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Interesting conversation in this "Critique/anger" thread.
I don't know. Everyone has the stuff they have to work with. Talent, drive, money, circumstance.... I've had my fill of guys telling me that I should wait until my kids are grown, or I already blew it because I didn't get started until I was in my thirties. I haven't been to Art Students League or studied four years at an atelier.
Who's to say that the only resource an artist has in the world is the SOG Forum? It's not a bad source of inspiration and advice, and all I can promise to the universe is make a fellow artist's day a little brighter.
We are separating the "been there, done that, bought the T-shirt" group from the novices, who are maybe 55, with a sick husband and a divorced daughter with three kids living with them, a mortgage and a job they hate, and without the resources to take a workshop.
Those that have the kind of time and drive to get the training necessary will do it anyway. Those who don't or can't don't need to be made to feel that the train has left, so what's the point. It denigrates everything we are doing on the site.
It depresses me to read this thread. It's not about the thrill of creation, or the joy of small victories, or even the pat on the back for getting into the game. It's all about the long hard slog to get the information. No one seems to be having any fun.
I paint because I love it. I love how it makes my clients feel, I love how it touches some of the people who view the work. I've studied for years to gain the technical information I have, but I've put in the time because I enjoy it. And even when I was not that technically proficient, I still loved to paint and draw. That's why we are all here.
I am pleased as punch when I see Beth doing a solid three value painting. Or when
Will Enns works out the bugs to do his husband and wife composition. Watching Alicia struggle through three photo sessions before she finally comes up with the perfect photo of that sweet little girl, and then watching as she shares the completion of the portrait. Jeanine and Dedalier inviting us into their studios to share the frustrations and exhilaration of creation with them. This is not chopped liver. I refuse to believe that tremendous work is not being accomplished on this site.
The SOG Forum is a civilized, caring, professional and educational community of portrait artists. We have each others backs. I will continue to participate and contribute as much as time allows, and to share in the joys and frustrations of our members as we trek along on this journey.
John Sanden said that painting portraits is the Mount Everest of the art world. We might not all get to the top of this mountain, but we are all supporting each other on the climb up.
Peggy
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