Rich Sigberman Art & Illustration 90

Dang, even when I'm tryiing to be sincere, the New Yorker in me comes out and my heading comes off sarcastic (maybe). I suppose tone of voice is important when one is considering sincerity - well, really, I mean it.

Sure, day to day life and the running of one's own business fills up the days. And, sure, some clients are quite dificult, especially the ones who won't pay. But, today my Pamela got a clean bill of health at a clinic she was called back to for "further tests" and nothing else really mattered : not money, not art, not even the dogs being due to go to the groomer's. The point is that while we're alive and healthy, all we have to do is feel good and gratefulf for that, and treat our friends and strangers accordingly. The rest is all incidental.

All those sketches I did yesterday for my long time client were rejected! That was a lot of work and strain on my part down the drain, but we're still at it. It will take, as it usually does, his input to make it successful. It is a self-fulfilling prohecy, as he has total veto power anyway, but he is witty and literate, so all it takes is his putting attention on it. Right now, though, the concept is very much up in the air. I'm keeping the faith. That's my art note for the today.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. A lot of people in this country will gorge themselves on food, drink, and American football. I say, take a solitary moment, look out onto the horizon, and just say that you're grateful. Being human means that there is some pain involved. But, there are also soaring moments of perfection.

Part of what I've learned over the last year or two is that when inspiration isn't there, don't try too hard to force it. Usually, it will come the next day.

Pam and I just got back from four days away for relaxation and retreat. It was nice, fun, and when I got back, I felt tired just the same. Monday was the day I had designated to kick some butt on a few jobs that needed a jump start, but I was stymied by lack of that type of energy necessary and a room full of disorganization. To begin jobs at the generation stage requires concentration and lots of good energy, and I did not have it. So, I concentrated on that organization work that I had put off for a long time. Most of it had nothing to do with my occupation, being a huge amount of music CDs that I didn't know what to do with or where to file - too much of a very good thing.

With the exception of 10 double Django Reinhardt CDs that still need a box constructed for them, I did what I needed to do, and the room feels a lot cleaner and neater. I went through papers too, throwing out a lot of them, filing away some. Then, it was time to go into SF to see a surgeon for my upcoming operation. Didn't I mention my lobotomy? No? (Ok, it's a hernia)

By the time we got back, it was time to relax and watch a not-too-good movie we got at the library, "Mystery, Alaska", a movie about hocky and a small town. A "hockey Rocky" so it was billed.... We were good vegetables.

But, today was a different story, and, by 6 a.m. I kicked butt with concept sketches for a new Christmas card, as well as sketches for a book cover. Generating concept sketches probably requries more concentration than any other aspect of illustration art. My jobs are still coming in, a rarity for this time of year, but I'm loving it. Keep 'em coming, bring 'em on!

Meanwhile, I finished and have matted my "History of Art" piece, which tickles me no end every time I look at it. Whether it will ever find a buyer I have no idea - it was not a piece desinged with the large common denominator in mind. In fact, very few of my art pieces have been, and even when I tried, I failed to reach a wide public. I guess I should do landscapes and flowers, but if I did, I'd probably put little saxophones in the newly anthropomorphic flowers. Such is one's outlook when one has been corrupted at an early age by Max Fleishcer cartoons.

I've been creating card designs for a retail store for a decade now, and until this past Thanksgiving card, had never had a credit. Finally, I got one, which lead to a lovely email note from a couple who said they have been saving these cards for years and had wanted to know for a long time who did them. It was very gratifying for me to receive this note. That is a big part of why I do art: to bring some happiness to whomever views it. There is a very joyous part of me, and it often expresses itself in the art I make. Happy Thanksgiving! Give thanks for anything you may think of.

I worked this weekend to get a very good job done for a very good client. It is a two part New Year's card, and both illustrations involved different challenges. Without going into the specifics, I can say that I pushed myself to make them both the best I could, with a late suggestion by my wife helping put a good finishing touch on one of them. Was the picture just fine without that finishing touch? Yes. Was it better after I spent the extra time on it? Yes, in my mind it was worth doing.

See, I had to stop billing on this job at an hourly rate, as I knew my hours were going to exceed my estimate by a lot. So, there was a degree of testing my integrity involved. I was now working for a flat rate, still not a bad one, but I could have taken short cuts and know one would have been the wiser. I chose not to do that. The art is now at the photographer's and I know I did all I could to make that a fine piece, the best I can do.

Earlier today, I happened to be at the veternarian, as the doggies were due for a checkup. In the waiting room, I chanced upon a large format magazine, called "Art Auction". As I perused it, I saw a number of intriguing pieces by artists I did not kow about. I filched the mag. Yep, I took it home, and I Googled three artists whose work I admired. One of them was Theodoros Stamos whose abstracts I find beautiful and whose textures make my mout water. I usurped about 15 of his images and have saved them and now I'm going to be a songe adn take from them what I can. This is the way I've always taught myself.

Finally after a short nap, I took out my piece , "The History of Art" and began working on it again, for the first time in nearly a week. It felt good. I'm not getting the textures Stamos gets, and I'd like to, but I'm working harder on getting the textures that I am capable of getting, and it is making the art stronger. It all goes with doing the best I know how, teaching myself, and pushing myself. I'm pleased with my progress.

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.

It's an age-old conflict, so I'm well aware that I'm not the first nor will I be the last to be grappling with it. When I'm working on commercial art, I'm wondering if I'm expressing myself fully as an artist; when I'm working on "pure art" I'm wondering if I'll make any money with it. In fact, I've been straddling this line for nearly 30 years, usually leaning toward whatever presents an income-producing opportunity commercial piece over the art.

But, this week, while I waited word from a few clients on pending jobs, I took the time to work on an art piece that is not only fun and irreverent, but pretty much sums up my view of art history, and the art vs. commerce issue too. I modestly have titled it, "The History of Art", and it may be the first piece I did where I actually purchased a book with the express purpose of using it as collage material for this very piece, and followed through on that idea!

That sad book was a remainder at Barnes & Noble, and I can't say it was a noble idea to chop up the poor thing, but the book was inexpensive, as were the reproductions. It hurt my heart to pick up a blade and cut out that first picture, but it got easier as I went along, sort of like a murderer who has pangs of guilt at first, but soon gets past that inconvenience. I respect books, and have never done this, but this time the book was purchased a tthe beginning with the idea of choping it, so that made it ok in my rationalization.

The art peice started tentatively, but has taken on a life of its own, and is very funny with, among other things, the Mona Lisa being painted on a canvas that includes a yellow Happy Face, from the Sistine ceiling is the famous detail of god touching Adam's hand, but in between is Alfred E. Neuman, begging the quesiton of just who is god? We all have our own, I guess.
Superman and Lois Lane keep making appearances in this piece, as does Vincent Van Gogh, partially dressed as Superman. You get the idea - it is the pop notion that everything is grist for the pop culture/satireical mill, especially in the minds of those of us who grew up on TV and this so-called "information age" with heads flooded by images of all types.

Even if the statement I'm making is not entirely original, it is mine, and I'm having a ball doing it. That's a very good sign. For right now, I'm not worry ing about makinig money form my art, but just making art.

Labels: the working artist

I was reading an article on the fine photographer, Anni Leibovitz, whose partner, Susan Sontag, told her in 1988 that Anni was "good, but could be better". While those terms may be subjective, and one person is rarely in the position to judge that of another, it raises a question for all of us, especially those of us who see themselves as artists: "can I do better, can I be better?"

It's a lot to ask of oneself, and the answer is, of course, "yes". The tricky part is defining what we mean by "better" and then just how we intend to do it.

For me, the most consistently exciting time artistically speaking was the years when I first began to work at my craft, back in college, from 1969-73. Although I was working "below the radar" without much assitance from any of the teachers, I was improving and experimenting on an almost daily basis. Each picture I did was better than the last one. This was not only my opinion, but that of my peer group, the ones whose feedback I valued most, even if that feedback was no more than a stoned, "far out". I always knew when I had broken new ground, or at least, refined something I had been working on the month before.

The next sustained period of excitement and improvement came from 1983-87, when I worked as a newspapeer illustrator. The demands on me were great, and I responded well. I was prolific, my conceptual/literary interpretive skills increased vastly, and I worked in a variety of styles. Even though the people at the top of the paper did not treat me particularly well, it was a time of great artistic fruition for me.

Cut forward another twenty years: it's 2006 (how futuristic sounding), and I've got some terrific commissions, including one that will be 5' in width, which is practically the Sistine ceiling by my miniaturistic standards. I keep hoping I can do something new on each piece, somethng that will have me saying to myself that "this is the best thing I've ever done". I'm challenging myself, and somehow feel that physically and energetically, I'm falling short. Now that I'm 54, there are some new challenges, and I'm not sure how to take them on and beat them, at least for the next 30 years or so. Should I increase my daily coffee intake?