Art that dreams are made of

Regardless of the condition of the outside world, the artist constantly strives to improve his work. Doing purposeful research and study is a large part of the process; we’re fortunate to have the internet as a tool to literally provide us with a world of information.

When the economy is bad, people need things to cheer them up. This is a time to make attractive art that is about the things that make life worth living. I’m not talking about painting kitsch, though that will likely sell, too. Think about showing non-artists what you see that is beautiful or remarkable.

The current clickback with those pictures of Istvan Sandorfi’s art………amazing. His work really moved me for many reasons……..the color, use of fabric, art props for his settings and his almost photographic double image atmosphere. What wonderful painting. I have hopes his work will appear in one of our museums, soon, so I will be able to see it first hand.

At one time or another we have experienced rejection. We paint dreaming of a beautiful work that perhaps would convey our dreams and aspirations and most of all to be accepted and viewed with admiring eyes that reflect the viewer’s own desires and dreams. You envision your work being displayed with others and that vision is crushed when it is rejected. I have had some work rejected at jury shows and they say they don’t know why it is rejected. It is disappointing and perhaps discouraging but rather than giving up I take it as a challenge to create work better than before. I critique my work and I look at ways to modify or change in my technique. I also take into consideration that people have different ways of looking at things. In the art world we are just one of many and it may happen again. I keep on working and never give up my dreams and aspirations. Push on and find ways to improve.

Dreaming, Reality~

Point well taken. I hope others got the underlying message here, I know I did.

The female form with the menstrual pad over one eye really bothers me, then there is: blindfolded,and: no forearms….how many things can you do with a female object….why do female nudes always have to look downtrodden? Is it because artists of the past could only find prostitutes to take their kit off, and they were naturally jaded and despondent, that we think we should keep potraying women as broken objects? Good brush technique, but, to me, wasted.

At age 82 I admire and endorse Robert’s wisdom. Google can just about be all things to all people but certainly it brings the world into the studios of those of us who are just short of studio-bound.

A good example is Lucian Freud who just passed away at age 88. He took the timeworn human figure and portrait subject matter to new heights and sensibilities and made us look once more at the genre. There may be nothing new under the sun, but that which has found value over the ages can be revisited with insightful results.

Simply said, learning can be sped up. Guided by our own needs and interests, we sidestep the traditional systems of classroom curricula and professional purveyors of conventional knowledge, no matter how groundbreaking. Today’s scholar conducts his growth with the aid of a computer. It is the lesser part of a greater brain.

The middle class collector in the USA is, for the most part, shut down collecting at the present time. The very rich are still at it. We now have a situation where there are more poor and more rich, and less in the middle. Lose the middle and we are hooped.

I truly think that the Yamaha school had it right in that every student got a little something for their effort. I always felt like I had somehow failed to do my best if I didn’t receive some sort of recognition and if I had, then felt bad for those that hadn’t in a group situation as you described. When I graduated with Great Distinction from uni I was honoured but not at anyone else’s expense.

At a workshop, prizes are not necessary. The information you take away from the workshop should be prize enough. I’ve been to workshops where the instructor gives away their demonstration piece based on some arbitrary decision maker like the person with the closest birthday.

If the goal is encouragement, it seems unavoidable that being overlooked for a prize will discourage — it’s never a pleasant feeling to be on the outside looking in. If the goal is recognition of good work, it seems that you can do that with the critiques — especially if you explain why a work is successful, so others can learn from it. Why single anyone out for a prize? What does it accomplish?

Robert, in no way should you reward certain students, It would be better to take each student aside and have a crit on there work. I have attended 7 workshops and find I don’t get the point of instruction until a few months or years later. OK give out the goodies, stunt my growth, dash my dreames on the rocks, spit in my face, send me home with my tail between my leges!!!

Hi Robert

If there is one square inch of beauty in even the worst of paintings, then the world is a better place for it. Maybe competition is not the best solution. Thank you for this wonderful site and insites!

I wrestled with giving prizes to participants in my Explore & Create in Costa Rica tours and decided against it. If you can’t give prizes to all participants than don’t give out any at all. What I did instead was color copied an art journal page I created during the tour and on the back of each one I included a positive aspect(s) of the person and thanked them for the opportunity to inspire them.

Dear Robert,

Clothing optional beaches…. not for me. However, I have often thought that painting in the nude would do a world of good for my wardrobe. I tell folks that I have 2 kinds of clothes, those with paint on them and those that will…

In retrospect, your concern about token awards was appropriate and with such a diverse outcome of skill and work, awarding anything other than the gained experience from the event seems fortuitous. However, an award for the best ‘clown’ nose might have sufficed as a best of event souvenir.

I don’t favor giving any workshop prizes to anyone at all. It would freeze me up forever if, as either a beginning student or an experienced one, I received no prize. In face, it would freeze me up even to know in advance or during the workshop that there would be prizes. Just let the experience itself be the prize, and learning.

I have been painting for several years on and off – in between school, work, raising kids, etc. – and now try desperately to get in front of the easel every single day at least for a while (after work). I get really excited yet nervous before a workshop, and I am sky-high after leaving them. I agree completely with Jenny Groat that it would would likely freeze me up to not win a prize, and on the other hand, it may likely give me a false sense of myself should I have been the recipient of one. As somewhat of a beginner, I’m already intimidated by the knowledge and ability of the teachers and all of the fabulously talented students around me, so to have to “compete” at a workshop is not something I would look forward to. I know it was well intended, but as you said in you letter – everyone DID pay the same fees, traveled, and most likely tried their hardest. The information, motivation, and inspiration I receive from workshops is why I go – not to be rewarded otherwise.

Awards……you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t! A mature well adjusted student would get the premise of the whole “award thing” and be happy for the recipients.

I was surprised to hear that you offered awards. It somehow seemed an unRobert thing to do. Isn’t the art and the doing of it intrinsically the reward itself? But I do have to agree with the comment above you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t once you start? Where do you begin and where do you end? How do judge and when do you stop? Poor Robert.

It was of merit and joy that I noticed the group consisted of females; if there were any males they retreated from the camera’s lense. What does that say for our creative endeavours, as males?

Robert- How can you get anything done demonstrating for a bunch of clowns? I love the first picture. I try and inject humor into my demo’s. It cut’s through the BS when it gets too serious. Nice job. Just wanted to add – never heard of awards being given in a workshop atmosphere?? The reward should have been being there and participating.

Shoot – I was looking for some paintings of people in the buff ! About “Prizes for Everyone:” . . . that, sadly, seems to be today`s measure for accomplishing anything, which of course, diminishes the value of the prize. Did you take out the trash today ? – GOOD, here`s a prize; Did you stop scratching in public ? – here`s a Non-Scratching prize. Oi ve, where does it end ?

I noticed that some of the artists are painting with the sun shining on their easels — Rule #1: Find shade first,THEN find something to paint. Also, a few were wearing dark glasses. Are they prepared to hand out dark glasses to viewers of their paintings ?

Drop the prizes. A personal comment to each participant about how to improve their technique would be more in line with what the class is about … learning.

When I attend workshops, I want to learn and try new things. When I teach workshops, I want my students to learn and try new things. Why spend time and money on a workshop and paint the same old way? I think that giving awards for “best paintings” would encourage students to paint the way they are already good at, and discourage learning new approaches.

my favorite quotes about dreams are from theater. from the bloody mary character in south pacific”if you don’t have dream you will never have a dream come true” and from shirley valentine”dreams: they are never where you expect them to be.”