Surviving as an artist
Every once in a while, I have to restrain myself from bundling it all up.
I mean, I look at some really terrific art and I think, "Why do I continue to do this? There are enough good artists in the
world." Or I stumble over the accumulated paintings in my house that haven't got an outlet. Or I fail to get accepted in a
show. At those times, I am close to my alternate project, which is to announce to all and sundry "come and get it. Just give
these paintings a good home and take them away with you."
Yesterday, however, I reread a clip I'd saved from an old issue of The Artist's
Magazine from 1993, as follows:
"It was ... a surprise to read in Thomas Eakins:
His Life and Art that during his lifetime he was only moderately successful. In fact, some of his paintings were rejected
by those who commissioned them. ... Eakins's father had accumulated some money and could afford to subsidize the artist for
much of his life. In a way, Eakins's situation reminded me of Cezanne's. Both artists were supported by their fathers and
both did experimental work not easily understood by their contemporaries. Cezanne, however, became a recluse and didn't openly
confront the art establishment. Whereas Eakins believed his work was as good or superior to that of well-known artists of
his day, and he constantly tried to prove it." - Book Review of Thomas Eakins: His Life and Art, Homer. Review written by
Walter Garver for The Artist's Magazine, June 93
Certainly, if Eakins and Cezanne (and Van Gogh and many others) could hold
out and continue to explore their dream, I can. And I approach my art with renewed hope.
The Active Life
It's been some time since I posted to this blog. The blog has gotten very sour about this lack of affection. I'm sorry, blog.
I "retired" in June of 2004 and since then have been quite busy doing all the things that I was unable to do while working.
I've gotten some of the major backlogs handled (new carpet installed, a reorganization of my study/computer space, an extensive
– and continuing – diet that has so far resulted in a loss of 23 pounds) and have enrolled in a portrait class at Loudoun Academy of the Arts (in Leesburg, VA) as well as started teaching the fall workshop at the Reston Community Center.
 In addition, I've been doing some "Plein Air" painting with another local artist, producing several paintings
(of which I only like one so far. After a long dry spell at the Art League of Alexandria, I've finally had one of my portrait studies accepted in the October show.
I've been doing some things that have
increased my feeling of being quite busy: in addition to continuing to volunteer as an extension course supervisor for Criminon, I've been volunteering some time at the Scientology Volunteer Ministers' tent set up every Sunday in the DC Area. The Volunteer
Ministers is a volunteer organization of Scientologists with skills and willingness to help in volunteer activities. The link to the website provide in prior sentence provides more
information.
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