day eight of my life as an artist
I took a weekend off. Away from painting, away from writing. We had a family gathering 1200km away from my place, so that was quite a trip.
My brother and my cousins really liked my artwork. It’s so good to have supporting people, especially from your own family circle. They promised to help me publish my stuff. So, I came back from my weekend pumped up with good vibrations and positive energy. In fact I felt so charged with good feelings that I started nothing less than 6 paintings simultaneously. 4 of them are studies of the color blue, the two others are smaller ones dedicated to intuitive painting exercices.
To me this type of support is so much more important than claps and followers. Why? Because these people know me. They know how much I believe in what I do, and they know how difficult is was for me to quit my job to engage myself in this new life.
I read somewhere yesterday that creativity is a lonely job. I don’t think so. A creative person will always seek for feedback from others. If you don’t show your work than it gets real lonely around you. Art is made for sharing. Its best quality is to induce reflexion and thought exchange. Without people finding them, making it possible to visit them and explaining their origins, the Lascaux cave drawings would have been completely un-existing.
No public, no art.
Every artist needs this reaction to his work, may it be positive or negative. And nothing is more unsatisfying than producing art that nobody sees. That’s one of the reasons why I try to touch people through the internet but also by selling my artwork on t-shirts, mugs and bags. Selling a painting is ok but it usually ends up on the wall of someone and is only seen by a few people. Whereas t-shirts or Tote bags are seen by far more people in the street.
Art on Tees, on Mugs and on Bags is a sort of street-art
So why shouldn’t I sell mine on these objects? After all, it’s a way to join the useful to the beautiful, isn’t it? Especially if we are talking about original paintings. Usually t-shirts and mugs are the outcomes of industrial design, artwork made specially for that purpose. Mine aren’t. They are the copies of actual existing handmade acrylics paintings. And so, they will stay almost as unique as the actual painting, since they are not produced in industrial numbers.
Some may say it’s all about the money. Yes, I do need the money, but I don’t paint for the purpose of selling anything on these objects, it’s a simple side effect. My reason to paint is still a non-commercial one. But of course, this facet of the life of an artist is something I will have look after in the future.
Will I need to adapt my creative work to the market and its demands?
Or will I manage to stay independent and free of commercial or marketing thinking? Time will show. For now I’m determined to stay away from those pre-installed art career plans I find on every corner on the web. All these “X things you really should do to become a successful artist” or the “How I managed to earn $100000 a year painting still lives”. Gosh, I hope I will never be dependent on those good advices. Don’t worry, I’m not ready to cut one of my ears off either. There has to be a way in between the starving artist cliché and the commercial apple and doggy portrait painter. And I’m really eager to find it…
