Thank you for that link. I finally feel like I can give myself permission to be useless (in spite of the flaws in the translation (deliberate or unconscious).
Yes, I finally gave myself time to get around to reading that, but still, thanks!
As an artist/painter I have been viewed as rather useless (to my birth family, society; to all of those who want to make me and other artists into corporate slaves or commodities --the consumers and the consumed) all my life, I have gone my own way, drawing and painting what I need to draw and paint, and to put it mildly, “To hell with them!”. And this is where I believe the phrase “suffering for your art” comes from. A phrase that some use derisively, as if the suffering is feigned by the artist.
If you don’t create art for the consumption of others or for money, you are considered useless. Add to that the fact that it takes as many decades to evolve the skills required to reach one’s full creative potential, unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, and into the ruling classes (corporate or otherwise), you will suffer. And that suffering is not a badge of honour. It just is.
I stopped actively selling my work and taking commissions because it drove me crazy. As creatives, It is difficult to have the time to develop our skills for our own work (which some call self-expression, but I tend to think of as a kind of life affirming communion). People have no problem seeing musicians, dancers, etc as needing that time to become virtuoso. But all artist have to do is splash a bit of paint around like house painters. Even having “talent” doesn’t mean you don’t have to practise to get better at it.
I still sell to friends, and to anyone who is moved by the work, because I paint for myself, and once the piece is done, it is itself, and can be a “product” available for sale. Sometimes it feels like sending your children out into the world; wonderful, exciting, and yet not without trepidation.
I have works of mine in homes around the world, from a few decades ago. Germany, England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc. Many were purchased through a network of friendships as well as from shows. But not one of those were created for the purpose of selling them.
And now my house is bursting at the seams with finished (and unfinished) works, I even had so many piled up on a wooden art print cradle that it collapsed under their weight.
So lately, I have been working on finding better ways to store the work and to possibly make them available for sale to help keep me out of the “retirement” or old-age home.
To move from philosophy to practicality, I have found, I believe, the brand of paint I need that is most like the Stevenson’s brand that I used for many years.
Stevenson’s was a successful Canadian artists paint company, a family business that produced oil paints using only linseed oil and pigments, no fillers or additives.Their paints had an exquisite luscious and buttery feel and very strong pigmentation. When the founders of the company got too old to continue and no one of their family wanted the job, they sadly for all of us, closed the business. I still have some tubes of their paints from the 1960’s that are as luscious as the day I bought them. The is a little separation of the oil from the pigment (no added stabilizers), mostly in the tube of viridian, but not much, and this can be mixed back in on the palette.
Since I have been struggling with the stickiness of the Gamblin oil paints (some painters love it!), I have continued my search for a simple linseed oil+pigment replacement. this has led me finally to Natural Pigments’ offerings of their Rublev line. I had included them in my original search, but that the time they were not producing the colours I needed for my personal palette. On rediscovering them I learned that they had expanded their offerings, so I braced myself and ordered three tubes of their paint to try out. They come in larger tubes the smallest being 50 ml rather than the usual 35 or 39 ml tubes of other manufacturers of similar quality paints. (The quality of paint is determined by how finely the pigment is ground, the ratio of the pigments, the carrier or medium (oil), and the various additives like stabilizers, dryers, and, as in student grades, chalk and other fillers.) I hope that made sense. The Rublev line is one of only oil and pigment, ,no additives, like Stevenson’s was.
The Rublev paint is fabulous! A joy to paint with. And it is playing well with the Gamblin oils. I am so grateful.
I find that the less I have to struggle with the tools and media, the more exciting it is to get into the studio and just paint. And that goes for brushes, substrates, even easel and palette.
I do mot like taking the time to clean brushes, but it is a necessary evil. I am finding ways to reduce that necessity, including leaving my brushes sitting in oil (once they have been thoroughly wiped off on a paper towel). I have figured out a way to take the pressure off the brush tip that occurs when you leave them tip-down upright in a jar of oil: Not sure how clear this photo is. It is of a pair of food-grade plastic sushi trays, one inside the other for stability, with something taped under one end to tilt it. I poured just enough oil in the bottom end to cover the brush hairs/bristles (I use artist grade safflower oil as it is slower to cure). This keeps the pressure on the brush end from making it go wonky and slaying --especially hard on round brushes. The only thing I would prefer more would to be to have a couple of these made from ceramic or glass.
I think I will made some indentations at the top end to lay the brush handles in more securely when I move the item around the studio. Here is the photo of that little invention.
Now when I finish painting for the day and am too exhausted to clean up, I can wipe off the brushes and lay them safely in the tray to be picked up the next morning, wiped off, and be ready to resume painting immediately.
Well, that’s my essay for this thread today. lol
Happy creating!
I will look her up, thanks!
But this must be an upper crust thing. Us peons in the middle class, at least in the vast midwest of America, seem to be free to do whatever we want, short of interpretive dance. I was always encouraged by me mum to pursue art. She wanted me to do some landscapes and sunsets, portraits maybe if I was up to it, but I never did, sadly.
(check him out on YouTube if you like) I have learned a lot from watching his videos.
I have…in my mind… 
) prints of my paintings rather than as a quick storehouse of anything I couldn’t find a better place for.
