Full Flower
There are some real benefits from being 54 and having been at one's craft for some 30 years. One is confidence and the understanding of just how to go about creating a piece of illustration. This may seem obvious, but it doesn't always work that way.
I just got through doing the pencil and ink to what will be an excellent New Year's/Christmas card for the company that has treated so well so far. I stood staring at the larger inside piece for the card in its outline wondering what color scheme to use on it, and then: bang! i got my biggest Japanese Sumi brush and covered the whole piece with a light wash. The wash started off as a reddish brown, but I began to lean it toward acqua blue and finally purple......all this has done is give me a tonal playing field on which all else will be based. The point is that I acted decisively and executed with great skill and confidence. I already know that this art will come out great.
There are some down sides to being 54 too. Guess what? My body is showing some signs of aging. I need surgery for a hernia. While there must be some ways to milk this for sympathy, it is a pain, and something I need to attend to. this, plus waning energy level has me concerned. Being a great artist, after all, entails hving lots of good energy to not only create the art, but do the marketing. I can't rely on coffee all the time!
So, there is a dichotomy going on here: I'm having a fine time from the art success level, and my body is barely allowing me to keep up with it simultaneously. What delicious irony! I think being able to feel and allow for contradictory emotions is one of the things that makes human beings so interesting, so I'm taking it all in and having a little laugh at my own expense.
And, speaking of expense, I looked into my royalty statements from the Marcel Schurman company, and it turned out they owed me $1700 for past royalties! It's like Christmas in December! Hey, wait a second. That is when Christams is, isn't it? I wonder what I'll blow the money on? A departing gift for Donald Rumsfeld?
The recent victories of the Democratic Party in this country has given me a shred of hope that some saner heads will prevail in forming the United States' various policies which, for the past 6 years, have been marked by greed, disregard for life, disregard for the Earth's atmosphere, and did I say greed? This country has acted shamefully under Bush. maybe now some things will change for the better. Then, I won't have any ironic art statements to make anymore, right? And, I'll go to making landscapes, like all the other Marin arteests.
I just got through doing the pencil and ink to what will be an excellent New Year's/Christmas card for the company that has treated so well so far. I stood staring at the larger inside piece for the card in its outline wondering what color scheme to use on it, and then: bang! i got my biggest Japanese Sumi brush and covered the whole piece with a light wash. The wash started off as a reddish brown, but I began to lean it toward acqua blue and finally purple......all this has done is give me a tonal playing field on which all else will be based. The point is that I acted decisively and executed with great skill and confidence. I already know that this art will come out great.
There are some down sides to being 54 too. Guess what? My body is showing some signs of aging. I need surgery for a hernia. While there must be some ways to milk this for sympathy, it is a pain, and something I need to attend to. this, plus waning energy level has me concerned. Being a great artist, after all, entails hving lots of good energy to not only create the art, but do the marketing. I can't rely on coffee all the time!
So, there is a dichotomy going on here: I'm having a fine time from the art success level, and my body is barely allowing me to keep up with it simultaneously. What delicious irony! I think being able to feel and allow for contradictory emotions is one of the things that makes human beings so interesting, so I'm taking it all in and having a little laugh at my own expense.
And, speaking of expense, I looked into my royalty statements from the Marcel Schurman company, and it turned out they owed me $1700 for past royalties! It's like Christmas in December! Hey, wait a second. That is when Christams is, isn't it? I wonder what I'll blow the money on? A departing gift for Donald Rumsfeld?
The recent victories of the Democratic Party in this country has given me a shred of hope that some saner heads will prevail in forming the United States' various policies which, for the past 6 years, have been marked by greed, disregard for life, disregard for the Earth's atmosphere, and did I say greed? This country has acted shamefully under Bush. maybe now some things will change for the better. Then, I won't have any ironic art statements to make anymore, right? And, I'll go to making landscapes, like all the other Marin arteests.
posted by Rich Sigberman at
3:38 PM
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