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.

Working as an Artist - Next Work in Progress

Dear unknown reader,
Now that I have been making paintings as well as having the opportunity to show some of my paintings I really feel like a working artist.

I have not sold any paintings recently so I'm still not currently able to make a living as an artist.  However, my other job is covering my expenses and allowing me to create.

Recently one of my students asked me if I was a real artist.  I think those were her words.  I told her that I am.  It's nice to know that I can honestly say I am an artist and that I am making art.

Here is what I am working on in my tiny studio right now:

This is the first couple of layers of my current painting.  I started with a few colors as an under layer.  Then I sketched out the parts of the painting using dark brown paint and a thin liner brush.

This is after I've added more colors with a medium sized round brush.

I'm painting in my small studio space at home. I keep my paints on the left because I'm left handed. This canvas is 20 x16.

The Day Job vs. Earning a Living with Art

During the day I have a different job.  It's the job that pays the bills because my art does not right now. Many of my coworkers really enjoy their jobs.  They express how much they appreciate being in this line of work.  Many people outside of this line of work or those who have retired from this line of work also are positive about it. Since I consider it my day job and not my career I feel a little fake when I hear how committed others are to it. I try to do a good job but I'm also just there to earn a dollar.

In the afternoons I come home and create my work as an artist.  At home there is cooking and cleaning to do.  Sometimes I need to go to the store or do other things.  But I try my best to put in my time with painting.  When I think about the possibility of making art for a living instead of working at my day job I'm motivated to work as hard as I can.
Recently, I met some artists in galleries around this area and found that they first retired from other jobs before creating art full time. I really don't want to resign myself to being someone who waits until I retire to create art.  1. Putting off the creative process is not acceptable. How can I consciously tell my creativity to dry and and blow away for the time being and then expect it to just be there waiting for me 30 or 40 years from now? 2. Art is my career. 3. I don't expect retirement  to be a plausible option for most people when I am 60 or 70.  I am a pessimist and I don't see America being able to sustain things like social security.

I recently bought the book "Artists and Graphic Designers Market".  I have been trying to think about how to earn a living with my art. It's hard to know who to ask when I have questions about how to earn a living with art. It's also difficult to sift through which information on the subject of selling art I should be concerned with.  I'm not sure which information is more important and which is less important.  What I can say is this, I'm working towards the goal of being a full time artist rather than a part time one.

When I go out to beautiful scenic locations I try to take photos I may be able to use for paintings. 

Sometimes I have the opportunity to paint on site.

I sometimes make a watercolor sketch before I make a final oil painting.  It helps me to work through the composition, colors and details before creating the final painting. 

I try to apply to put my work in art shows. 

If I get my work in to a show I prepare it for hanging.  This painting has been framed and I have attached a wire to the back for hanging. 

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.