How I Make Art

I am always on the lookout for images for artwork. Often things start as a photo, but I also work from sketches and from memory. Sometimes I use Photoshop to add, move or remove objects. Other times I will do several thumbnail sketches or ink wash paintings as I experiment with the composition. Some images cry out to be oil paintings, others woodcut prints. If an image makes the grade, when I have a block of time available, I prepare the canvases or blocks and begin. I like to work on 4 to 8 paintings at the same time so I can jump from one to the next to keep it fresh. With the woodcuts I do a couple at the same time, so as I am playing with the states and waiting for each layer to dry I can carve on the blocks for the other print.

A photo from West Lake China	A photo from West Lake, near Hangzhao, China
A small study for west lake	A small study for West Lake
A small study for West Lake	A small study for West Lake

The finished oil painting

Why I Make Art

When I was in Junior High, like all kids I was given apptitude tests and grilled about what I would like to do for the rest of my life. I always loved to draw and did it all the time. I liked the idea of being my own boss, so I picked being an artist and studied art every change I got. After graduating from college I was driving across the country for my 10th art fair and I said, "Shit, I am a traveling salesman." The last job I would have picked was traveling salesman. But as Greg Brown says in a song, "It's not what you think it is , it's just what it is." If you don't have to draw or sculpt, or paint every chance you get; if you don't regret leaving an art museum before you have seen every object; if you don't think about art all the time; then maybe this is not the job for you. You will be rejected 100 times for every break you get. You will barely be able to pay on your bills and when you make some good money the transmission will go out in your vehicle. If you want something you will have to make it. Why do I make art, in short, because I have to.

A photo of me in Osceola

Painting by West Lake, China

A photo of an iron sculpture I made

How to be an Artist

I have been a professional artist for a long time, and a statement I hear all the time is "It must be hard to be an artist" Yes, it is. You have to have an unshakable faith in yourself. You have to quit worrying about when the money will come and have faith that it will work out. But that doesn't mean you don't do anything. When I was in college I had lunch with my father. He told me that if I would order a lunch that would save him 1 dollar, that would mean 5 dollars less he had to make. To have that dollar to spend he had 5 dollars of expenses. I am not in his tax braket, but each dollar I save is 3 I don't have to make. Therefore the time I spend saving that dollar is 3 times as effective as trying to make more money. Not that you don't have to do that too. To that end I went together with some friends, bought some land and built my studio and house. It is a passive solar house that is heated mostly with wood. We have a large garden. Being an artist is not a job. It is a way of life. Just as you have to be creative in making artwork, you have to think up creative ways to make, and save, money. It is a war of attrition. If you can keep at it long enough you will be good or famous enough to make a living, or hopefully both.

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