We are not born talented.

We are not born talented.

8/19/2021

Should a Dream of an Art Career Remain Just a Dream?

I have been a professional fine artist for fifty years. Provided well for my family, purchased a gallery, art supply shop, picture framing business, art school and home from my art income.

World-wide travel and family holidays paid for by my art commissions. Retired to spend a decade writing seven novels to fulfil another lifetime dream. Fitted in a career in sculpture amongst that lot. Three and a half years of creating art video tutorials all in my patreon site as patron rewards, and now starting a new dream of learning book binding to create original ink line and watercolour wash art and writing journals of archival quality.

Loved every moment of my creative life. Never followed a dream I did not really want.

This reminds us to follow the dreams we really want not those others want for us or what we think we should be doing.

Would you make art if you never had probable success spurring you on?

If there isn't a market where you are, for what you create, you often need to go to where the market is. If that still doesn't work, I agree, it is hard to market something there isn't a market for. That is why my current novel sits at the first draft stage unfinished and probably won't be finished, not many read clean historical fiction set in Australia with lesbian main characters. I narrowed the genre too much to gain enough sales with that story to cover production expenses. Do I want to spend months working on an unpopular genre novel, just because I love the story? I'm still tempted to write it. but, at 75-life is too short to work on unsatisfying projects so I'd need to be fully commited.

Do I want to change the plot to suit the genre trope? No.

So I may abandon that goal. I'll never abandon painting—as long as I can do it.
I never had that unsuitability issue with the work I finished doing. Enough people liked it for me to have enough sales at the right price to earn a living. That's the business skill of doing market research before you over-commit to a costly mistake.
For every goal we go ahead with, we need an action plan to make it happen. If you don't want to do the action plan, then it's okay to let that goal go and find a more workable one.

During my retirement from exhibiting artist, I've continued painting, but have refused to sell the originals. Only downloadable items or print-on-demand goods managed by third parties who pay me a commission are available now.

I hope to be able to continue (finances permitting) refuse requests to sell originals. It is time to paint for my family. So money doesn't motivate me as to if I paint full-time or not. I still work long hours at my art and study to learn new creative art associated skills.

For me, my art career was a passion. There were lows and highs, financially; that is too stressful for some. I just maintained a belief that good artwork will always sell and held out until the client came for each work.

In recession times, it is hard to sell art. That's a known fact. You must learn to manage and average incomes out over seven years, much as someone whose livelihood comes from the land does.

Do I finish this novel?

Experiment with your pigments, especially in mixes. to learn how they handle.

When I want a strong and lasting yellow I do choose cadmium Yellow.
Cadmiums are heavy metal pistons and s this colour should be used with care and the waste water containing cadmium should not be tipped down the drain. Europeans consider these paints so low in soluble cadmium that they do not present a hazard. Californians rate it as toxic. I recommend careful use by experienced artists. These colours are not for children nor careless adults.

There are alternative safer colour that you can use to obtain good reds and yellows. – this means no eating or drinking in the studio, taking care to dispose of unused paint in the bin rather than down the drain and secure storage away from children and pets.

Some companies have developing safe alternatives to cadmium colours, others have produced inferior pigments that either fade or lack strength. There are also more toxic yellow and red pigments that are best avoided. Weighing it up, I am continuing to paint with the cambium colours as I know nothing that matches the opacity, vibrancy and durability of this centuries in use artist's painting pigment.

If a tube of paint is labeled cadmium hue, the word hue means colour, so it is a colour like cadmium, but it isn't the real cadmium pigment. Price is a good indication of quality when choosing a cadmium hue. Better quality hues are closer in price and performance to the real cadmium.

Lesson 2: Painting Tonal Patterns

Copy a tonal Pattern by Eye Using a Five Tone Scale

Create a simple five tone pattern consisting of the darkest tone, (0) the lightest tone (10) the mid-tone (5) and the medium light tone and medium dark tone.
Then reproduce that pattern sight size, working from dark to light.
Always start with the darkest tone and proceed, from darkest to lightest, as the canvas you work on is light, and you always begin where you will make the greatest difference.

As with the tonal chart scale in lesson one, practice makes perfect. Practice reproducing tonal patterns, and you will develop your artist’s eye to see tonal value, the shape of the tone and the proportion and correct placement of it in your painting.

Lesson Two Part Two
Painting a Tonal Pattern

The examples shown were by students from the art classes held in my Mooroopna art studios.

I allow three hours for these exercises.
Occasionally a student will need all of that time to complete the exercise.

As this class finished their work early, I had time to give an additional tonal painting demonstration at the end of the class.
This bonus exercise was to do a quick, tonal impression using one of the students as the subject. Strive to look for the pattern of light and shade, the tonal value and start with the dark shapes first, and then gradually work from dark through to light, using the left over premixed paint. The image of a recognisable face appeared on the canvas within minutes.
From beginner student, suddenly a developing trained artist is emerging.

Notice in the pattern on the canvas board, that represents the seated student’s head, how there is little development of the eye that is turned away from the viewer. Why do you suppose that is? Remember also that the painter is painting the pattern of light and shade that they see, and that is a different pattern to the one that the camera has taken from a different location in the room.
The value of this training is that the mind is being asked to ‘stay out of it,’ and the artist is learning to trust what the eye is seeing and paint that. Do not allow your mind to instruct you that there are two eyes and both must be painted in detail if what the eye sees is a glaring reflection off an eyeglass with a small shadow of the shape that the artist has rendered.
This is excellent, in my opinion, for a rapidly done tonal sketch to demonstrate the confidence of the student to move from painting the pattern of light and dark on a two dimensional surface to being able to see it on a three dimensional surface. They should not allow themselves to freeze in fear at the thought that this is eyes, nose, lips and such things. See the work as a pattern of light and shade in certain shapes to be rendered in proportion to other shapes.
Practice these foundation lessons and develop the confidence.
As both my student and I are nature lovers and I am pleased with her progress, we will move on quickly so we can be ready to paint the roses in the studio garden.

Don’t attempt to add colour to your paintings until you master painting tonally if you hope to paint natural looking paintings. With no colour present, the image appears only as tonal values or light and shade.

It is only because of the effect of light hitting the things we look at that we can tell what they look like. Learning to see the exact tonal value of these things is the most important thing an artist has to do in order to be able to represent that subject as a painting. You cannot paint it until you can see it correctly.
It sounds obvious, but we can replicate dark as black paint, very simply and even the lightest tone by using white paint, but seeing and mixing the middle tone the medium dark and medium light tone takes training. This is one of the most important lessons for any artist and learning to see and replicate tones could be likened to being as important as being able to hear and replicate music notes for a musician.

In my Studio Garden

I recall when I invested $7,500. on a professional pottery studio, half a lifetime ago, and before I could throw a pot. Some people thought I was mad.

My man never doubted me—bless him. I firmly believed that all I needed was a desire to become a good potter, a skilled tutor, and a lot of practice and I would become, and I did become, an award winning master potter and sculpture—as well as remaining an artist as my primary profession. I'm not saying that to beat my drum. I state it as a reminder that I need to take that s same determined approach to creating videos.

To become skilled at pottery, I needed to throw 1000 pots before I could throw a good one. I needed to throw another 2000 pots before I could consistently throw good ones. So. if it takes me 3000 video shoots and editing sessions to master this, I'll put that work in—but master the skill I will. It is happening. It took me six weeks of quality tuition and full time practice to throw pots as well as your average potter. It took much more to reach the standard I was after.

Meanwhile, studio assistant Valentine has decided to become part of the painting, part of the first early spring in Ryn's Studio video.

Coming home to Spring, eight years ago.

Under my pergola, A great place to soak up some gentle morning sun, and get my Vit D.

We planted wisteria to grow over this to provide late spring blossoms and Summer shade.

I have been settling into our northern Victoria, Australia, warm season home for just over a week now. Driving up to the front of our rural retreat, it was wonderful to be welcomed by spring flowers. The peach blossom and freesia, daffodils, tulip and Dutch iris in bloom, our first yellow rose was in flower and to have not missed the azalea and camellia. These winter blooms had lasted until I got home. For nature lovers like Reg and myself, it was a wonderful homecoming.

Having gotten over the shock of finding field mice in our home when we arrived home, no doubt encouraged into the area by the healthy crop of oats opposite our home. I set about cleaning, dusting and disinfecting in the home. I am still moving furniture to clean behind it, and I have tidied up the garden, planted herbs, and vegetables. Now the garden has been tidied; I am ready to carry the patio furniture that I stored in our bedroom while we were away, outside.

Our new five-month-old, garden showing the avenue of poplars opposite and the field beyond, which is now a lush green growing field of oats. This photo was taken April 2009.

Early September '09, waiting for my table and chairs to be replaced under our front garden pergola so we can enjoy meals served in the garden.

Ryn Shell Fine Art Prints

Preparing the home to leave it unattended through wither

There has to be an easier way. Next year, I will prepare the home, garden, and patio with more care and save myself a lot of this work.

I’ll be leaving mouse bait behind cupboards before we leave.
Use sheets as dust covers for the inside furniture.
Chain our patio furniture to the pergola, hide the chain with flower pots or rocks and use patio furniture covers so there will be a lot less work involved when we arrive home after our winter away.

My garden roses welcomed me home and turned my mind to painting flowers again.

Roses in Ryn Shell Art

I always prune the garden make sure it is weed free, and the ground soaked and mulched, the climbers freshly tied back before I leave for a winter inland tour.
I find if I am home by early spring all I need do is cut off any frost burn, hoe any emerging weeds, and fertilise my plants, especially the roses.
Then, I'm ready to relax and enjoy the garden I love.

I have already begun to have my breakfast outside in the morning sun; The garden furniture makes a great breakfast nook.

This photograph shows the field of oats opposite our home, the source of our field mice visitors. It is lovely living in a rural area with unbroken country side views, so I accept I need to protect the home more carefully from uninvited visitors when we are away.

After traveling around Australia and occasionally abroad with Reg for over forty years you would think I would be an expert at making the transition from the trip to back home, easily, but here I am still learning.

I would love to hear any tips other travelers have, for protecting the home, patio, and garden while they are away or even just great way’s to batten down and winterise the home and garden and save time and effort on the return to spring time. Your comments are welcome.

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