New Artist Fair - 1 month to go!

Cramming blog in this morning, which comes with a soundtrack of rain so need to wait a bit for the light to improve before I can paint.

The New Artist Fair dates loom. I have loads of sculptures ready, so the unfinished one I’ve been looking at for some time might just stay unfinished for now.

The real preparation is a batch of A3 paintings, which will be matted and framed and sold as originals as I doubt I’ll have time to sort out scanning and printing stuff. I’m not rushing, but the deadline is in sight so now I’m more focused. The long lead-in has been valuable, allowing me to play with ideas but from here on it’s all about completing work and making sure logistics are sorted ahead of schedule.

So – business cards (still not done but have given up on Instagram working so no user name needed) and ordering frames.

I’ve now sort of (probably) almost certainly, decided on the finished ‘look’ of the paintings. I’ve had a major case of overthinking, stemming from a) reading many art books which are almost exclusively on landscape, which means I’ve become bogged down on composition and colour ideas which don’t necessarily apply to figure work and b) trying to learn from any sort of dance/performance based art I come across; problem being they’re either too simple or done in oils or acrylics on canvas, so have more detail and background laid in than what I’m aiming for.

I now have about five finished (barring a bit of tweaking) pieces. Doing a couple of versions of each, with a different approach to the same pose to see how they’re viewed (I do hope people will come and look at them!), but in the end, you like what you like so I really need to just do what I like. But testing out ideas is fun, and that’s the point of art for me.

I had a further thought on the whole ‘why’ of my art the other day, and it comes down to trusting that you know what’s important to you and to follow that path.

When I was a child, I wanted to be either a dancer or an artist. I was firmly put right on the ‘foolishness’ of both and spent the next few decades trying to find a poor replacement and wondering why nothing inspired any deep interest. Now I paint and sculpt, and my subject is dance. I knew all along, but I buried it because I allowed others to influence my thinking.

There’s that thing ‘do what you love and the money will come’. Well, maybe it will. But if it doesn’t, do what you love and at least you’ll be happy.

Of course there are lots of things we’re capable of doing with our lives. I just happen to think that the purpose of being human is not to find your ideal job role. If what you spend most of your time on isn’t feeding your soul, stimulating your mind or at least kindling a sense of excitement or curiosity in possibilities, then there’s room for improvement.

And if the things that generate any of those responses in you are not on the road marked ‘conventional’, then that's a good reason to find a way to pursue them; the world doesn't need more of the same.

I’ve said this before – the world is changing fast. That’s a bit scary if you read the shock-horror-combative skewed news stories (and some of the ‘news’ is clearly invented crisis), but our ability to cope with the future will come from being willing to try new things, to think and work in new ways and watch out for like-minded people.

We have more chance of coming across opportunities if we remain open to what could be out there but firmly tuned into what we love.