Coworker: Are you still doing your art?
Me: Yup.
Coworker: I was going to rent a studio, but my co-renter didn't work out.
Me: Well, I work at home.
Coworker: But you live in a house. A condo's too small.
Me: Well, I worked in my condo when I lived there.
Coworker: But it gets so messy.
Me: Well, I use a drop cloth.
Coworker: But you seem so busy.
Me: Well, I make the time.
Coworker: But oil paint takes so long to dry.
Me: Well, I use fast-drying synthetic oils.
Coworker: I have a feeling we could do this all day.
Me: Well, actually, I have to go now.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Obstacles
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5 comments:
I love the awkwardness of this conversation...Lorrie introduced me to your blog - I heart her don't you? Anyway, I've been enjoying your posts so much I tagged ya...stop by and check out the details on my blog when you get a chance....
Yea! Stop making excuses dude. Never gonna get ahead by whining.
Too funny.
Hello, Natasha! And thank you! Lorrie roxes the soxes. :-)
That guy also enjoys asking me how "those illustration things you do" are going. I assume he means my drawings.
Yes, can't tell you how many times I've heard "I don't have time" from people - this is why they can't make art outside of Sundays.
You've got to conjure up the time, it doesn't simply appear.
Work fewer hours at your day job, stay up later, wake up earlier, don't have kids for awhile, choose an admiring partner - or none at all - work a flexible job, make yourself irresistible for freelance/flex-time work. All of these are choices artists make.
Space? Small spaces tend to generate small work, yes, but when starting out, paying for those spaces can become a distraction from the making of it.
Make it wherever you can: in the living room or underneath a tree, in a museum or in a classroom. I currently use the dining room table & the concrete slab in front of our flat (for exposing my blueprint photos).
Artists with a dedicated attitude don't say "I can't", they say "How can I do this somehow - or at least something like it?"
Hi Elizabeth! I agree, if what you want is to produce art, there are lots of ways to make it happen.
If you don't earn a living from your art practice, some sacrifices and pain-in-the-ass factors will definitely be involved, but it's not impossible. Freelancing or working part-time has worked for me. When I do work full-time, I don't get much done during the week, I can still work on things like gathering reference material, sketching thumbnails, doing research, on weekdays. And weekend studio time... well, I hold on to it with an iron fist.
As for space, again, again, you just *make* space. When I had very little working room, I did primarily drawings. Now that I have access to more room, I have come back to painting.
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