Callings
Unless you are called to painting, or any art form, don’t consider it as a career. Enjoy it. Paint when you can. Learn from this wonderful activity and let it add to your other life goals. Try not to get too serious about it or it might disappoint you. I was shocked to learn at the age of 39, that painting was a calling for me. It took a long time to know that and to accept it. I will never be rich. I will never be famous. I will probably never find love the way most people do, and never feel I have reached my full potential or made enough strides. What I WILL feel, is that I stayed true to myself, recognized and lived a different kind of love in this world and did my best to make life meaningful and a little more beautiful for myself and for other people.
Gathering
Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t create all of the time or get into the studio each and every day. You do have to be disciplined to get anywhere. That is true; that is fact. But sometimes what you think will make you a better artist, is not more painting. Sometimes, it is the opposite that helps make art. The mind, just like the body has to be refueled and fed in order to give you something to create. What an artist gathers from the life around him or her, ultimately, is reflected in the art. Be careful, be selective, be wise about what you gather into your circle. It shapes you and guides you more than you know. The friendships or connections you build, the books or films you absorb, the language you listen to and speak, where you walk or move and feel most at home, all are important to the creative process. These are the things that form your credo without you realizing it. Your art becomes what you gather, and ultimately what you believe.
Narrowing the Field
To get really good at one thing, often means you give up other things. At some point, I gave up tennis and skiing, other mediums like clay figures and caricatures, expensive vacations, a well-paying job, social activities, and certain connections. I have no regrets. It was more like a cleaning out my life in order to get focused on the one thing I cared about the most. Doing so felt healthy and important.
Formula
There are lots of ways to become an artist and a different formula exists for each person who chooses it. It starts with just DOING it and trying things over an extended period of time on a consistent basis. At a certain point, too much “multi-doing” works against you, taking you insignificantly wider, instead of significantly deeper. When you find the one thing you are drawn to most, stay with it and count it is as a blessing.
On Landscape Painting
One must put time into painting outdoors, experiencing the elements, to truly paint landscape that has a genuine energy. Painting land is about a visceral connection with Mother Earth. She can change, spit, bite, burn and argue with you the whole time you are painting. Like all good mothers, she teaches us necessary truths and deepens our ability to see and feel. This lesson is especially relevant to landscape painters who have learned this. When you are there in the day, on her turf, your paintings will reflect that. It might be intangible, but something richer is in the work. You can paint from photographs, but it is not the same. I do paint land in the studio, but the best pieces stem from being out there. Today, I make studies outdoors and then come in to see what I can do on a larger format. The association with real earth, however, determines what happens in the luxury of the studio.
Art and the Turbulent World
In this current world, I sometimes wonder how it is I make my way painting, when there is so much unrest, struggle and crisis. Then I remember I had no choice. I was called to it as one is called home, if there is such a thing. I try to think of it as a civilizing weapon calming down the chaos – like a visual medicine that reminds us love is not dead.
