Amateur VS Professional

     My latest reading in The War of Art by Steven Pressfield including a discussion of what is an amateur and what is a professional.  This is really good food for thought, when do you know what you have taken that turn to become professional?  I am about to submit my pieces of artwork at the Spencer Fair tonight for consideration of prizes and ribbons.  When I worked on framing this past weekend, I pulled out the book with the rules of the contest and the title of the page is written: "Adult Domestic Arts & Crafts for Amateurs".  I had not noticed this before and my thought was "how does the fair define the word amateur?"   Maybe there has to be a certain fame associated with your art form and name.  Maybe you are selling and making money.  Now that I am thinking about it, I scanned the book cover to cover and did not see a definition of what is an amateur.  I guess it is believed that if you're an amateur, you know who you are"!
     Steven Pressfield states this: "The amateur plays for fun. The professional plays for keeps."  "To the amateur, the game is his avocation. To the pro it's his vocation."  "The amateur plays part-time, the professional full-time."  "The amateur is a weekend warrior. The professional is there seven days a week."  "The professional loves it so much he dedicates his life to it. He commits full-time."
     This is all wonderful food for thought.  My dream is to be able to do my art all the time, to wake up in the morning and get going painting, drawing, creating, whatever it is, all day long.  That day will come, and for my faithful readers, you will watch my process and see this come to fruition.  I long for the day when the only things I can submit in the Spencer Fair are my baked goods, my canned jellies or jams or my hand knit sweaters, because I will be known for my art work and I will be a professional artist!

Combating Resistance

     I am truly enjoying the War of Art.  Steven Pressfield writes in short, direct paragraphs and covers a multitude of (sins) information regarding resistance.  I even experienced it this morning when thinking about blogging.  Something in my head reminded me I have to leave the house half an hour early to drive to my work 35 miles away half an hour early, "do I really have time to blog? Missing one day is all right, no one will know."  As soon as I thought that, I got right up and sat down at my trusty laptop and here I am, keeping my promise!
     I have just touched upon the topic combating resistance, but I am already feeling liberated.  I love this first quote: "It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior's life" by Telamon of Arcadia, mercenary of the 5th century BC.  I love this too: "The moment an artist turns pro is as epochal as the birth of his first child.  With one stroke, everything changes.  I can state absolutely that the term of my life can be divided into two parts: before turning pro, and after." (Steven Pressfield)
     This is reminding me of Lucy, a fellow art student I met at The Woodstock School of Art.  We were side by side painting the same models, we struggled over the same colors or the same form, we joked, we laughed.  I was there to witness her first art show of her beautiful oil paintings.  She was at a bank in Saugerties, NY, and when you entered the bank, which was conducting business, there she was with her husband and children around her helping, a table of refreshments set up and her paintings all over the bank, and she was selling them a I was there looking at them!  Her story was wonderful. She had started oil painting 3 years before and always remembered her first teacher telling her to paint every day, and paint she did.  That was her secret.  HongNian Zhang instructed me to draw everyday.
     I must listen to those wiser than me and put on my warrior armor and conquer my own resistance!  At the end of this writing, I want you to realize that by doing this I am combating my resistance to sit here, believing that I did not have the time to blog, and I am going to report that I am leaving for work in 15 minutes, which proves to myself that, yes, indeed, I did have time to blog.  I was only fooling myself!!

"Procrastination is the Theft of Time", Edward Young, British Poet

     As I continue with my reading of the War Of Art by Steven Pressfield, I am gaining insight into what resistance is, and procrastination is one of the indications.  I have heard this phrase my whole life about procrastination being the theft of time.  Since I am thinking about this phrase now, I looked it up on the internet and discovered the author was British poet Edward Young.  There, I also found other wise sayings he had and I want to read more about him.  I have a feeling that he was a creator who resisted resistance and movement forward with this art, and accomplished what he dreamed about.  I also always  heard the phrase not to put off until tomorrow what you can do today.  A long time ago I use to ponder these thoughts, but only briefly.
     When I was young, I would put off anything that seemed unpleasant, even though it was necessary or required, like a big homework project for school.  I would get to the library on Saturday, park myself there as long as possible, photocopy as much information as possible, take it all home (no, there were no computers!) and just spend the rest of the weekend putting it all together.  I had made this my practice and actually prided myself to have mastered my procrastination since I always came through, and, after all, no one knew that I did this, the teacher only knew that the project was completed on time.  As an adult, I have mastered leaving my house and getting most places on time, by the skin of my teeth sometimes, though.  I have timed myself going from this point to that point and when I can leave the house. It does create for stressfulness as I keep checking the time.  I do realized it is best to leave early to prepare for the delays and to have less stress.
     When I think about my art, I do realize that I did not procrastinate on my art or creativity as a child, I would fill my time with all of the things I loved to do, maybe that is why I procrastinated on big school project.  But, as an adult, I seem to procrastinate with my art, which actually disturbs me very much, since I am always looking at my world in terms of colors, palette, composition, design and ideas for future masterpieces.  I would like to report that I did accomplish my goal yesterday of framing my art work for the Spencer Fair, so now I am ready to submit my work, and I will not be scrambling at the last moment to put it all together and arrive breathless as the last bell gongs.  As you all can see, I have kept my promise to blog.  Also, I am going to work now and since I am aware that a hurricane passed through yesterday, I need to leave extra early in order to accommodate any slow traffic from workers out there cleaning up the mess left behind.  I am a work in progress, and, at my age, I am still learning, still needing to be reminded of things, still striving for improvement.  My art is very important to me, I am going to come up with a plan to put this more in the front of what I need to do.  Any one else have a problem with procrastination?

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

     It has been a long time since I blogged!  "What happened?", you ask.  I will tell you that "life happened", I work full time, I have home responsibilities, I need to sleep 8 hours at night, I need to watch my favorite shows on TV, I must see who is being eliminated on various reality series, I need to sit down and pay my bills, the list will go on and on.  I check my blog faithfully, I check my STATS to see how many people read and from where in the world. For this, I will say "thank you" to all of you who return just to check to see if I posted any more art or wrote, and to the new people who just happen to find my blog. I sincerely hope that it is enjoyed by all.  I will think to myself, "I need to write, but I haven't been able to do any art, what will I talk about, my "block"?", then I will think I never finished telling about the artists I met on the cruise in the spring, and then I close down my blog, just to open it up the next day and go through the same scenerio.
     I decided today is the end of not blogging!!!  I give credit to the book The War of Art, Winning the Inner Creative Battle by Steven Pressfield.  I found this book online yesterday, I manged to get it transferred to my e-reader (yes, all by myself, since I am not technologically savi).  I just began reading it today, this morning, as I am hunkered down in my house listening to the pouring rain as Hurricane Irene comes our way north.  The first topic is resistance, which is rooted in fear, and starts in our inner being.  I decided, at this point in my reading, to stop and blog, as a gesture of fighting my resistance, even if all I have to talk about is why I haven't been blogging.  He explains that once you conquer resistance, then you free creativity.
      My hope is to be sure I blog regularly, be sure I have been creating in some fashion, and keep my eye on the prize.  I will share what I am learning and how I plan to apply it to my art.  I will say that today's assignment will be to get my art work framed and ready to submit to the Spencer Fair again. I will not say what I am doing because the judging is anonymous and I do not want to leak out what I am submitting, I will only say that I will, again, be competing with myself, something that makes me chuckle inside!  Thanks for reading.  Anyone in the path of the hurricane, stay inside and stay safe. To everyone else, have a nice day.

Ink Drawing The Bunny

      This morning at 7:15 am, EST, I heard the little chirp, and my instant thought was the King of the Mountain, so I grabbed my camera and ran to the window!  I did not see the chipmunk on the rock, but right in front of the window in a clear spot was the beautiful bunny, just sitting there, posing for me.  I made sure that I did not make too much movement, because bunnies are so perceptive and nervous, it would be gone in a flash if it suspected anything, and I was able to take it's picture, which I have shown below as my reference picture.
     My mission for today, between tasks that needed doing, was to draw this bunny in ink.  It really was a

 fun project since I love animals, and especially the special ones that live in my yard, and especially bunnies, which are very sweet animals.
     Please bear in mind that I am a student of ink drawing and have learned basics only, there is so much more for me to learn and master.  I started with my pencil drawing, trying my best to get the proportions correct.  I learned from Lois Woolley at WSA that a painting can be ruined in the first fifteen minutes, and what she taught was the importance of getting everything positioned correctly and in the right proportion first.  I decided a bunny would be best done in a brown ink, and I had Walnut Ink from my

calligraphy supplies.  What I learned is walnut ink is not water resistant, so when I created a wash, some of the lines faded.  On the other hand, if I was not satisfied with the wash, I could move it around with more water, even after it dried.  I introduced a brown ink pen that I purchased for the ink drawing class and I found it darker, but I did my best to spread the darkness around so it would all blend together and, hopefully, be pleasing to the eye.  I am having so much fun doing these animals, I can understand how Beatrix Potter could love her Peter Rabbit and all of his animal friends.  My next project will be a bat!! My daughter-in-law posted pictures of a bat in her house today, and her story is so funny with all of the screaming between her and the bat, (not sure who was more scared), and she somehow managed to take some fantastic pictures of it!! Will do my best to make it creepy!!

Ink Drawing "The King Of The Mountain"

I am presently taking a class in pen and ink drawing at the Worcester Art Museum, which I am enjoying alot.  It adds further to my knowledge of art techniques to enhance my finished pieces of art work.
     My subject for today is what I call King of the Mountain.  I think chipmunks are so adorable, as long as they stay outside, and I have been observing for the past couple of years something great about them. I would hear around 7 am every morning this rhythmic chirping sound and I would find a cute chipmunk at the tippity top of the highest rock on a stack of rocks behind my house.  I imagined that this chipmunk was announcing to the world that he was King of the Mountain and his day has started.
     This morning I heard that familiar sound, which only started recently with the spring weather, and there he was, perched on the top declaring to the world that he is back!  With my new camera, with which I have great plans to capture great subjects, I was able to get a few poses of the little guy. Since the day is so beautiful here in Massachusetts today, I chose to practice ink drawing, using a quill pen and small brush, at my picnic table on the deck.  I kept zooming in on my camera screen, sketching, then applied the ink. I am very pleased with my results to day and I am enthused to keep it up.  Andy, if you are reading, I'm practicing!! Hong Nian and Lois, if you are reading, I am keeping up drawing, not every day, but frequently, and I am remembering my up, my down, my left and my right. I'm mindful of the yin and yang and also "what we're talking about".

Sketching On The Serenade Of The Seas; Poolside, Last Ones

      Once Bikini Cowgirl and her male companion left the poolside, I needed a new subject, because I was in the zone.   I noticed there was a woman sitting what was to the left of the Bikini Cowgirl, and she did not move.  She was sitting upright on the edge of the pool, her eyes were closed and there was a towel across her lap.  I wasn't sure if she was napping upright, or meditating, but she just stayed in one pose.  There I was sketching her, trying to get her in proportion, then, all of sudden she opened her eyes, looked around her and got up and left!  At that point I had mainly worked on her body and she had no head.  Then I realized, "worry not, there are alot

of other heads around here", so I picked the younger woman who was sitting on her left.  After I completed the sketch, I realized I was not correct with proportions, since the first woman's body was heavy set and the second woman's head was slender, but I realized it was all "ok".
     My last sketch was of a the man below who was just relaxing in a chair, listening to the music, or day dreaming.  For the most part he sat in this position, but every now and then he shifted, then went back into his pose.  I felt very satisfied and gratified when all was finished!  I will blog next about some artisans I met.