Production

[Kimberly Dow]

I've deleted the first part of this original post since it wouldnt make sense now. The lines I was responding to were changed.

I've left in the below part so it's clear why the following post was put in. It's all off topic now...



I am also sure I would not take every single thing you taught and use it. I have my own style and want to develop that - which I can do taking tips and bits from many artists I admire. What bothers me is when someone says that their way is the only correct way.

When I think about learning from someone I want a teacher who will help me improve MY paintings - not change my entire style. I don't want to paint exactly like you Marvin - one Marvin is good....a bunch of Marvin's would be boring. I don't want to paint like any other artist. I want to paint like me - a constantly improving me.

[Marvin Mattelson]

I apologize if I have offended you.

I would, however, like to clarify that my approach to teaching is not about replicating myself. I believe I have created a framework that allows artists to flourish and develop their individuality in the look of their paintings and expression of their beings.

I don't say anything is right or wrong. Certain things may work more efficiently than others however and based on thirty years of teaching I like to give my students the best chance to succeed. Ultimately when one has knowledge they have the freedom to go beyond and explore. Doing this prematurely however can lead to problems.

As a parent you teach you children certain values and then they're on their own. Same with students. Just call me "Dad."

I think that a good palette provides artists with a wide range of possibilities and using fewer colors doesn't diminish the possibilities for greater expression.

I understand that this post is off the topic but I wanted to reply to the misconception that you had that by following my lead somehow students would be restricted. I assure you that the opposite is quite true. Knowledge is never limiting.

[Steven Sweeney]

I'm sure your husband's a swell bloke, but if I drive all the way to Uvalde (I was pretty close recently, on my escape from Texas for the holidays), I'll be expecting to have lunch with you.

My treat. And no shop talk.

[SB Wang]

Practice daily is one thing; Mr. Kinstler emphasized this point. But to paint effectively is another.

One has his peak years, seasons, days, hours. Norman Rockwell's best works were produced in certain years.

Sargent took vacation every summer, C. Beaux, in winter.

When is your vacation season?

[Kimberly Dow]

Woo-hoo - free lunch! You're on, Steven.

[Carolyn Ortiz]

Working every day would be something to try, and seeing the results of many here (and in history) who practice that definitely proves it is a great way to improve, and to turn out consistently good work.

But how do you do it? I've forced myself to paint/ draw on many occassions when not feeling like it, and it has almost always made from some bad painting/ drawing sessions. the other day I did this because of a fast approaching deadline. I knew I didn't feel like working on it and after about an hour or so I started to make many mistakes. The only solution I saw was to stop. And in hindsight I probably would have been better off never forcing myself to start working on it in the first place. So how do you work every day, and get beyond the uncreative moods? Sometimes I just don't feel like creating art. I hope I'm not the only one.

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

Carolyn, we're all different and doubtless thrive on different working styles. If I force myself to go over to the studio, normally I quickly get into the groove and find that it's hard to stop. That's one reason why I miss having my studio in my home instead of across the driveway; often I'd wander in to look at whatever was in progress, pick up a brush to make some small change, and find suddenly that it was three a.m. - and me with work the next day! (This was before I retired from my other career.) Now I have to make a concerted commitment to going out there, and sometimes it's hard to pull myself away from the fire and a good book. I also find that I'm more productive under pressure. When I have a deadline looming I can work a lot more quickly and I have yet to see a difference in my satisfaction with the finished piece when completed under those conditions.

Once in a while I do get over to the studio, fire up the heater, pick up the brushes and find that my muse is otherwise occupied. That's a good time to tackle something less important like the background. I still try to make some progress but don't usually stay as long.

I have a feeling that if we took a poll we'd find a wide range of hours worked weekly among us, as well as a wide range of approaches in general. Yet the results can still be stunning.

[Steven Sweeney]

During several years of all-day, everyday instruction at Pete Bougie's atelier in Minneapolis -- which was a minimum one-hour commute from my home during rush hour, and could go to well over two hours in winter weather -- I really struggled sometimes to drag myself over there.

But I almost always made it. And of the select works from that period that I consider "keepers," as many seem to have been produced on low-motivation days as on energized ones. Somehow, after getting kids to school, making that commute, setting up the easel on my taped marks, and acknowledging that the model had been sufficiently motivated to show up, I settled into the routine and the regimen and did the work.

I am, according to my spouse, easily distracted, and there are hundreds of things I could do with my time -- many of them very enjoyable and productive -- other than draw or paint. The hazard for me has always been developing bad habits (and I have a few favorites). The habit of deciding that I just don't want to "do art" today is no more difficult to embrace than the habit of showing up. And for me, it's a bit insidious, because the less artwork I'm producing (or the less writing I do or the longer I let tasks smoulder on the back burner), the less connected I feel to the process, and the harder -- day to day -- it becomes to break that habit and begin the now-harder (sometimes discouraging) work of getting back up to speed.

[Michele Rushworth]

When there's that very rare day that I know that I just can't paint (if I'm sick or over-tired or otherwise very distracted by some difficulty or another) there's plenty in my studio and office that needs to be done. I stretch canvases, order supplies, update my mailing list, etc.

After all, this is my job, and as I wrote earlier, there are unpleasant consequences if I don't create appealing paintings for my clients, on time.

But, as Leslie mentioned, as soon as I step into the studio, I almost always grab a brush and don't want to stop. There is nothing else I'd rather do than paint.

[Mike McCarty]

I am of the opinion that vacation (holiday) is good. Whether for a surgeon, a brick layer or an artist. Even if during this vacation you are pining to get back to your work.