Discovering
Your Creative Spirit
by Shifra Stein
Many people believe it is only artists,
musicians, writers, and other "creative" sorts who are the only
ones that have the genius of creativity. However, I believe that creativity
is within every human soul, and can be planted like any seed, and nurtured
until it blooms.
First you have to be open to possibilities.
In my workshops and seminars on creativity, I always run across several
people who, before they even begin, make statements like "I can’t write,"
or, "I can’t paint," or "I’m just awful at drawing anything."
Creativity cannot flourish in the midst of negativity. So, you need to
watch your "self-talk."
I believe it is much more productive
for some people to unlearn what they’ve learned about their own creativity.
Maybe they were told in childhood that they couldn’t paint, or that they
were clumsy, or just plain dumb. Well-meaning people can be the worst offenders.
Peers, teachers, relatives and parents can stunt a child’s creative growth
with cruel words.
In one of my classes for younger
students, I had a mother actually tell her 12-year-old son in front of
me, "I hope you can do something with him. He’s just awful at writing.
So maybe you can help."
How very special that must have felt
to her son. During the first part of the creativity class he just sat there
and did not participate. After listing to the other students read from
their work, he finally picked up his pencil and wrote the most beautiful
paragraph about his uncle who had died in Vietnam. Everyone was very impressed
by this young man’s poetic words, except his mother. After he proudly showed
her his work, she stated flatly: "Well, I know HE didn’t write this;
he just doesn’t have the talent for it. You must have helped him!"
That kind of attitude from a parent
can be devastating. It can even be worse coming from a teacher you respect.
One of my golden age students whom I will call "Mary", took a painting
class from me, but would not pick up her brush. When I asked her why, she
told me that she hadn’t painted since high school, and had been afraid
to, ever since her art teacher told her that her work was terrible. "Take
it and put it away somewhere dark, so nobody ever has to look at it,"
he said.
Unthinking, unkind words can be difficult
to overcome, but it can be done. The way to begin is to "accent the
positive," and start "eliminating the negative." When you hear
those old negative patterns repeating in your brain, delete them like you
would an old software program that is no longer viable.
Following a creative life is like
creating a home. You have to have all the right building blocks in place
in order for the structure to stand. Likewise there are four building blocks
necessary for successful, creative living. First, you need to have passion
for what you’re doing. Second, your work must challenge you to grow. Third,
it has to contribute, in some way, to the lives of others, as well as your
own. Fourth, it must feel right to you.
Even if you don’t know how to do
something, if you have an affinity for it, you can turn an idea into a
reality. Feeling an emotional connection is the most important thing, followed
by persistence. You must avoid being swayed by negative comments or thoughts.
When frustration erupts, just remember, innovation is mostly sticking to
something until you get it right. How else do you explain Edison’s inventions?
Don’t worry about age and circumstance,
either. In my darkest night of the soul, when I was at rock bottom in my
middle-aged life, it came to me that I could either be immobilized by fright,
or do something about it. But it wasn’t until I actually picked up a brush,
dipped it in paint and water, and slapped it around some paper, that I
started to "believe" in possibilities.
At first I was amateurish. But so
is a young colt that tries to run before he can walk. I was also anxious.
I learned that the key to overcoming fear is to take action in the form
of doing something--even if you make mistakes. Even when you are feeling
overwhelmed by anxiety, and frightened by risk, there is still at your
central core, that little spark of creativity. Dampened temporarily by
circumstance, it lies waiting to be ignited.
Creativity, then, isn’t something
that just dissolves because of fate or cruel words or circumstance. It
never really goes away. It’s always there, embedded in the DNA of every
human being. It has only to be awakened to be used. Finding the courage
to face your fear and go on in spite of it is what moves you one step further
on your journey of creative growth.
One thing that really helps along
the way is to not take it all so seriously. Learn how to have fun along
the way. In my creativity "playshops", I encourage my students to
jump right in and splash about with paint and paper. I tell them to forget
about drawing, and not to worry about painting inside the lines. This comes
as a shock until they understand that drawing and painting are two different
processes. One has to do with letting go; the other has to do with control.
This idea of doing something experimental
and experiential is often very uncomfortable at first. This is because
we are trained to control, rather than being trained in the letting go
of control. To let it go and let it flow takes some courage, but it is
the beginning of true discipline. Discipline is not at all the same as
control. Control is based out of fear. Discipline only comes with understanding.
True creativity is not product-based.
It is process work where ideas are allowed to flow unimpeded by worry,
or negative thinking. It’s like writing a story, or doing a watercolor
painting. You start out in a general direction, and let the work flow and
you don’t stop to edit in the middle of the creative process. You leave
that for later, when you’ve finished your piece. Then you can come back
in and correct typos, or carve out a painting from a watercolor wash. In
other words, don’t worry about making mistakes while you’re in the creative
process. And when you go back in to "fix" something, just be careful
that you don’t wipe out the very essence of the creative part of you.
 |
SHIFRA
STEIN has written more than 30 books and hundreds of articles for magazines
and newspapers. She offers workshops and seminars in the visual arts as
well as expressive writing and creativity training. A member of the Missouri
Watercolor Society, Greater Kansas City Art Association, and Kansas City
Artists Coalition and juror for the renowned Kansas City Plaza Art Fair,
she is available for workshops, speaking engagements and artist representation.
For more information see her websites at www.shifrastein.com
and www.worlddome.com/sstein.html
or
call (816) 753-3208 |
This article Copyright ©2004 -
Shifra Stein. Reproduced with permission.
-
-
What's
Holding You Back?
How To Get Started As An Artist
by Dorothy Gauvin
Among the saddest words I ever hear
are these: "I always wanted to be an artist, but..." Then come all
the reasons - or excuses.
"I could never find
the time."
Well, of course not! Time isn't something
that gets lost, swept under the bed or shoved in a closet and forgotten,
waiting for you to find it. Time is something you have to make. Does that
sound crazy? You may think so, if you figure there are only so many hours
in the day and they're all taken up. Yet, how much time do we waste, just
looking for things? A few simple changes can net extra hours - for Art.
[
These tips come from someone who was the world's champ at being disorganized.
Until she decided to become a professional artist. While working a full-time
job and mothering a six-year-old boy.]
Always put your keys, spectacles
and such in one spot. Keep an attractive bowl near the front door and empty
your pockets into it as soon as you get home. Later, you'll transfer the
items to where they belong. It's a good idea to choose a smallish bowl
without any lid, so you won't be tempted to let things pile up.
Go through your wardrobe, linen closet
and kitchen cupboards. Pull out all those clothes you haven't worn for
years, the fancy linens you got as wedding gifts and never use, the gadgets
that haven't seen daylight since you bought them. Be ruthless! Clean anything
that needs it, pack it up and send it to your favorite charity. Now, you
have space to keep everything in plain sight, easily found and ready when
needed.
"I haven't got anywhere
to paint."
Sure, it's frustrating to have to
clear away your painting stuff when the family wants to eat at the table.
Maybe you got caught up in your art and didn't leave time to clean your
brushes. Next day, they're unusable. In any case, children, spouse or visitors
kept interrupting as you tried to work. It's discouraging. Maybe enough
to make you give up. Don't.
Instead, look around and you will
find a place to work in peace. It must be out of the way of routine family
activities. (My own first studio was a section of the side verandah.) Here,
you can keep paints and tools handy. Your work can sit undisturbed until
the next session. From the day you set it up, call this place your Studio
and make it clear to all your friends and family that it is off-limits
while you're at work.
"I could never fit
it in with my day job."
Many of the greatest painters, writers,
composers work only four hours a day. They say that's the limit for sustained,
creative concentration. But they put in those four hours every day. That
is the key. Can you make four hours a day to develop your art? Imagine
what you could achieve with four hours saved by simply not watching television
in the evening! The news can be absorbed better, at your own pace, from
a newspaper during your lunch break. There's one hour. The movie can be
taped to watch at the weekend. There's another two hours. All those "current
affairs" and talk shows are little more than gossip, so you could gain
at least an hour more. You may not be willing to forego your evenings in
front of the tube and that's fair enough. But puhleez, don't talk to me
about being committed.
"My family doesn't
take it seriously."
Can you blame them? You've been a
wage slave/ brain surgeon/ housewife/ rock star for most of your life.
People are used to seeing you that way. I have to tell you: No words will
convince them of your new commitment. Only actions will do it. When your
loved ones see your careful preparations, when they watch your daily dedication
to your new ambition, despite that you may still be putting in the same
hours at your "day job," they'll come around. I know this to be
true. I've lived it.
"I've never had any
proper art training."
Neither had I, at the time I committed
to a life as an artist. Following are the essential three facts you need
to know:
No amount of training can make you an
artist. That comes from within your Self. But you must acquire the skills
that will allow you to make art that connects with its audience.
Painting is a craft and you must do
your apprenticeship. (Unless, that is, your ambition is to make what I
call "linoleum designs." In that case, you need no more training or knowledge
than a monkey dripping colours from a can.)
The one thing you don't need is a university
or art college course that is heavy on Art History but light on practical
information. It may fit you to pass exams. It won't teach you to make art.
As in many fields of life, books can
be your teachers. Check the local library and newsagent for books and magazines
for artists. Search the Net for artist web sites that offer tips and advice.
If you do have access to a good Teacher
- treasure him/her forever! But leave when you know you've absorbed all
you can. That's when your real work begins. Respect for your teachers will
cause you to paint just the way they do. It's inevitable. Your job now
is to discover how you want to paint. So you have to get Teacher out of
your head.
Another thing: If it were possible
for you to read every book written about, say, Rembrandt, it wouldn't help
you paint like Rembrandt. Anyway, the world doesn't need another Rembrandt.
What we want is the new and unique eye you have as an artist. Just think
how many artists have painted the "Madonna and Child" down the centuries.
Yet, each saw the subject differently.
One of the best ways to train your
eye is to haunt galleries. Not only the museums and public galleries, but
also the private ones that show the work of living artists, acclaimed or
as yet unknown. Seeing lots of art is the best way to discover how and
what you, personally, do not want to paint. It helps define your own goals.
Private gallery staff can quickly spot the aspiring artist. (One big give-away
is to peer closely, studying the brushwork.) Some will ignore or disdain
you, knowing that the student is seldom a buyer. Others will treat your
queries with kindly patience. Be grateful.
Keep your ears open; you can learn
from these folk. A word of caution: Don't talk yourself up to gallery folk.
After all, you and your art are still "unknown quantities." And
words don't work. Any gallery director has met plenty of fellows who talked
a great game but couldn't deliver the goods. Later - much later - when
you're ready to show in a gallery, you'll arrive with your portfolio. It
speaks for you. Art is one area where "bulldust" can't disguise
incompetence. (There is one field where "bulldust" prevails. But
we're talking about the real world, not that of the modern Art Establishment.)
To sum up:
Get organized - eliminate the time-wasters.
Establish a place to work - your Studio. Set a regular time for painting
- and stick to it. Learn all you can - from whatever sources. Train your
eye - see a lot of art. Discover your own unique take on art. A last word:
As long as you live, you'll remain a Student. A real Master will tell you
that s/he has only enough knowledge to realize how little s/he knows, how
much is still to be learned. It's humbling but it's exciting too. Please
don't let it discourage you from starting, and continuing, this Journey.
The best morale-booster I know is
to realize that deleting prefix and suffix from the word Discouragementleaves
you with Courage. And we all have that, waiting deep inside for
when we need it.
Dorothy
Gauvin - Dorothy Gauvin is an internationally acclaimed artist who
specializes in an epic theme of the Australian pioneers. Her tips and advice
for artists, beginners and collectors are freely available on her website:
www.giftsdownunder.com
This article Copyright ©2003
- Dorothy Gauvin. Reproduced with permission.
Why
is the Mona Lisa the world's best-known painting?
by Dorothy Gauvin
The Facts About Prints
You may have heard someone say: "I
wouldn't have a reproduction in my home. If I can't afford the original,
I'd rather have nothing!" But being an art snob makes no sense. Better
to enrich your walls - and your life - with reproductions of great art
than nondescript originals that were only chosen because the price was
right.
In my childhood home there were two
original paintings. Bequeathed by a distant relative, they showed two slightly
different views of an anonymous river. The colours had faded, the papers
had darkened over time. It hardly mattered. They were so boring they might
have put me off painting for life.
Fortunately, my parents also had
chosen to hang two great works of art that showed me what a painting could
be. They live in my memory : A landscape with a lone tree made noble by
one shaft of golden light, and a vase of flowers that make you think of
all that is Beauty. The still life was by the 17th century Dutch master
Jan van Huysum. Who made the landscape is a mystery because the artist's
signature had been cut off by the framer. You see, these artworks were
printed reproductions.
It's true that no technology can
reproduce in full the brushstrokes, the richness of colour in an oil painting
or subtle changes that occur with a change of the light that falls on an
original. But a good quality reproduction can come very, very close.
Why do some artlovers collect
only Prints?
This is an ideal option for those
with a limited decorating budget but with a desire to surround themselves
with beauty and quality rather than settle for the mediocre. So let's talk
now about What Is A Print? What's the difference between a Print and a
reproduction; a Limited Edition and an Open or Poster Print? Today's art
market is filled with so many choices, it's easy to see why so much confusion
has arisen.
Printmaking is an ancient way of
producing multiple images. On cave walls in Australia, the oldest artworks
known - dated at 40,000 years - are the hand stencils of long-gone Aboriginal
artists. Stencilling is used in sophisticated forms today, which include
silk screen printing. Kids are introduced in kindergarten to intaglio or
relief printing with halved potatoes or cardboard. It's a primitive form
of the processes we call woodcuts or lino cuts. Many masters - Rembrandt
for one - extended their body of work with etchings, made by a complex
process requiring help from a skilled metal worker.
A highly regarded form of printmaking
is the lithograph. Using a greasy ink or crayon, the artist draws an image
on a smooth stone. Put simply, this process depends on the fact that grease
and water don't mix. As the treated stone is dampened with a sponge and
ink is rolled across it, the ink is deposited only on the greasy drawing,
not the wet stone. The preparation and the printing is a more complicated
affair than I've described here, and calls for the help of highly skilled
technicians, under the close supervision of the artist. Allowing for the
use of a greater number of colours, it produces a more "painterly" effect
than other printing techniques and is favoured by certain collectors.
Also, there are rubbings, the drypoint,
mezzotint, aquatint and many other sub-categories of prints. The "purest"
form of all is called the monoprint (or monotype) because it gives a single,
unique print. It is produced by painting onto metal or glass, then transferring
the still wet image to paper. In this way, the artist can achieve a luminous
quality that is quite unlike the result of painting directly on paper.
All of these Prints come in necessarily
small quantities, at high prices. None looks even remotely like an oil
painting. So, the next question has to be: What is a reproduction?
What's the quickest way to cut
through the fog?
Anything that looks exactly like
the original painting is a reproduction. (We are not talking here of copies
made by art students, learning techniques of the Masters, nor of forgeries
made for illegal gain.)
Recently, a popular business has
been developed in which images of art by famous painters are printed onto
paper or canvas and then over-painted by a technician. Depending upon the
skill of the technician, this can result in a convincing facsimile of an
"Old Masters" original, called a reproduction. The practice is not illegal,
since the makers do clearly state the nature of their product. But I leave
it to you to decide whether you consider it ethical. For this reason, most
people today call anything else a print.
Art prints are made by photomechanical
- or recently, by digital - processes. Usually, they are made on paper
but sometimes produced on fabrics such as canvas or silk. Their editions,
ie the total number produced, are relatively large, and their prices are
comparatively small. They come in these types:
Open Editions (also called Poster
Prints), Giclées and Limited Editions.
Open Editions are so named
for the fact they can be produced in any quantity and are priced cheaply.
Giclées (pronounced as zhee-clays) are produced as required by order
and are often made on canvas to resemble oil paintings. They can be pretty
pricey, as their production costs are somewhat higher.
Limited Editions are available
in a number decided by the artist or publisher, after which their printing
plates should be destroyed. Proof of this may be documented by some artists,
such as myself, but in many countries, including Australia, it is not yet
a requirement. Regulation is still erratic but some rules are constant.
-
The artist signs each print (usually
in the lower right corner)
-
The artist numbers each print, above
the number of the total edition
-
The title of an original artwork may
be included (usually in the centre)
How do you know you've bought a genuinely
Limited Edition?
Until a stringent form of regulation
is agreed by all nations, you'll have to rely on the honesty of the artist
and/or the publisher. (This is one reason why the highly principled artist
is often the publisher as well, nowadays.) It's a fair bet, though. No
artist lightly risks his/her reputation.
Is print-collecting a good investment?
Any collectible you buy becomes an
investment only when you re-sell it. If you sell at a profit, it was a
wise investment.
Everyone knows cars and jewellery
depreciate in value the moment you leave the showroom with your purchase.
Art will generally increase in value by about 10 percent a year or higher
if the artist's profile has been raised by publication in books, or with
the release of fine art prints.
Quality of manufacture is vital for
the long-term survival of art prints. The acid in cheaper wood-pulp papers
will cause unsightly orange spots called "foxing" or burn the image. Works
on paper have a much longer rate of survival when they are produced on
archival (ie acid-free) papers. The specialist art printers who make my
Limited Editions won a national award - the Silver Medal - for Excellence
in Print for reproducing my oil painting Snowy Mountains Man.
Because the fine art print is deemed
a multiple original artwork, many people build their whole collection on
Limited Editions. When an edition is sold out, collectors looking for that
missing piece in a series can raise the price on what is called the "secondary
Market" to many times the original price. It's just the same game as played
by collectors of stamps or any other collectible. So, as always, it's best
to get in early.
Although in reality the last print
in a run is as perfect as the first, and has cost the same to make, low
numbers attract a premium. So does a set of same-numbered prints in a series.
If you ever decide to re-sell, you'll make a nice extra profit.
How should I take care of my Print?
Here are some precautions you can
take to protect your print and keep it looking good for a lifetime. Never
hang your print where it will be exposed to strong, constant, sunlight.
Or to the intense light from halogen spots such as are often used in showrooms
or offices. Some printers' colours are "fugitive" or unstable under these
conditions. A print properly framed under glass will last a lifetime in
the normal environment of your home.
Insist that your framer use a mat
of pure rag board, deep enough to keep the print separated from the glass.
It will protect the print if temperature changes cause condensation to
build up, encouraging the development of fungi on the underside of the
glass. A very good preventive measure in damp climates is to attach small
corks, or those plastic "bumpers" used on kitchen cupboard doors, to each
corner of the back. This keeps the frame away from the wall and it allows
for a proper circulation of air.
I hope I've whetted your interest
in print-collecting. You can create your own world of art, right in your
home. Prints look best when you hang them in groups, selected by artist,
subject, style or basic colour. A mix of sizes will look great if you stick
to a plan; a series of images by the one artist makes this easy and effective.
A last word. Ask yourself this:
Why is the Mona Lisa the best-known
painting in the world?
Then enjoy the print you've chosen,
knowing that you have helped to improve the standing of the artist who
created it.
Dorothy Gauvin - Dorothy
Gauvin is an internationally acclaimed artist who specialises in an epic
theme of the Australian pioneers. Her tips and advice for artists, beginners
and collectors are freely available on her website: www.giftsdownunder.com
or you can email her below:
This article Copyright ©2003
- Dorothy Gauvin. Reproduced with permission.
