Saturday, September 12, 2015

Late Summer Fields

 Late Summer Fields - SOLD
6" x 6"  oil on panel

Late summer always brings rich colour that heralds change.  The colour zigzags across the landscape, pulling the eye with it and leading into the next, reminding me of those lines in old pinball games leading down and up to guide the ball.

This is a small painting done with leftover paint on my palette after a larger painting was complete.

"In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil.
And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb color effects as from August to November."
-  Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden, 1905

Monday, September 07, 2015

Labour Day for artists

Home Port

 24" x 30" oil

For artists that work full time in the profession, Labour Day (or many other holidays, statutory or otherwise) tend not to exist.  Oh they exist in the day to day world with store closures and public building shutdowns and well deserved some of these holidays are for those in a 9 -5 job.  Artists, like many other workers outside the 9 - 5 realm, tend to work through holidays, unless prearranged plans prevail.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking holidays, I'm all for having a break from work, its needed to refresh and unwind.  But if you're self employed, holidays are a bit iffy.  I always seem to find myself in the studio at some point in the day, no matter what day it is.  Yes, even Christmas.  Especially Christmas! Its a refuge from the madness. :)

Its part habit, part necessity.  Yes, an artist can take a day off, but usually feels guilty if they do and has that niggling feeling all day about the current project and what needs to be done with it.  Inevitably, its an "I'll just go to the studio for 10 minutes." Which turns into 2 hours or more.  There should be no guilt taken about when or if you take a day off.  It doesn't have to be on the day designated for the rest of the world.  In fact, taking a day mid week is wonderful, as everything's much quieter then.

But even then, I'll bet most artists will still find their way into their studio at some point unless they are physically distant from the location.

Whatever your job, whenever you take your break, enjoy it, indulge and if you work, make sure you enjoy what you do.