Sage Advice

The Alexandria Art Tour is over and I had an awesome weekend. Having my studio open to the public for events is not for the faint of heart. I have piles of mat board, drawing boards, crescent boards and numerous stackable bins of paint and tools that need to be removed. My drawing table gets folded up and all work is readjusted and dusted. As I tidied the studio, set up display stands I reminded my self that in 72 hours later all the moving out becomes moving in again. I go from studio to gallery and back to studio.

 These past months planning the logistics for an art tour are now over. I am always happy to have these events over. However, the memory of seeing family and friends, new customers, and conversations linger for many many months. It is fun to share with others what I do.

So now it is back to work. It has been a few weeks,  but the following advice from Chuck Close will propel me back to my work table! It is one of my favorites about the work of the artist.

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there for a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You can feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case”

What is the best advice you have ever received?

Thanks for Reading!