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BillSo, are we trying to find those anorexic women who appear to have just stepped out of an Erte? The ones who tell everyone else who is art this month? We need sponsors!
(I hope you know, I’m just kidding. I’ve really been encouraged by the give and take here. I’m just feeling very silly this evening.)
I honestly don’t know. I’d guess that the medium is less important for wall art than sculpture, but between working in an emerging medium and having subject matter that isn’t easily targeted to a specific audience, promoting Bill H’s work in a traditional fine art setting would be an uphill battle. Perhaps not - I am now, and always have been, quite cozy in my very specific niche, and therefore am speculating rather than speaking from experience.
Impressive work, Helena. Very good attention to detail. The texture on the jean shirt is particularly impressive.
Helena are you looking for some more business? I do quick-sketch portraits at art fairs & people are always asking me to do portraits from photographs for them. And I absolutely DESPISE working from photos! Working from life is the ONLY thing I enjoy. I’d be glad to give your info to people who ask me, if you’re interested in picking up some customers.
Let me know…
Selkie, funny, I’m barely into this game, and I’ve already run across alot of the media-based resistance you’ve described. None from buyers as yet (although I haven’t run into scores of buyers yet), but just a mess of bigotry from “real artists”. Even well-meaning ones will say subtle things like “this is great Bill, but if you want to really grow as an artist, do some work in Acrylics”.
It reminds me alot of my musician days (the early 80s), and a number of my fellow guitar player friends gave me hell about branching into synthesizers and drum machines. “Those aren’t real instruments!” was the call. I remember Billy Gibbons defending drum machines saying that in the early days they didn’t allow drums in the Grand Ole Opry, as those were just metronomes. Hell, even Segovia got flack in his time because the guitar was considered a gutter instrument.
Yeah, me and Segovia, baby. He was scoffed and I’m scoffed, so obviously we’re fellow geniuses. Meanwhile, back on earth…
Anyway, screw the bigots, I say. I can produce what I want on a computer and I can’t in oil. You can call me a poor painter, and you’d be right. But I enjoy what I’m doing, it looks decent and I’m not much interested working in a given medium just because it’s the only “true” one.
Bill, I don’t really think it’s bigotry. You’ve acknowledged yourself that you can’t draw, that you haven’t studied art, that you’re using software to create your designs. Painting in acrylics or oil is a lot tougher, that’s why it generates more respect. If it’s easy for you to create your work, perhaps they perceive that it would be easy for someone else to create it as well.
If you’re happy with looking decent, that’s one thing; if you want respect, that’s another battle.
fessie, that is the other side of the argument, yes.
At the risk of dragging this thread OT: would someone tell a watercolor artist that they really should paint in oils? Or a photographer that s/he should paint? Seems to me that there are two different, albeit somewhat related, skills involved in painting and, um, “digitizing”.
Bill H, I understand medium-based resistence all too well. Ceramic sculptures have existed for at least 29,000 years andstill and still the medium isn’t taken seriously as art in many circles. Even within the ceramics community, debate rages over whether an object made using molds, an accepted standard in other mediums from bronze to glass, qualifies as “real” art.
At the risk of dragging this thread OT: would someone tell a photographer that s/he should really paint instead? Or an oil painter that they really should use watercolors? Seems to me that there are two different, albeit somewhat related, skills involved in painting and, um, “digitizing”.
Bill H, I understand medium-based resistence all too well. Ceramic sculptures have existed for at least 29,000 years and still the medium isn’t taken seriously as art in many circles. Even within the ceramics community, debate rages over whether an object made using molds, an accepted standard in other mediums from bronze to glass, qualifies as “real” art.
Actually in school it’s usually required that one learn a variety of media, from photography through painting, printing and sculpture. With drawing as the necessary prerequisite for any of the rest. Most studio painting is taught strictly in oil. And there’s a growing field of coursework in computer graphics - it’s not something I studied, as I was in school many years ago, but I know it’s out there.
All I’m saying is if Joe Blow Schmo can turn on his computer & make something “neat”, that’s probably not going to impress people who’ve actually studied art. If it makes Joe happy & Joe’s friends like it, great, go for it. And there are probably people who will buy it - Og knows they buy that crap Kincade does by the truckload, might as well buy something done with sincerity instead. But in terms of accomplishments, it’s an exceedingly rare genius who can enter a field cold and do really good work.
fessie, you’re clearly a nice person, and likely much more talented than myself to boot. Please don’t take what I’m about to say personally, it’s really aimed more against a general attitude by some:
What you said about Kincade is the other piece of bigotry that I’ve been very surprised to discover. I guess I kindof assumed that artists would be more “peace and love” types, and be very supportive of other artists, but it is not so! Not even close. There are many in the community who are bigots about their own art form (“if it ain’t drawn with a brush, it ain’t art”), and bigots about success (“i’d rather die than sell out like that Kincade creep”). Both are really just the same statement: “if you’re not doing it how I’m doing it, then you’re not talented, and you have no soul as well.”
The funny thing is that you know that everybody who makes the second statement (critical of successful artists) would give their right arm to have Kincade’s success, just in their own art form. They don’t take into consideration that what Kincade paints is what he wants to see. The only thing that matters is that he isn’t painting what they want to see, so therefore he’s a soul-less whore.
For the record I should add that I don’t care for Kincade’s work personally. I don’t find it distasteful, but I wouldn’t own it either.
No offense taken, Bill - art is a tough topic, it’s so personal, so intense. You and I are really at opposite ends of the spectrum and that’s why I’ve found this thread so interesting.
I do agree with you, artists are very competitive. Teachers sometimes compete with their students as well, although not all do. I’ve found that artists are peaceful in that they’re usually earthy types, but nonetheless they’re usually very defensive about their work. I’ve assumed you were aware of feeling that way yourself, since many of your posts have had a defensive tone.
Musicians and actors are pretty much the same way, IME.
On the subject of Thomas Kincade - Kincade’s artwork is so bad it’s laughable, and his personality so full of arrogance it’s disgusting. He’s a whore because he’s a terribly incompetent painter, his “prints” are posters that some poor schlub has daubed with paint, and he rips off his own dealers (see recent People magazine article on the lawsuit). If he were actually any good at making art (as opposed to marketing, which he IS very good at) he wouldn’t draw anywhere near the ire. That people use the words “artist” and “Kincade” in the same sentence is a mark of their ignorance. The best thread I ever started was when I pitted him a couple of months ago (warning: much obscenity contained herein).
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fessie I understand what you’re saying, but other “respected” artists rip off unknown artists too. Robert Rauschenberg wanted to buy some of my son’s work, all but telling him not to be surprised if he saw it in a show with RR’s name on it.
As far as talent, the people that buy Kincade’s work are those who think they have no creativity in themselves, they just like the “pretty pictures.” But don’t they have a right to their opinions? I posted a tongue in cheek comment earlier about tall, anorexic women from works by Erte being the architype of art patrons. In fact, anyone who has a love of the creative process is an art patron. Anyone who supports the free expression of that process is a patron. Art doesn’t have to be outside, sometimes it a warm place by the fire. Ease up, my friend, there’s room for everyone.
Maxfield Parrish was shunned by the Art Community because he did posters, not “real” art.
Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
picunurse I’m not likely to chill on the topic of Kinkade, but I will drop it for the purposes of this thread (plus I pretty much said my piece in the other thread anyway). I’m just not as laissez faire as you re: art & not likely to become that way.
However, I see you’re in Seattle & I must say I envy you - you’re in the same town as one of my very favorite professors! He was a grad student when I studied under him in Cincinnati (both drawing and oil painting) & I thought he was really fantastic, taught me far more than any other teacher. If you get a chance & want to have some fun painting, you might like to take his course. He’s one of those wonderful non-competitive teachers. Here’s a link.
I’m not suggesting a course as in “you don’t know what you’re doing” but rather as in “gee, if I lived in his city I’d sure as heck take his class 'cause in art there’s ALWAYS something to be learned & I’d love to study with him some more myself”.
I got a lead on some Interior Designers I’m going to talk to tomorrow or Monday (first rule learned, they’re Interior Designers, not Interior Decorators); this’ll be interesting to see how much art and of what sorts Designers move. Anyone have any suggestions of working with Designers?
Oh no! I just finished typing a long reply to fessie I stepped away for a few seconds, and Its GONE! How can that be?
So, fessie I’ll try this again. Thank you for the suggestion. I believe I’ve met him somewhere. Name and face are familiar. I’ve taken a couple art history courses, but not here.
Laissez faire is very accurate. I don’t take offense easily. Even if you had meant I didn’t know what I was doing, I wouldn’t be upset, because you’d be right! I’ve stumbled through life up until now, why change? 
Bill Good luck on your designer lead. Many years ago I had a starving roommate who did lithographs. She hooked up with an up and coming interior designer, now her lithos grace the walls of up scale hotels all over the country.
It sounds like a great opportunity. Just remember, you may be asked to produce pieces to match the curtains
Bill I was wandering around the board and look what I found!? I guess the problem I have in seeing your 'site is my Mac not necessarily the browser.
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picunurse, yes you’re right. More specifically, your browser doesn’t handle style sheets very well. Everything went afoul when I added a style entry (setting the color of borders around pictures) to each image. I’ve investigated a bit, and it seems that it’s a rare browser that won’t handle these, so I’ve made the hard decision to leave it as it is, hopefully not alienating one of my favorite site-visitors.
However, an upgrade to a more recent browser should be simple. Is that possible, picunurse?
Bill Yeees. My husband is dragging me, kicking and screaming into the modern age of computers. He’s forcing me to upgrade to a newer browser, AND to OSX.2 AND he says I should try Mac’s brower, Safari. Oh woe is I. I probably will require a vacation afterward… Oh yeah, we leave for our Hawaiian cruise next Saturday.
Life is hard.