I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my patrons; past, present, and future. Without you, and you know who you are, I would not be growing as an individual. I may not even still be calling myself an artist. All of you, whether you know one another or not, are my foundation.
Thank you for liking me enough to ask me to paint for you. Thank you for waiting patiently for me to finish the painting. Thank you for hanging the painting on your wall.
This might strike you as a silly thing to write. But in all sincerity, I think we take for granted an artist’s abilities. It’s like doing a handstand. No one is born doing handstands. You might be born athletic, but you can’t do a handstand. No. You start with crawling, then walking, then forward rolls, then monkey walking, and other conditioning exercises. After which you are finally ready to begin practicing actual handstands. Then you see how long you can hold the handstand. Then you work on how gracefully you can enter and exit the handstand. You might even begin to incorporate fancy moves in the middle of your handstand if you have people encouraging you and paying attention to you. And so it is for me. I have a natural inclination to be creative, but certainly I have not mastered my craft. I need you, to give me new challenges and keep me working.
For a long time I painted landscapes, and was in love with painting chairlifts. Quite frankly, I am still in love with painting chairlifts, but one must continue to expand their focus of attention and vary their theme. Recent times have found me painting an assortment of subjects and pushing my boundaries. In particular I would say that I have previously been shy about painting people. It does not come naturally to me. And yet I have recently taken on a few requests to do so. I delight in the new pressures and anxieties of these projects. The painting featured below is not new. I completed it back in the end of March. I was unable to write about it because my website was under consruction. Nevertheless I’m sure many of you saw it on the FB. I have to admit I was thrilled with how well this piece turned out. The painting is of my cousin Kelley and her husband Ryan on their wedding day. I worked from a photo to complete this as a second anniversary present from the bride to the groom. This commision, as well as a few others are beginnng to give me new confidence in my ability to paint faces.
Someday I’m sure I’m going to be excellent at painting people…and dogs…and sharks…and automobiles…and whatever else crosses my path in the form of a special request. And I just want to say thank you, again, to all of you people that are attracted to following me and supporting me on my journey to greatness.
In the event that you are reading this, and you are a future patron, I want to let you know that if I paint something for you, and you hate it, and think it sucks, and you don’t want to hang it on your wall, you don’t even want to waste a match on burning it; it’s ok, my feelings aren’t hurt, I’ll try again, or not, you don’t have to pay for it, I won’t let it ruin our relationship, I won’t get mad at you, I’m just happy to have the practice.
And do I currently have a commission in the works? Thanks to the powers that be…Of course I do. Please stay tuned for this next accomplishment.
Nina and Lila are officially in school two mornings each week and I have time to paint!!
