dropped out of their second year of schooling SHOULD return to finish their studies, there is a fine line between the two. I graduated from art school in 1988, yup, count em, 1988! And while having studied, it has given me a leg up, I knew than as I know now, I still have acres and acres of canvases ahead of me. Travel seems to have a far greater influence on an artist than sitting in a class room gluing coloured pieces of paper into a collage. Then again, there are those rare instructors, who haven’t lost their enthusiasm by teaching just to keep they’re ailing career as an artist alive, to actually guide a young artist. While I don’t think that being an intellect will guarantee quality work, nor do I think a lack of education will only produce a quantity of works. The key, and it takes a life time, it to find the delicate balance between the two. John Ferrie

For the benefit of readers lacking an English language nursery background, here’s the whole rhyme: “Jack and Jill went up the hill To fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down and broke his crown, And Jill came tumbling after.” (“crown” means head here; a “pail” is a bucket) We actually used to sing it to a rather pretty tune. I don’t want to draw parallels with the contents of this letter, though I could…..

I fear I may be missing the point. I take the point of Bayles & Orland’s production story as to the progression of our growth as artists, but is our monthly income truly the measure of our worth as artists or human beings?

THANK YOU! I am forever saying something like this to my students. By the way, I teach kindergarten- 8th graders in public school in a small town in Maine. You would not believe how many of my students are discouraged when they cannot immediately draw like da Vinci- or – their favorite manga artist. It takes all my ingenuity to convince them that they have to try again and again and then…yet again! I get 40 minutes once a week with them. I jump for joy and am thrilled to pieces when one of them comes in and tells me or shows me work they have been doing at home. The ones who draw at home on their own are the ones that make progress. Everyone else has art experiences and I make sure they get a good foundation of those…but it is the ones who are working every day on their own who make progress.

Note to Faith: The “nursery rhyme” was actually written as a political sarcasm at the time. “Crown” referred to a “crown”, and today might indicate the “presidential seal”. Nothing changes, but that it all remains the same. The only variations are the names.

Weighing pots, daily paintings, the “10,000 hour rule”: in order to excel, one must practise, practise, practise. That, combined with a curious mind and a well-developed aesthetic sense may lead to success, however one chooses to define it.

This is the theory behind my “Rule” #5 – “Knowledge doesn’t Guarantee Results!” Knowledge and education is good and has a purpose but it’s the application of the knowledge that teaches us what it takes to become great.

Reminds me of something else you once told me. “You can’t be a boxer by going to the match. You have to get into the ring”

A guy spends years in higher education, then applies for a job. The potential employer says “Sure. You can start by sweeping out the back room”. Guy asserts: “But I’m a college graduate!” Boss replies, “Oh, OK. In that case, I’ll show you how”.

Money aside, I’d really like to have a chat with Jack and Jill to find out what kind of people they are and what they contribute to the art world. Jill probably doesn’t have time for chats with riff raff. I’d probably like Jack better.

Thank you -this is the most inspiring letter i needed to read! Lets paint – despite all difficulties, lets paint, create, produce -after all this is what we are up to. In the meantime we need to survive and not all will make 18K a month but lets paint! This is all that matter! One day there will be profit and recognition, but only based on the work we actually will create! Keep working – i say to myself and all of us! We are creators!

Those who can, do…those who can’t, teach. This is probably true in almost every profession. Also, beyond academic training there is so much more to learn about life and how to make a living. With that said some make good choices with their career and others do not. I know of two exceptional artists who have pursued art as a career and have done extremely well. However, one got a degree in Civil Engineering and the other in Architecture. I just don’t think getting a fine arts degree is all that necessary if you want to pursue art as a career. Establish your credentials, put on workshops, demonstrations, win contests, sell your art, become well known, etc. there is a snowball effect if you work the system…otherwise look for a different career. I don’t mean to be harsh but life is what it is.

So happy for Jill — I “produce,” but just do not “promote” — Small town, little chance to show and don’t’ know where to begin. I certainly hope I’ve learned from mistakes and I’ll keep producing as I just love painting — happier with some than others! and I do try to spot obvious mistakes and learn from them. Thanks for your frequent letters — You have good advice and I miss them when I fail to get some (my new computer was putting some in the “junk” file, but I put a stop to that very quickly when I finally realized what was happening!

Volume is what works if you want to improve. Making work every day improves your ability to be ready for when those moments of creativity and inspiration happen. To be good at anything you have to show up and put in the time. This isn’t a guarantee of success, but it is better than hoping or wishing you get better. Procrastination is the principle thing that will hold you back. Paint every day no matter what activity you have to do that day. It is not important to make finished pieces, it is important to exercise your eye, hand and mind coordination. Discipline your mind for work, practice your technique and reinforce this repetition. These are some the things I believe one needs to make “great art”.

“LESS THINK. MORE DO…..”

I find myself in a sandwich generation of taking care of an elderly parent, helping children with their children and somewhere in this life madness try to create art on a consistent basis. My husband and I are retired and have been remodeling a 100 year old farm ranch home! I spent much of my productive years teaching art in public schools so I couldn’t wait until I retired so that I would have lots of time to devote to my own art (laugh). I am a thief of time now. I grab what I can and I especially enjoyed today’s post on the two kinds of artists. It encouraged me in knowing that all these little quick vignette paintings that I do will help my ability to make better art when and if I have the opportunity to spend more time on it one of these days. In the great scheme of time all of it will not matter anyway.

I see this a lot in my 20+ years as an artist…. It goes back to a comment I made about ‘MOXIE’ no matter how amazing Jack is professionally… it’s his inner process as a person that prevents his art success. What we create is our soul speaking – our inner demons of fear of being seen, issues of not being good enough, fear of ‘what people will think or your work’ are obstacles one must conquer. If you are confident, and ‘don’t follow other artists etc and doing your thing’ you CAN do anything.. even if your talent is a 6 out 10… I just met an artist who started painting 15 months ago and has NO knowledge of other artists and his paintings are good not great… but he is having a blast AND he has sold over $500,000.00 in paintings… that’s right over a half a million dollars… all I thought to myself… I have something to learn from him.

I have heard before that prolific artists produce more and better works than less prolific artists. This also means that the prolific artists are working hard at it. For example, if it takes 2 hours to do a painting. Then a prolific artist may be working 60 hours a week.

This is one of the most inspiring emails I have received from you. Good painting comes from the act of painting. If you wait for the muse to strike, you will wait forever. If you use your own eye as you work and give yourself good constructive criticism you will be ahead of the game. And as long as YOU (not someone else) like what you are doing, you are on the right path. As for getting into galleries, it is a matter of luck too. And it is often who you know rather than what you know (as in most things in live). When you are not painting, you should be networking.

It takes real courage and humility to give up the need to be ‘good’ or ‘accomplished’ in the art education process… Funny – loosing the persnickityness leads to some really achievement… That inner critic doesn’t really know as much as we think it does. I told my students last night that regardless of what the drawing looks like – we need to have unconditional positive regard for the process and the drawing. If you are freaking out about how ‘good’ it is you will not have any leftover brain matter to devote to making it good.

Excellent point! I’ll be painting more and computing less. Your letters are so inspiring.

Thanks as always for your honest and thoughtful letters on “The Painter’s Keys website. Just this week, as I moved my work indoors to my studio from the long season of Spring into Fall, I took stock too. Oh my, I recalled the saying ” a mile of canvas” as I stacked old and new paintings(over 400 of them) around the studio. So today’s post about the two test groups of potters rang especially true to me. I wish I had some words of wisdom but the closest I seem to be able to come is ‘keep on painting’ and don’t let the measurement or the perfectionism stop you.

How does one gracefully make the transition from a painter who has been selling their work for years between 500-1500$ , has a fairly good gallery connection(s), and the odd prize or two to a painter that suddenly makes 10,000$ for a work and moves to real international success? I have just moved to another country where the people I know are very old money/status, like my work, and are used to paying much more for even minor painters such as myself. The other day a friend of mine who has countess friend wanted to offer my painting to her for quadruple what I charge now. I was flummoxed. Should one seize the opportunity for that one time thus eventually insulting the countess when she finds out what others have been paying? Or do it and raise the price of the rest of the work? Every academic I talk to insists that pricing is up to art dealers, but no art dealer really has an interest until you hit the big time – and even then I am pretty good at business and do I need Charlie the Tuna running my career for me? In the end, we didn’t put a price on it and the countess decided the painting wasn’t a fit for her so I could sleep again, but she’s not the only countess in town and if I can imagine how this could happen it probably will. Now I just need to imagine how to do the business end of it. What does your experience say?

Jack and Jill are a story as old as time itself. The most important skill successful artists have is salesmanship. Marketing should be taught in art schools as without marketing skills your just another well trained starving artist.

I realize that studying, and trying to figure out what to do about 3 unfinished paintings for over a year (I have more than 3 but these 3 are constantly in my face) is wasting my time. My earlier paintings look better than what I do now. I’ve gotten too finickity. I really want to splash around and do something that really knocks my socks off. And so, I’m joining the experimentalists.

This is a well-taken point of view and a fine analysis of the results. I’m afraid there are many other criteria to judge the results. In my opinion I’d judge the quantitative issue by if whether there were enough paintings to wall paper a room and if not they’d lose the contest to the qualitative view point because it would be a matter of opinion. As for me, I’d request to evaluate all works if sent to me in large cardboard boxes. I’m preparing to move I need a lot of them.

I have recently dived back into the magnificent world of painting. I quit my graphic design career of almost 20 years (also 40 yrs old, like your article subjects). And found your e-mail eye-opening and very helpful. Because I have a family and am committed to keeping them fed and clothed, I am understandably somewhat concerned about making “perfect paintings” all the time to put food on the table. Yet you have reinforced my true belief that I have to learn from every painting, and to paint my heart out in order to get to the level I aim to be. Artists are not finished schooling ever! Every painting is a course and we need to pay attention.

As I embark on my long awaited dream of allowing myself the luxury to have more art in my life….I also feel somewhat intimidated…..do I NEED to go all the way….BFA/ Masters? It is REALLY “necessary”??? I am 45….am I TOO OLD? Will I ever be good e-n-o-u-g-h?

You hit the nail on the head, my late friend and mentor Joe Abresccia, said very much the same thing, he would have agreed with “Jill” don’t bother with galleries (except for the old masters who have lasted) art magazines etc. and don’t let anyone put your art down, and work, work and work…….

The more I paint the better the paintings. And: The longer I look the more I see. The more I see the better I paint.

First quantity, then quality.

To”Noname steaks”: nearly all nursery rhymes stem from political, health or pressing family issues. The Jack in MY quote was not wearing a crown. A good example of the health rhyme is “Ring-a-ring-a roses”, which is a take on the great plague. However, I should point out that I was not indulging in oneupmanship. I was merely amused at Bob’s subtle use of names. If he’d taken 3 artists, he might have talked about Tom, Dick and Harry and included all artists of all time!

Your article was speaking directly to me! Thanks so much for the inspiration!

The Jack and Jill story says it all………..paint paint paint…….study study study ……..but keep painting painting painting……then paint some more!

thanks for the recognition, but Marj is spelt with a J….ok…lol