Time

After making my most recent self-portrait I decided to sit down and think about direction in art and what I have been thinking about in terms of painting.

One of  the ideas that came up while thinking about painting is time.  Painting myself was a way to literally measure how time has progressed through changes in my face. When I thought about it more I realized that I am interested in measurements of time.

How long does the average person live? How long does the average person in America live? How long does the average woman in America live?  How long does the average person in my family live?  If I have an estimated X number of years left to live what is important for me to do with that time? What is important for me to paint?

I also think of time in terms locations where I have lived. I have lived in 26 structures that I am able to count so far in life. That means I have lived in each place an average of approximately 1.3 years.  So far I estimate that I lived in each general region an average of 9 years.

One's time and places eventually run out. I feel as though I should accomplish some sort of masterpiece with my life but perhaps that is too much pressure. We can all just try our best and know that that's what we are able to do. Whether I am here, there or wherever I continue to use my time and hopefully to use it wisely.

Looking for direction and self in painting

I've been thinking that I need to make another self portrait painting for awhile now.  I think I've been considering making one since last year.  It's now the end of 2015 so I've been thinking about this for a long time.
The reason I have been wanting to make a self portrait again is that I feel like if I make one it's like I'm looking at myself and taking inventory of where I am. So here's a look at where I was and where I am now.

This is a self portrait I made I believe in the winter of 2006/2007.  I think this one has a sense of depth of thought in the area of the eyes and around the eyes.  The bright red parts make me think of a sense of vitality and feeling.  

This is the self portrait I just made (2015).  This painting looks more technical and matter-of-fact to me.  I wanted to add my braid into this portrait because I feel like it's part of how people would identify me visually.  It's normally behind me so I don't see it but other people see it.

I was more interested in the layering of the skin this time. I spent time smoothing out the layers of colors as I added them for the skin.  I think part of the reason I was focused on the skin is that skin is often a way that we convey the age of a person.  I can see that the creases by my mouth have developed more and the furrow between my eyebrows has slightly more depth.

Painting Progression

I took pictures of my latest painting as it progressed.  I enjoyed seeing how it changed at different stages in time.  This painting was done over the course of about 10 days.

After the sketch I looked at the photo I worked from and decided to put down red as an under layer to the bark of the trees.  It was an experiment in color.

Here I started to add in the dark part of the pine needles.  

I initially wanted to paint this picture because I wanted to study the bark of the tree on the left side.  However, I started to become more interested in the way the branches of the tree on the right had spaces in between them.  I liked pushing the paint around between the pine needles and the sky.

I continued painting the tree on the right side.  I started to get into looking at the individual pine needles on the branches.  I really got into it.  Then I felt like I had to move back to the tree on the left because I was neglecting the bark of the tree on the left.  I worked at it a lot because when I began to add the texture I felt it looked too scribbled and the lines I added looked too straight.  It needed a rough more broken textured look.

Here is the finished painting.  I decided to add another layer of paint to the mountains in the background but leave them without much detail so that the pine trees in the foreground remain as the focal point.  

Looking into what I need to know about getting my art out there

Dear reader,
I have been thinking a lot more about the goal of selling my paintings lately.  I have been thinking about how I can learn more about selling my art.

I am beginning to realize that there are a lot of little bits of information out there on the internet about selling one's art or handmade creations.  Whenever I see another blog post or website talking about selling one's art I feel like I am chasing rabbits through their rabbit holes.  All the information starts to feel like a random assortment all scattered around me.

I am starting to find that reading books helps me a lot more than searching the internet.  The reason why is because a book contains so much more information than a single blog post.  A book organises the important points that it wants to say into chapters and it goes into much more depth in explaining it's points.

I am thinking about this as I am currently reading a book called "Art Inc." by Lisa Congdon.  I am finding it very informative for my current place in making art.  I want to find ways to put my art out there more either by finding places to show it or ways to sell it.  I was reading another blog post recently and it was talking about how someone often asks artists how they are selling their work.  The writer said that more often than not artists were not actually selling their art.

Lisa Congdon's Blog (photo above from Lisa's blog)

 Lisa's book can be purchased on Amazon.  I am viewing a free copy thanks to a library.

I think at a certain point I am going to have to move beyond reading books and begin talking to people face to face about my art goals.  I have never considered myself an expert in the art of conversing - particularly when it comes to asking questions.  However, I think I can eventually prepare myself with some questions that I want to ask others about how to continue to develop as an artist.