Some odds and ends

Above is a picture of my house with its new snow and somewhat makeshift Christmas lights.My house is old and needs lots of repairs, but it is comfy and charming. For those of you who are not in New England, this house is a very typical New England home. I have to write a very hurried post this evening as I have to get to a rock and roll concert. I will throw a few items out tonight and I will return as usual tomorrow with more.

I had a commenter remark that they liked the Ask Stape that I did for the Fine Arts on View site here , I am now doing a weekly column for them. They have about a zillion readers. You can sign up over there and follow their online magazine. But I have an agreement with them that I won't use the same posts on both the blog and their site, so you will have to go there to read it.

I an getting LOTS of e-mail these days ,it may soon be more than I can answer, thats OK I am adelighted for all the questions and material. If I should be slow to answer or, I forget to answer, please understand , the blog is drawing more readers who respond. I had over 500 viewers the other day. I am of course delighted with that. I do enjoy the encouragement and feedback and I am grateful for it.

THe Piranesi etchings of the prisons proved harder to get than I thought they would, I have them in a PDF file from an old text that is copyright free but It is going to take a little doing to peel them loose and present them.So I will return to that theme tomorrow or the next day when that file submits to my ministrations.

The Snowcamp workshops are filling fast. I have one spot left in the first one and about five spots left in the second. I am looking forward to this and I have got a lot of fun people who have signed up.The information is over there in my sidebar.

I always ask myself have I said anything in this post that is useful to my readers? and I guess I have to answer that I have not. So let me see if I can toss something out ............OK, try this;

The greatest enemy of advancement as an artist is, in my opinion being solitary. I think that you need to learn from other artists, both living and dead. Other people have spent generations learning how to do this, and they have built on what was done before them. If you wanted to design a car you would start with existing technology, like rubber tires and internal combustion engines, and then do your own thing. You might never get it together if you had to lock yourself away and learn first how to vulcanize rubber for the tires, or do experiments to develop your own style of engine with out familiarizeing yourself with what had already been produced. I sometimes hear from YOUNG students that they want to be wholly original and are afraid to look at anybody else's art and want to do entirely their own thing. Most of those students work looks alike. Everybody makes the same errors pretty much, until some master stands by their side and hips them to edges or design niceties or whatever. Learn the craft and then use it to make what YOU want to make.

So I advise you to get on the web, go to the library, buy books of paintings, sign up for classes, follow better painters around, join sketch groups, join art associations and avail yourself of all the input you can get. Pay particular attention to artists who are successful or whose work you admire. Most artists will happily lend a little help to someone who is earnestly trying to learn. I know, I like to help people to learn about painting.

What I don't think works though, is holing up in the studio and trying to go it all alone. There are to many dead ends and blind alleys to get lost in, and there are so many helpful ideas that another artist can suggest in a simple phrase.
See you tomorrow.