Next Art Goal: Get Paid to Make Art

Dear Reader,
I've been spinning around thinking about what to do next with my art.  I got a into a bit of a mire recently and haven't made more than a few sketches in the last couple of weeks.  Part of the problem is I'm not sure what I should be making.

Today I think my next goal should be to get paid for making art.  Right now I make art and I show it in a few galleries.  I can keep making art to show in galleries.  I pay to put my art in the galleries but that doesn't necessarily mean people will pay to buy the paintings I make.  There must be jobs out there that will pay me to make art; perhaps paint, illustrate, design. Now it's time to see if I can find some.

Imaginary Desert Landscape: Round 2

Dear reader,
I recently decided I needed to do something about the composition in my artwork.  I decided that my composition skills are holding me back from making better artwork.  So, I gritted my brains and decided to grab composition by the scruff and shake it.  The results we're (long pause) not what I had hoped.  Instead of improving my painting I seem to have tensed up my creative muscles and made something choppy and garish.

Just having resolve to do something better doesn't always mean the results will really turn out better. I think I may have to revise my ideas about how to work on composition in my paintings.  I think I have to go about it with a softer touch and use some of my intuition that I've built up from creating paintings over the years.

Here is some of my current process in creating imaginary desert landscapes:

This is my first attempt at an imaginary desert landscape before I decided I needed to work on my composition.  I'm in the process of revising this one.  The mountains on the left are too dark and draw too much attention.  The dirt and shrubs at the bottom are too light.  They look too minty.

Here's my "grit my brains" painting.  It's obviously worse than my first attempt. The colors look garish.  The red mountains in the foreground are awful. The composition looks terrible. 

So I decided to sketch out a new idea.  This sketch reminds my of some of my older paintings with the way I drew the sky.  The rocks remind me of how rocks are painted in Chinese paintings. The sketch is to work on an idea so I'm not concerned about whether I like everything about it. 

Today I started this painting.  it was going to be based on the sketch but it only partially references the sketch I made. This one is changing as it is being painted.  The end result may be similar to this or it might be quite different.

Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe: Desert Landscape

I'm going to start off this post in a seemingly off topic way here by saying that yesterday I went to an art reception in which I have one painting.  I got a chance to look around at a lot of art that had made it into the show; and there was a lot of it. There were some pieces of exceptionally well made art as well as some mediocre art.
Awards were given at the show; and when awards are given it leads me to think about why the art that won awards won them.

Then, today I was reading a booklet written originally in 1948 entitled " Secrets of Famous Artists: How you can make the most of your creative talent".  Despite a somewhat tacky sounding name it's actually quite insightful.  The wording sounds like it was written for high school aged students.  The booklet goes over a few basic ideas about composition within a work of art.  When I read it I thought , "Ah ha, that's what I've been ignoring when creating my paintings." I've been concerned with brush strokes and colors all the while leaving my composition to a matter of chance.  I realized that I need to think about and plan out my compositions more.

Recently I was creating a painting of the ocean and some part of the sandy cliffs reminded me of the desert.  Paintings of the desert in turn remind me of Georgia O'Keeffe.  Georgia O'Keeffe was one of the artists I really admired when I was in high school.  For myself, when I think of her paintings I think of her desert paintings in New Mexico where she lived when she was older.  I also think of the way the color values transition smoothly in her paintings.

This is my most recent painting of a desert inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe.  I like the idea but I think the composition needs work. 

So now I have a desire to compose mental deserts and create paintings of them.  Maybe I wish I was in New Mexico because of the way I think New Mexico feels.  Maybe I feel that there are mentally dry places in life.  Maybe I want to paint the way I think Georgia O'Keeffe paints (which is not the way she actually appears to paint when I look at her work).  Whatever the case may be imagined desert places is my next jumping off point.

Organizing an Art Studio with Limited Space

I live in a small one bedroom apartment.  Keeping my studio space small is a necessity.  I keep my studio work space down to one two foot by four foot table and a chair.  If you are looking for a way to organize an art studio work space in a limited area here are my tips for you:

1. Weed out items you don't use.
Weeding out items you don't use is very important when space is limited.  Sometimes art supplies accumulate over time and you may not have taken the time to assess what you actually use and what you don't use but keep holding on to.  There may be old worn out paint brushes that can't be used anymore or ones that never seem to get used for any projects.  You may have a large supply of oil paints that you bought thinking you would use them but later decided you preferred working in watercolor. Or maybe you used to use polymer clay and now you don't but you're still holding on to lots of half bricks of clay.
Take out all of the items that you don't use.  You can give them away, donate them to a school or throw them away depending on what they are and how much they've been used. Do not put the items that are worn out or that you no longer wish to use back in a closet or storage box. If you do you are just going to have to go through them again later and decide that you still don't want to use them.

Awhile ago I saw a video about Marie Kondo who wrote the book "The life-changing magic of tidying up". She describes her method as the konmari method.  She talked about how we tend to hold on to too many things that we no longer need or use.  Getting rid of the things that we don't need or use provides more space for the things we actually do use.  This way our spaces don't get overcrowded. It's worth looking at what she does.  I found it very helpful in deciding what to keep and what not to keep.
Click the link to see a 42 minute video of a talk she gave: Marie Kondo talking about her ideas
Click this link if you would like to see her book on Amazon: Marie Kondo's book


2. Make use of vertical space.
When horizontal space is limited vertical space can be used to help maximize the potential of an area.  The photo above is my personal work space containing a two foot by four foot table.  Keeping things stored well creates easy access to the things you need to use often.  I have broken down my space into different areas to describe how I make use of vertical space in my own small studio.
I use a board behind my table to to pin up information I will need and inspiration.  Think of it like a Pinterest board but in real life. On it I keep some reminders to myself and a written goal for myself.  I also keep some of my previous work so that I can think about where I have come from stylistically and where I am going.
On the table surface I keep my current project and the basic tools that I need for all my projects.  I am a painter so I organize my brushes in one container, my paint tubes in a separate container and a tray for mixing paint.  If I have an item that I do not think I will use for all my work I don't keep it on the table top.  I store it.
Under the table I store extra supplies and items that I don't use often.  I keep a box of panels that are ready to be painted.  I use the same box to store some of the finished paintings that are already dry.  In another box I store watercolor paper and drawing paper.  I also have a small brush box that keeps brushes I don't use on all of my projects but would like to use on some projects.


3. Declutter the work space. Keep frequent use items out for use and store away infrequently used items.
It's important not to put everything out on the work space itself.  When the work space is limited it can be tempting to put one thing on top of another creating a jumbled pile.  Doing so makes it difficult to keep track of what is on the bottom of the pile. It's more difficult to keep track of needed items that are not visible.
Clutter makes for poor work flow.  If you have to lift some things to get to others you may end up knocking other things off of the table.  Or you may have to keep your arms in difficult to maintain positions to avoid hitting things or touching wet paint.
Clutter can also create visual disorientation.  If you have too much in front of you it can be more difficult to know what you are supposed to be focusing on.  All of the extra things that you don't use or only use infrequently will still be out on the table.  Every time your eye passes over them you are taking the time to notice something you do not need to focus on. I find that taking away the extra things helps my mind to think more freely because I am not focusing on all of the extra things I don't need too.

Happy organizing and creating!  I occasionally think about and update how my space is organized to make sure everything is working well for me.