Finding your talent

I like Emile Zola’s quotation, and,I love your sense of humour, Robert…I think ‘lighten up’ might have something to do with being able to loosen up enough to switch brains(left/right) in order to accomplish art. Personally, my journey has had much to do with finding inner quiet and I problem solve life things and also art things, when I am can be quiet.

Talent is certantly a gift, maybe through some quirk of DNA but I am grateful for it. I have known people with a small amount of talent who work hard and long hours and become successfull. I have also known people with amazing natural talent who choose to do nothing with it. I am myself blessed with a moderate amount of talent but cannot motivate myself to paint in the studio 12 hours a day. Too many other things call for my time. There are days when I have time to paint a 6 hour stretch, but then laundry, dinner, grocery shopping,etc. calls me. That’s my excuse anyway! The truth is I find it hard to maintain a level of excitement over my current project, beyond a certain length of time without overworking. So, I walk away. To work a 12 hour stretch daily, I would have to have quite a few projects underway.

My thoughts on this subject, Robert, is that it takes between 5 and 10 years to become a pretty good artist in any medium. It might take more or less time depending on the persons passion for making art. Talent is 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration.

Talent or absence of talent passion for art is making me to practice endless hours and if i am not Gretzki i still have a wonderful time playing!

Rene, I think you have it backwards. Talent is 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration. Robert, I love the “Genn Improved Patent Painting Interval Time-Tester” (GIPPITT) would only tally when the brush completed an electric circuit as it touched the canvas. How to avoid electrocuting the painter has not yet been developed. Thanks for a good laugh. In my opinion, there are a few who have a special gift. I have seen it and it’s amazing. However, I think that most of us are not geniuses, and only time and practice will get us there. There’s also synchronicity. I have recently embarked on a program of study and coaching, which requires me to paint every day, and do exercises, as well as paint on my own work and do some readings; in a very short time, I can already see and feel a difference. When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Curiosity, contemplation, desire, passion, study, work, intent, dedication and attitude are some of the more important ingredients making up talent.

Developing an electrocuting preventive device for artists who use GIPPITT methods would be such a shame. I bet you an electrocuted artist would go straight to the Hall of Fame of the Measubator society.

“Possessing talent is nothing more than the continuous pursuit of a life-long interest” – I believe that is the quote I’d heard given by the late Bob Ross in a documentary aired on a PBS station last week. Thus it is simply a matter of the amount of time one wishes to put into creating their art that enables ‘talent’.

If time spent painting was the barometer/measurement for genius, how do we rate Leonardo da Vinci who only painted a handful of paintings in his lifetime?

Talent is evident throughout my family, this generation and generations back into the 1700s. My great-great grandmother was a painter who studied and worked with Horace Vernet of France in that century. One of her sons Dr. Robert Hartmann, 1832-1896, was a scientific artist, traveling in Africa as an ethnographer, and sketching all the way. My father’s parents and grandparents of that family were both very talented. Two of my three children were very gifted, sadly passed away during their careers. Two of my grandchildren are working in design and original art. I do believe that talent is inherited, yet the work required to use this talent is dependent on the intention of the individual. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said: “What you have inherited from your forefathers, it takes work to make it your own.” (Loosely translated from German.)

Often people ask me:”How long did it take you to paint this piece?” It does not matter how big or complicated a painting, I always answer: “36 years”. I have been painting for that many years.

I feel talent is highly overrated, I just show up in the studio or on location and put the time in.

I think there is some element in “talent” that involves the ability to suspend judgement on oneself (at least temporarily)—a “why the heck not” factor. Also some version of a wife—one can’t develop talent or projects if one is cooking and cleaning for six.

One of my most cherished voice teachers said, “Talent is Ability”. He used the phrase often and the interpretation was a meaningful tool for me. Whether you are an artist who has achieved some level of success or you are an artist who is just beginning, there is always room to add to your talent. One’s ability to do something can come early and easily. If that person chooses to focus on that ability, he will become better that much sooner. Indeed, Mr. Zola, the talent and work go hand in hand. Demystifying the word talent has sometimes given me permission to do the work. It beckons me to join forces with my talent. Together we work out, we explore, we study, we dance. “Talent is Ability”. Thank you, Arthur Peters …

In my experience, 10K hours just makes you proficient, not expert.

To me, talent is something you are naturally good at, nothing more, nothing less. The secret to great talent is ; ‘Doing what you know is easy, challenging the unknown is ADVENTURE’. BJ Bjork

The time spent on a piece can vary so much. As a potter turned painter having experienced those days where it all works and a piece comes together almost immediately as well as the days resulting in more laboured attempts. I particularly identify with the line in your Esoterica. I’ve wondered if some people just aren’t curious enough to become talented. Whatever the mysterious thing called talent is, it is there, like Santa, by agreed consent. And however evasive this “gift” may be, most of us would love to have more of it. Perhaps unlocking talent is in itself a talent. Staying curious is a good thing. Thanks for this.

Thanks for info about keeping art things in the car during the winter cold. In Australia I have the opposite problem. Cars can get very overheated in just a few minutes in the Aussie summer and I often wonder how much damage I’m doing to materials.

I think that one has the talent inherently but it has to be tapped to be manifested. Painting or any other form of art the more you do and try to improve the better you will be. Taking classes and exchanging ideas would also help.

I got working quickly, partly thanks to your twice-weekly inspirations, after a immobilizing disability knocked the wind out of my sails – and soon I got used to the idea of doing what I could and letting the rest go for a bit, with no recriminations on my or anyone else. And I did just fine, except for the lack of normal biz powers, and poor income. So I changed doctors and regained better powers and my renewed business license is recently on the wall in my new studio at the Mill on Fox Hill. I am EXACTLY at that place – at my easel and and other tasks and developing a sharp act , as the say…time off and time at the easel, the computer and the fitness that empowers it all. Fun! So I laughed and perked up from this note, mostly jubilant that I CAN do it all better than ever and actually make money again!

A very competent artist once told me, rather dogmatically, “You are not an artist until you paint one thousand paintings”. Having done about fifty such at that time, I was rather put off by his arrogance. Now that I am closer to having 250 done, I see what he meant. I have had a very attenuated painting time due to illness for the past two years, and I am amazed (and disappointed) at how my skills have slipped. I am considering going back to school, to once more fully engage with the process. (I also have a new vision which will require a new skill set!) All in all, having talent is both boon and bane, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

I do paint every day in pastel. I have stacks and stacks of finished work and find the day is not complete for me, unless I spend at least 1-2 hours at my easel. Some days it is 4-5. I seem to never get enough, but the result, for me, is that my work is much more accomplished and I am able to interpret problems much easier. Can’t imagine a day without painting. I think the other ingredient is determination.

Sometimes I like to watch shows about antiques and was interested that an extremely complex carved piece had a German heritage and the antiques dealer was explaining that the apparent manic bi-polar seeming creation seemed to him to be a common working habit for people in this part of the world. So, who knows, maybe it’s in the blood too. I taught art skills to children, adults and special needs for over twenty years and remember how fascinated I was by a special needs man of indigenous heritage who kept making ovoids, we finally realized he wasn’t mumbling either but rather speaking Inuit. People are such funny creatures.

Some time I go to my studio to eat lunch and look at all that drival I have created. Then I finish lunch and try to complete some of the unfinished stuff!! Have to keep working on trying to complete something that I could not do a week before..and some times it works. Art is not easy, especially after looking at all those art magazines and saying to yourself..it will never be good enough..and then continue to paint for yourself.

There seems to be many things to help shape an Artist’s career, but I think one of the MOST important, is for the artist to be able to tell the difference between GOOD WORK AND BAD WORK. If he can’t, he will continue to paint poorly and think what he is doing is good.

awwwww, Robert, your “GIPPITT” brought on a surge of nostalgia and i have to share a funny with you…. Besides my artistic ‘bent’, i get my wonderful twisted sensa huma from my Dad, and about 45 yrs ago, when he was semi-retired, he was working at a local college, painting walls. As a gift, i gave him an electric paintbrush. A local store had generic (wall) paintbrushes in white & red. I bought one of those, some red tape, and a red extension cord. I cut off the “inny” part of the cord, laid the bare wire end against the handle of the brush, and carefully taped it down, winding it around the handle…. you could see nothing amiss…. My dad wore the ubiquitous white coveralls, and had the brush sticking up out of a back pocket, trailing the wire so that “the guys” would see and ask him about it…. and they did. He explained his “daughter in Philadelphia” (at that time) had gotten him “the latest”, an Electric Paintbrush. Skeptical, they asked him how it worked, and he explained: “You plug it in, dip it in the paint and then brush back and forth, like this…” demonstrating a brushstroke. He could do this with the greatest pokerface, and innocently could just NOT understand why THEY couldn’t understand. Best $4.58 I ever spent.

I want you to know how much I enjoy your twice weekly letters — certainly for all the good advice and guidance, but also for your wit, and the way you turn a phrase. You’re a delight to read! Mesa, AZ

For many years I made my living as a singer/musician and would regularly encounter people who would say things like, “You’re so very lucky to have this God-given talent.” Little did they know that my stage career had begun in church at the age of 5 and that not only had I been singing and playing since childhood, but that for me, it didn’t come easy. I struggled, putting in long hours of practice, to learn what I did. I’ve never cared for the word talent and it’s not part of my regular vocabulary. I’ll allow that there’s such a thing as aptitude but the word talent has this ‘God-given’ connotation in most people’s minds so I never use it to describe what is really, ability.

As a 34-year veteran of art teaching, I just “retired” to see if I could find MY way prior to getting too old. I’m 71. Hard to do the hours, tho…always garden, film, sputtering and fussing around the house can allow obfuscation…What pushes me is the entry deadline for shows… (Nebraska Women’s Caucus for Art, friends who include me, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, which asks for entries)… Have settled on Carl Jung’s advice: “Be simple and always take the next step. You needn’t see it in advance, but you can look back at it afterwards.There is no ‘how’ of life, one just does it.”

IQ is something bean counters created and love because it’s quantifiable. IQ testing was originally created to test for retardation and evolved to become the gold standard in judging the brains highest function. These IQ results are great for knowing if you will be able to participate in game shows like Jeopardy. But testing your brains ability to gather information does not easily test what you will be able to do with that information. Of course creativity is part of the brains higher intelligence or what we think of as IQ, unfortunately it’s harder to test and therefore is undervalued. So the arts are undervalued as a study because they rely heavily on this unquantifiable aspect of our thinking. Nature, what you are born with, and Nurture, what life offers you thereafter, both play a part in the development of the brains functions. Play Time and the Arts are so important and it is unfortunate that they are undervalued in our current educational systems in the USA. I’m not sure of is happening in education elsewhere in the world, but do know what’s happening in my neck of the woods. “Learning to the test” which has revolutionized the educational system in the USA is harmful to the brain, not to mention the soul. Over emphasis on testing doesn’t allow for creativity which may just be the most important aspect of brain development. Nor does it value physical education, physical education or “PE” is also crucial to the development of not only the body but also, as recent scientific studies have shown, help in the development of the brain. For more information on this look up, Science Daily, Exercise Appears To Improve Brain Function Among Younger People. Temple Grandin makes a good case for the importance of art education. She is an American doctor of animal science and professor at Colorado State University, she also note worthy because she credits much of her insights to being born with autism which gives her a unique way of learning and special insights into animal behavior. In her book , {Animals Make Us Human, page 187 } she states, “I see all kinds of problems with college students who have never had an art class or built anything themselves. This lack of hands on experience really hurts their understanding of how different things relate to each other in the physical world. “Since around 2000, the percentage of students having difficulty with drawings has increased due to lack of hands on experience with drawing in grade school.” When scientists separate the creative aspect of the brains function from IQ they are doing a disservice to humanity. Creativity just may be the most important aspect of our brains higher function or IQ.

I long ago banned the use of the word “talent” in the classes and workshops that I teach. The reason: the word carries baggage, and that baggage is an impediment to learning. What is making art about, after all? For me and my students, it is about making visible the compulsions of the mind and the heart; that is, bearing witness to the human condition. Anybody, at any age, can find a qualified teacher or coach to help facilitate this process. Some artists begin working long before others, it’s true, but the main reason is usually opportunity, often provided by family, friends and community. Lacking this, a timely exposure to artistic excellence and some art supplies can help anyone leapfrog early deprivations. Artistic accomplishment requires a serious investment of time, but more importantly, it demands a willingness to push back against the relentlessness of daily life. Moreover, a good art coach doesn’t just teach technique or set up work regimens; she addresses the larger question: how do we satisfy the unexplained need to turn spirit matter into paint? Artistry has less to do with the number of hours spent at the easel, or who is qualified to call herself an artist, than with a commitment to explore the mysteries of that larger question over the course of a lifetime. Santa Fe, New Mexico

I don’t believe that countless hours of painting or any number of works created will affect your “talent”. They may improve your techinque and skill, but certainly not your talent. We are skewing the issue. Talent trumps technique and skills. I leave it up to the quanifiers to waste their time in figuring this one out. Talent is comething completely separate from effort and time spent painting. Even if it were possible to compare hours to hours, it wouldn’t necessarily result in a work of art from a talented artists who may have just pick up a brush for the first time. Talent is more keyed into something innate within a person. It’s the ability that transcends techinque working habits. I applaud those who seek the answers but even if we could find an answer it still leaves the rest of us slaving endlessly to create a work we consider good. I feel it would be easier to get agreement between American politicians than understand why someone is talented.

Aleada Siragusa – I love what you’ve written and should have read it before commenting. Great stuff Thanks.

I agree, Rick – Aleada’s comments resonated with me too. Having known a number of people with high IQs, it long ago became apparent to me that being highly intelligent is all very well; it’s what you do with it that matters. Not having had school-age children when I moved to the UK, I have to go by what I read in the newspapers, and it seems that here too, children have suffered because of a lack of both the arts and outdoor physical activity in general education. But Rick, you are absolutely correct about practice not improving one’s “talent”, only one’s technique. If that were true, any composer of advertising jingles could eventually end up as good as Mozart. (By the way, Robert – many of these spam preventers or whatever they’re called are almost impossible to decipher – usually the second “word”.)

Robert, you’ve hit another one out of the park. I thoroughly enjoy your posts. I am a believer of “hours at the easel” to reveal your talent. (How do you know what you are capable of until you push yourself and explore the possibilities?) I tell my students that they come to me to show them the basics and offer suggestions but the real improvement will come with practice, practice, practice. I’m forwarding your post to all of them. Thanks!

“Genius is 2% inspiration, 98% perspiration.” ~Sister Mother Mary Gertrude, CCVI (Never really liked that woman, but those words glued themselves into my brain, almost 60 years ago…)

re: Aliada Siragusa’s insight. Before I write, I want to say that I am a fan of graffiti, but here is my pet theory about its proliferation. The theory is that the rise of graffiti must have a measurable relationship to the elimination of art in the schools. Bean counting “educators” responded to political pressure to “produce” in the wrong way…force feeding children information to parrot on exams while eliminating the activities that allow them to integrate that information, took art to the streets and turned artists into “criminals”. The art spirit cannot be denied and giving it voice should be part of every school’s curriculum. Denying that real fact is part of the left brain’s war on the right brain. But in this age of visual information, it is a losing battle!

The time spent on a piece can vary so much. As a potter turned painter having experienced those days where it all works and a piece comes together almost immediately as well as the days resulting in more laboured attempts. I particularly identify with the line in your Esoterica. I’ve wondered if some people just aren’t curious enough to become talented. Whatever the mysterious thing called talent is, it is there, like Santa, by agreed consent. And however evasive this “gift” may be, most of us would love to have more of it. Perhaps unlocking talent is in itself a talent. Staying curious is a good thing. Thanks for this. Jenny Adams Sechelt BC

i feel you’re confusing ‘talent’ with dedication or discipline. while there is a certain amount of discipline to showing off one’s talent, the number of hours sitting (or standing) with brush to canvas can hardly count as BEING the talent. there are a heck of a lot of talentless people who do it “all the time”. so i don’t get this concept, and my art develops in certain ways that are about half away from the easel, a good bit with my eyes closed, some at the kitchen sink. Seeing is the talent – seeing within, seeing what can be, seeing what is. This seeing could take 2 seconds or 2 years. Discipline is something else altogether and requires many hours actually working – eyes open or closed – sketchbook open or closed – hands in motion or still. And i find the main reason for the solitude to work is because people won’t shut up when they’re around, which makes it hard to hear yourself imagine.

I’ve always been of the impression that talent was innate ability which practice only enhances. While some artists practice rigorously, their ability remains at about the same level. Other, more talented artists can create only occasionally or can take a complete break and still produce competent technically skilled work that is pleasing to the eye and if those talented artists practice, their skill is multiplied, often many times more than the amount of time put into their work. I believe that is talent.

Here is how I see talent vs. hard work in my own experience. There was something that compelled me as a toddler to draw images on every piece of paper in the house. That something gave me the capability to draw images that my teachers and peers admired, and that satisfied my imagination. That something also made it easy to learn about art and to quickly excel in some painting techniques. On the other hand it is now often very difficult for me to create a painting that satisfies me. I spend countless hours in order to master the latest medium that I chose, and I feel anguish to create images I can feel proud of. My conclusion is that there definitely is a talent in the DNA, which gave me the ability to draw and passionately love and need art. This talent defines me and I become very unhappy if it is from some reason denied. But, the talent on its own doesn’t have the value system needed in order to contribute and be measured in the outer world of art. That outer world has created a system of values, consisting of very specific skills, rules, styles, and many other qualifiers that I have to learn if I want to “be seen” and “compete”. I think that playing in the art world is a competition because of the desire to succeed by some criteria and against some odds. My inner talent is a self-content child that draws images from imagination and bravely plunges into any art experience without any consideration for consequences. The other side of me is a hard worker with passion to learn all the rules needed to play in the outer world of art.

@Nonny K.K. Yea, she did credit Edison, but I just didn’t bother, here. She wrote it on the blackboard every morning, at the start of the day.

Speaking of middle brains, I am a middle brainer – and woe to me, as nobody gets that I really can see both sides of the coin from standing on the edge. And I often wish I was either one side or the other – the more practical side or the more creative side. I’ve had moments of both but mostly I’m always trying to BE both and it really gets in the way. There’s a constant argument going on in my head about how my day’s going to go. Back when I decided to be an artist, I jumped in with both feet and often went for days just painting. What fun that was – even when the finished product wasn’t all that great. Now I’ve almost learned too much! and I think about it more than do it. Immersion is hard to accomplish now. But I find that my greatest quest anymore is to simply fool my own eye with my painting. If I can do that, then I know it will fool anyone’s. I do recommend using both hands, though, to jiggle the little gray cells into action on both sides. Not just when you’re painting but in everything – doing dishes, petting the dog, pruning the bushes. For right handed people, this is especially important. You’ll soon find yourself having visions while at the same time thinking about the cost savings of one type of paint over another. And suddenly world politics might make more sense and you’ll come up with a solution to global warming. Look out.