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.

Jan Blencowe, Artist

Meet Jan

Jan Blencowe Artist

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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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Interview With Jan Blencowe

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 by Alyice

Today I had the honor of interviewing Jan Blencowe. Jan’s been painting for years and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree back in 1984 but it wasn’t until she committed to painting something every day that her career as a full-time artist and instructor took off. The coverage Jan’s received through her daily paintings has earned her coverage in top magazines, representation in various galleries across the United States, and given her the ability to help struggling artists succeed at their craft. Discover why Jan says the Internet is a wonderful place for artists of every skill level.

Jan Blencowe, Artist

Meet Jan

Jan Blencowe Artist

Buy Jan’s Art

How did you get started with the Painting A Day movement?
One of the wonderful things about the Internet is the ability to connect with other artists from around the globe. In a discussion thread over at Wet Canvas back in 2004 another artist brought Duane Keiser’s blog, “A Painting A Day” to our attention.

Keiser was already well an accomplished gallery-represented artist and art teacher. He had been doing small postcard size paintings as exercises or warm-ups on a daily basis. After accumulating a number of these, 100 to be precise, he decided to have a studio show to sell his works. He called it “A Hundred for a Hundred”, and sold the small works for $100 each. That was such a success that he began thinking about other ways to sell his small paintings. He made a commitment to himself to do a painting every day, without fail. Keiser did a lot of small still life pieces, often just single objects: a marble, an orange, a PBJ sandwich. (Still life work is also one of the best ways to improve your painting skills, regardless of the subjects you choose for your larger works. They are truly a technical work out for an artist.) it wasn’t long before he launched his blog, which became an immediate success.

This idea was intriguing to myself and other artists for a number of reasons. First the idea of an artist painting everyday and doing small studies is nothing new, but posting them on a blog for the whole world to see and purchase was. The blog was a way to keep one accountable. Second, every artist knows that the more you paint the better your work gets. So we decided to take the challenge and commit to a painting a day.

I began in January of 2006. At first I, like the other artists posted my work only on Wetcanvas. Several months later I decided to start my own blog, and called it “The Painting A Day Project”.

Do you allot a specific time each day or do you simply set aside x number of hours to complete your task?
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. If the painting for that day is a small study, it takes 1-2 hours to complete. However, after doing small studies daily for quite some time I’ve switched to doing larger works which take 6-8 hours to complete. When working on a larger work, I will break up my painting sessions into 2-3 hour chunks so that I can take care of daily chores, phone calls and the kids. And since I don’t watch much television I can get a lot of painting done at night—when everyone’s in bed or watching their favorite shows.

What have been the personal rewards?
The personal rewards have been many. There is always a great deal of satisfaction when you set out to challenge yourself and stick to it. At the beginning of The Painting a Day Project, I painted everyday no matter what. After two years that has changed somewhat as demands for my work have increased and commitments to various galleries have also increased.

However, I gained a tremendous amount of discipline through that challenge. I am much less likely to let time crowd out the time I’ve set aside for painting. Furthermore, those daily paintings have improved my work and have given me a chance to explore many avenues in subject matter, style, technique, and composition.

What has been the professional benefits of committing to a painting a day?
The professional benefits have also been numerous. Just after I started doing the Painting A Day Proejct I was contacted by Domino Magazine, a home décor magazine. They were doing a feature on daily painters who blog. That article included 6 artists who were the first generation of daily painters behind Duane Keiser and Julian Merrow-Smith. Hits to my blog went crazy and I sold nearly 50 paintings the month the issue came out. That one piece of publicity opened the door for many other publications to contact me, including the New York Times, USA Weekend Magazine and Mastercard’s blog Priceless.com.

My experiences blogging and marketing my art on the Internet led me to develop a seminar for artists. A seminar designed to teach other artists how to sell using the Internet.

The daily painting phenomenon has really become part of art history and now I’m being asked to present lectures about it by many of the same groups who have had me teach my Internet marketing seminar. In essence, my daily paintings have helped me create a parallel career in teaching and lecturing.

Traffic to my blogs and websites continues to rise and the small daily paintings have generated interest in my larger works as well, and that in turn has attracted the notice of art galleries. In fact, after finding me on the Internet, The Black Sheep Gallery in Gloucester, MA contacted me and now carries my work, both small pieces and large, in their gallery. On the whole the daily painting movement has been very good to me!

Visit her at JanBlencowe.com

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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 Valenti, Artist

Meet Manuela

Manuela Valenti, Artist

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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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