Sunday, March 25, 2012

Setbacks of a Beginning Artist



One of the biggest setbacks for a beginners in art, craft, or woodworking for many is that their abilities don't match their expectations, for most this isn't a matter of talent, but a lack of experience in the technical techniques that is needed to achieve their goals. This happened to me the first time I tried oil painting, what I saw in my head was a long way from what I painted on the canvas and it wasn't that I didn't have the talent or the skills I just lacked the knowledge of the process.

 I'm a professional woodworker and the first thing I learned was the basics then I started learning more advance techniques then with confidence I started to experiment, a lot, and with that I developed my own style. When I tried to start oil painting I skipped learning the basics and was so disappointed in my results that ended up just putting it all away with the feeling that painting just wasn't for me.

Well now, I am a student at Wilmington College as a art major, and one of the things that I have noticed is that many of these younger student go though the same thing that I did with oil painting, with some of the different medias they are trying working in, they forget that they are there to learn the technique and instead they get wrapped up into the expectation of their finished pieces of work, which is easy to do. They need to remember that these beginning pieces are just a byproducts of learning the techniques of the process. Many just need to take some time to try do the work a different way and to feel the freedom to experiment while not being afraid make mistakes, however it being a class, the emphases is always on the finish piece, and not the how it got there or if we were willing to take chances along the way. What I noticed is many of the students keep doing the techniques that they felt comfortable with, so they didn't risk any mistakes and while there pieces came out good, some could be been much better, but as with all students we always have that grade to worry about and our senior portfolios to fill.

I think for beginners its important just to do a lot of work, do a large body of work that will help to develop your style and teach you more then any class or book. If your a beginning artist, crafter, or woodworker  learn the basics then color out side the box when you get the chance, take them chances, experiment with your work, yeah you will make mistakes and sometime you will do work that is total junk, but them are the ones you are going to learn the most from, but more than anything else have fun with it, don't take your failures to serous and when one does go bad look at it to see what  can I learn from it, that failure is a great learning opportunity and then go try something else.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Recycling Myself






Some would say I am to OLD to go back to school to them I say BAH, they are the same ones that said don't go to art school you can't make a living doing that, they are the ones that are always whispering in our collective ears telling us not to follow our passions or be happy in a profession you enjoy just because they listened to the collective voices in their ears so they join the collective so they could add to the noise. Now I am fifty one I live on SSI that pays me a incredible $617.00 a month. I have a lot trouble standing for any time and my knees are shot, but I believe most of this could turned around if I could get the right medical help. I can't see myself excising like this for the rest of my live which is what the government has more or less decide that I should do. I should mention that my injuries were on the job so it's been a long on going fight for the last twelve years. but I am optimistic that I can still get myself healthy and back to work in a good paying job. How might you ask I am going down that path that everyone told me not to I am pursuing my degree in ART and media production, and I am going to use this blog to recorded my journey. I still plan on doing woodworking for those who my read woodworking blog, Sleepydog's Wood shop and I am hoping that I can learn to do more with video, which I have been wanting to do for a long time. Look for my art work on this blog and feel free to contact me I am always looking for feedback