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Practice Makes Perfect

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 by Alyice

To be quite truthful, I know that practice makes perfect because I’ve seen the improvement in my own writing as I’ve taken the time each day to hone my skills as a writer. And I know that the more I practice, the better I’ll get. So I get that in order to improve in both photography and art, I must do something to improve those skills every single day—read a tutorial, practice a method, watch a professional in action, something. But I must shamefully admit, before God and you, that I have not made the time to learn, to practice, to improve.

It hasn’t been easy to find the time between my home business and my duties as both a wife and mother to tackle this new venture. In fact, putting off my training has become such second nature to me for so many years that even though I vowed this would be the year I made an effort to at least try I am now two months into the year and I can honestly say that I’ve only put about 16 hours into learning and practicing.

But that’s all about to change thanks to an interview I did with artist and gallery owner Shelley Grund. In 2005 Shelley decided to paint one small painting a day—something she could tackle in under an hour and complete in one day—in order to improve her skills and create better art. Well, it paid off in more ways than she ever imagined.

Not only did she create better art, but she learned to create intuitively. In other words, she stopped worrying about how something was going to look, if she was using the right colors, or if she had the technique down correctly and just began to enjoy the process of painting. And before she knew it, she had a better understanding of how her paints worked together, which brushes worked better for a particular technique or area of the painting, and how far she could push her raw materials.

But what stood out the most during her interview was her closing statement, “You are no longer a student learning how to use the materials, you are a ‘master’ painter creating something with the materials.”

And isn’t that what all artists strive to be—a master of their craft? Whether it’s writing, photography, painting, sculpting, or even crocheting, the only way to be good at what we do is to get to a point where we aren’t always second-guessing why we’re doing what we are doing and begin to simply do it because it feels right. And that’s really where I’d like to be one day—at a place where I can confidently say, “this feels right” and have the outcome turn out just as good as it felt during the creative process.

I can’t promise a piece of art a day or even a photograph a day, but I can at least promise that I’ll spend 30 minutes to an hour every day devoted to learning and improving upon my craft—whether it be reading a how-to book, watching a video tutorial, or actually putting something into practice. After all, if I continue with the excuses of time being against me, I’ll forever live with the “what ifs” and dreams of “what could have been” and I am so not a “what if” girl!

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Don’t Let Time Crowd You Out

Thursday, February 21st, 2008 by Alyice

It’s interesting how I’ll make time for my kids, for their extracurricular events, for my husband’s needs, and for others I care about but—and this is a big but—when it comes to something I want just for me, I easily push it aside for “more important” tasks like cleaning, running errands, and the day-to-day operations of running my writing business. No wonder I can’t seem to get my photography and art hobby—err business—off the ground floor.

After meeting up with several artists who’ve made the commitment to work on their art every single day and seeing the rewards they’ve reaped from doing so, I can honestly say that it had me perplexed. Not because what they’ve done is complicated, confusing, or even difficult to understand but because I’ve been using the same formula for building my freelance writing business, for selling my e-books, and for building a reputation for my online magazine for years and I’ve yet to apply the same theories to my art or photography. Why?

For months I’ve tried to figure out a way to fit it all in but it has simply been impossible. I’d start the day with the business that brings in the money, then switch gears to housekeeper, mom, and wife. But by the time I was done, I was simply exhausted. There wasn’t any energy left at the end of the day for anything else—not art, not photography, not exercise, not personal recreation.

Then last month I did something about it, or so I thought. I realized that maybe, just maybe, I had my hands in too many cookie jars and so I let go of business ventures that were once fruitful but had become wasters of both time and energy. I thought it would free up some time and in a sense it did. Instead of always feeling like I was running behind, I began to feel like everything was right where it was supposed to be—right on schedule. I was no longer frantic and I gave myself permission to have leisurely lunches and early morning breakfasts with my kids. But I kept to the same schedule, work then commitments and finally, hobby/me time. Guess what? I still ran out of time.

But then I interviewed Jan Blencowe, artist and instructor. And that’s when I realized I was doing things backwards. In the interview Jan said, “I usually paint first thing in the morning because that’s the best way for me to make sure I have time to paint, otherwise life crowds in and the time seems to evaporate.”

Yes! Yes! Yes! That makes perfect sense! Instead of rewarding myself with art and photography at the end of the day, I must reward myself first. How brilliant, and yet so simple! And because I work from home, it’s totally doable.

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Goodbye Fear Of Waste

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 by Alyice

As I prepare my mind to accept that fact that next week is all about developing new habits and new ways of doing things—such as art and photography first, exercise second, and business third—I can’t help but stop to think about something Manuela Valenti said in an interview I did with her this past week. She said that the Painting A Day Project “has been a constant learning experience, mainly for the fact I’ve defeated my fears with respect of painting while tapping different subjects matters.”

Manuela, an artist who has been painting since she was 12 years old, and has many successes selling her paintings, still had fears that sometimes stopped her from trying something new. But instead of allowing those fears to take control, she accepted them for what they were and moved forward with her art; which resulted in the sale of one of her paintings for the sum of $3,500!

Fear. It has the ability to stop one from moving forward with life, from capitalizing on positive associations, from reaching out to others, and from trying new things. But where does it come from? And why does it have so much power?

Yes, I had a fear of my own; a fear that is unlike traditional fear. But I say had, in the past tense, because today I resolve to say goodbye to that fear and make way for a new way of thinking.

For you see, I don’t have a problem with trying new things. In fact, I thrive on it. I love learning. I even like making mistakes because it means that there is one less thing I can goof up. I don’t even have a fear of failure; though some say I do have a fear of success.

What I do have, at this very moment, is a fear of waste. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it, to fear being wasteful? Especially since I can’t even count the times I’ve been wasteful over the past 18 years of my life.

But the more I realize how much waste has affected our lifestyle, the ecosystem, and our finances I can’t help but be more conscious about the things we buy and the things we throw out.

Seriously, I am one of those people that can find a purpose for everything and cannot stand sending anything to the local dump unless absolutely necessary—like packaging from products, shoes that can no longer be repaired or worn, and so on. Paper gets shredded and used for the bottom of a hamster cage, or left whole for the lining of the bird cage. Used magazines get placed on the library’s “free-for-all” table. Books and videos I can no longer tolerate watching get donated to the local library, sold at a used store, or shipped off to family and friends. And if we haven’t used something within a year’s time it is donated to charity, sold at a garage sale, or given to someone who could use it. I am even of the mentality that if you bring something new into the house, you must get rid of something, thus preventing clutter. Heck, if I am going to be totally honest, at this time I only own one pair of tennis shoes and one pair of dress shoes—now that’s saying something coming from a woman, doesn’t it?

So my fear isn’t about failing. It isn’t about trying something new and having difficulty with the paints, the techniques, or the subject matter. It isn’t even about someone not liking what I do. But it is totally about wasting resources, money, and time. All commodities I have so little of these days.

In the past, every time I sat down to play with my art, I couldn’t help but think, “What if what I paint is so hideous it can only be meant for the trash? What if I use supplies and materials only to discover that the piece is worthless? What if I waste time and money on something I wouldn’t even put in my own home?” And thus, began the stifling block that ends all creativity.

But the more I reflect on Manuela’s words, “I’ve defeated my fears”, the more I realize how crazy that is! How can I ever hope to grow and improve as an artist if I allow fear of waste to stop me before I’ve even had a chance to try?

And then today it hit me. One of the things I love about mixed media art is that artists use items that would otherwise be thrown away to help complete their art projects! So if I don’t like something, big deal! If it’s not liked by someone else and can’t get sold, donated, or given away, big deal! I can always break it up into pieces to be used for art at a later date. Right?

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