watercolor bed, danny gregory and success

Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.

John Lennon

I think i need to clean up and fill up my little watercolor set...

or get a new one. 

oh yeah, babay... :-)

A quick little watercolor i did last night.

I need to get some new sketchbooks soon too,

and i think i'll try the Moleskin sketchbooks.

I've never tried them.

Have any of you out there tried them?

I know they're a bit more expensive,

but it's money well spent to me.

I'll bark about paying $3 for broccoli

but i don't mind paying $20 for a sketchbook. 

Priorities.

:-)

I love painting things that have exaggerated darks and lights.

Like these creases in the clothes...

Although these were obviously done too quickly.

I've been re-reading a few of my Danny Gregory books.

I had forgotten how brilliant this man is.

So many important words for artists to read.

If any of you still need permission

to call yourselves artists,

read his book "the Creative License".

It'll help you find your wings.

This page is one of my favorites,

although it's one of the rare ones without any illustration.

Haven't we all struggled with this?

If we're so good, why aren't we making more money?

There are genuine artists

who never seem to be able to break through

and then there are those who paint the same thing

over and over and over

in different colors

who have no sense of discovery 

or of the importance of art in the world

but they play the part

and they walk the walk

and they talk the talk

(usually bullshit)

and they get the government grants.

I can almost hear my father's voice here...

"y'a pas de justice dans le monde"

(basically, "life isn't fair").

I always think back at Vincent Van Gogh,

who sold only one painting during his lifetime,

and they now sell for millions.

But is that what it's about?

About selling?

Was his art not art

when it didn't sell?

Why did it all of a sudden become more valuable?

It was always the same art.

Was Van Gogh considered more of an artist

because his paintings eventually reached in the millions?

Would we ever have known about him

if his art had remained unsold, in obscurity?

Is that the measuring stick we use

to determine whether one is a successful artist or not?

It's certainly not my stick.

I don't think it was Henry Miller's stick either.

Art needs no measuring sticks.

The only sticks we need

are those attached to our paintbrushes.
xoxo