little things that are a big help in crafting, journaling, and art.
• small altoids tin with a gum eraser and pencil sharpener
• magnets
• clips
• white out tool
• bandana
• paper scraps
• small boxes
• light control
• shirt color
• your phone camera
• eyeglasses case

any my other idea is about doubt as an artist, whether it’s helpful, how to identify it, how to deal with it. I want to use this video to practice using my video editing software.

well shoot. I just wrote a nice concise list over on my youtube community tab and then I went to my browser to get a link and when I came back to youtube the whole post was gone! it’s like langoliers in real life! autorefresh should be an option not a rule!

let’s see if I can recreate my post somewhat

what I have been working on:
• right now gardening > art
• therapy to quiet the inner critic’s sabotage
• moving back into my art studio

what I want to work on next:
• large series of floral abstracts
• scan images from sketchbooks for posters? cards?
• update website (goes hand-in-hand with previous task)
• mastery of color, composition, and value
• find a way to include my sense of humor in my work
• more writing

what I want to post on youtube:
• more thoughts about psyche vs artist
• tips and tricks and reviews
• process videos and flip-throughs

what I want to write about:
• things I have learned about myself
• lists like this because it’s fun to write

I was listening to an interview with someone who had a bad experience in AA; they fell into a culty high control spin-off group. The interviewer asked, “How do you know you have finished a step and can move on to the next step?” And the AA person said, “Oh that’s all clearly outlined in the literature. But in my case, my sponsor wanted to be the one to tell me when I was ready or not.”

This isn’t an essay about AA, just to be clear. But this conversation made me think about how vague being an artist is. And how my waypoints might not be the same as someone else’s. If you’re just freewheeling and being an artist on your own, how do you set goals, and how do you know you have completed the goals, and is moving forward really the goal? Do you really go from A to B to C and so on? Or are you move like a big blob, just oozing and spreading and constantly moving? Does the student in you wish for a syllabus, a midterm, and a final–with grades?

For example, here are some things that might mean you are progressing and succeeding as an artist. You could be all, some, one, none, and to varying degrees:

People buy your art
People ask if they can buy your art but you’re not ready yet
You have sold one thing once for a lot of money
You have fans/followers
You teach it
There was an article about you
You write about art
You do art challenges, and you complete them
You launch challenges, and others participate
You are invited to art related things
Other artists have heard of you
Your art was in a show
Your art was in a solo show
Everything inspires you to do art
You lose track of time when you do art
You know the lingo
You have a dedicated art space & garb
Your art has been stolen online
You have a set of colors that are “you”
People come to you to talk about art
People ask you to critique their art
Art is all you can think about
You can see progress over time
You have arranged your life so you have more time for art
You feel excited and at-home in an art store
You always carry art supplies with you
People can tell you’re an artist by the way you look
You know how to pronounce “quinacridone”

How do you define success as an artist? What are your gold stars?

My favorite time period in art is the turn of the century—not this century but the last one.

Art from 1900-1960 roughly, when fine artists were diverging and designing poster art, and illustrating books. Could we call it fusion? When art came off the salon wall, but before we split off into having to decide whether you were a graphic designer or a fine artist. That period of time in there when Lautrec and Mucha were making posters and anonymous artists were illustrating catalogs and maps, and up to the mid-century when Warhol was doing the soup can silkscreens and Basquiat was writing cryptic notes on his drawings, inspired by a book of medical illustrations that his mother gave him when he was sick in bed.

I actually prefer looking at a poster than a painting. I love text on or with a painting. I love phrenology diagrams, and “maps of” this or that. The idea that THIS PIECE OF ART MIGHT INSPIRE YOU TO —- (buy, sell, change, be better, think, feel something, etc.)

Aside: the subcategory of art that I loathe is when it is patronizing. You are a dumb ignorant viewer and you need to be taught this thing. By me. And by looking at my art, you are being forced to see my point. ughhhhhh. Don’t tell me what to think.

Since 2019 I’ve been working on my skill level and comfort level with paints. Drawing has been my comfort zone, and I’ve been working to bring painting into my comfort zone. Happy to report that I reach for paints now with the same confidence and eagerness I have with drawing materials. I feel like I’m finally ready for my next step.

My next step is to work on ideas and inspiration. Based on my love for merged media of diagrams and posters as described above, I want to work on artistic infographics. I will break down smaller goals over the next few months. Here is a brainstormed list to start from:

phrenology
diagrams with arrows
recipes
gouache or watercolor with drawing on top
coloring books
lettering practice
poster design
disassociation explainer
charts and graphs
breakdowns
tell a story
explain an idea
things I think are funny
portraits of villains and heroes
fan art
fashion
paint music

Today I am inspired by
Maria Herreros, the way she draws over paint,
David Shillinglaw, whose pieces remind me of infographics, and
Brandon Campbell, who draws as if painting.

David S https://davidshillinglaw.co.uk

Maria S https://mariaherreros.com

Brandon C https://www.brandoncampbell.tv

This is a test post. I’d like to post my work here on my blog instead of instagram.

I painted this watercolor using only orange and blue. I’m going to work on my color choices in feb.