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Why do you paint ?
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Message
Posted
I paint for me, it’s something I just “do” it’s almost like breathing. I see pictures everywhere , sadly time constraints are stopping a lot of creative activity.
Over the years I have been creaing I have sold a fair few paintings at prices I have been happy with.
Recently, well the last couple of years I haven’t been in any selling environment . My sales have usually been via exhibitions , which are always good venues for exposure and selling work.
So my query , Why do you paint? . And where do you sell your paintings.?
Posted
Your right, Sylvia there are pictures everywhere, but not all views appeal to every artist, although it's good to try something new.
I too paint for my own pleasure. My main sales were through exhibition at the art society I attended. Now it is by chance and word of mouth. I'm not
bothered if my work sells or not, I just like the process of creativity, and paint my own photos, usually of nature. I have just completed a plant I photographed a few years ago
a most enjoyable experience.
Posted
Dunno! Got to do something, I suppose. I don't paint primarily for sale, which is just as well these days - I haven't the energy, or perhaps really even the desire, to run a small business, so the only real negative about not selling much is that I tend to end up with too many paintings in storage - which in turn limits my output, because I don't particularly want to add to their number. But then I see something, or think of something, that suggests a painting - why I started would be hard to explain; perhaps I've forgotten. Why I continue, though, is easier: it's because once you've accustomed yourself, trained yourself, to look at things you begin to translate them in your mind into paint; and then you've just got to apply it. If I see the light hitting a tree, or its shadow on other trees or on the land or water, and it's not an effect I've observed before or it is but has an individual twist to it, I want to paint it. Texture is my downfall and inspiration - and the reason I like oil paint, because it makes the capturing of texture rather easier than it is in acrylic or watercolour: but then you've got the extra challenge of conveying it in a water-based medium, and that's exciting in itself.
Thing is not to get so captivated by one element of a picture that you neglect other equally important elements - I have a constant struggle with that, and that keeps me going too.
Posted
I got hooked after attending an adult education course on abstracts in acrylic at the local high school some years ago. I paint because I enjoy the process, especially when I feel that it is going right, which doesn't always happen! It is harder getting an abstract painting underway, and the ones I've done recently just have to evolve as they go along. I don't try to sell, although it has happened by chance, and do find storage a problem. Every so often I have a cull.
Posted
I think you have 'hit the nail on the head' there, Jen, painting does need concentration and it does take your mind away from everyday life.
I love being immersed in the subject before me, and hate it if someone knocks the door, I totally ignore that call.
When I start painting it is- MY TIME.
Posted
There was a lot of skipping, hopping and jumping going on in Australia recently but I haven't a clue about any details - I'm just not sporty but I love to create whether it be a lovely garden, writing poetry, painting, or making sculptures out of found wood. If I'm not creating something I'm irritable, frustrated, and depressed. Enough said - today's an all-day painting day - painting with other like minded artists this morning and running a workshop this afternoon - bliss.
Posted
It's enormous fun; plus it's a safety valve away from the day to day stresses - no "please play this for the bridal march", no invoicing, no accounting, no deadlines, no "soundcheck at 6:30 please", minimal set up/ set down time, and nobody saying "can we just try that again?" and every practice session results in some sort of new creation about which I've picked the subject.
All in one little pencil
Edited
by alang23
Posted
I pretty much go along with what's been said. I've always drawn, right from a kid...I remember copying Desperate Dan comics, and then making up my own. Life wouldn't seem right if I didn't draw and paint. I try to do something everyday, even if it's a scribble in a sketchbook - but it's not always possible. Never bothered much about selling, I wasn't prepared to jump through all the hoops required to sell your work. I had a spell making painted clay figurines (self-hardening clay), and sold a few of those. I don't like the notion of commissions, as others have said, painting is a personal thing, I'm only interested in doing what I want to do. It's a fun thing...that just about sums it up for me.
Posted
I think the simplest answer is "because I can". It's my hobby and pleasure. Lots of people maybe don't paint because they think you have to be a Turner, Constable, Van Gogh etc, or a member of some sort of elite club in order to paint. We know that isn't true. It also irks a little that some people believe you have to paint George Clooneys' or Audrey Hepburns' look-alikes in every portrait. I'd tell them to walk into a room, any room, a pub, or board a bus and see just how many of those model citizens they find there. I love trying to catch character in faces rather than vanity or film star looks. I suppose it's easier for me because I'm a fun painter and not an artist. Apart from one occasion ( I felt guilt at charging money for something that cost me nothing) I've never sold a painting or drawing in my entire life. None of my works (and believe me I have an awful lot of them,) are framed or hung in my home. ( An ex neighbour had two paintings I gave her framed and in her home) Maybe I should change my views, but it's a little late in life for that. I have three children, three stepchildren and seven grown grandchildren, but of all of them only one of my daughters paints. I draw/paint at some stage daily as a matter of routine. It's habit and almost a compulsion. If it ever ceases to be a pleasure, I'll give it up. 😆
Posted
I retired at 70 from full time 8 til 5 work with daily travel, yet I still feel guilty at having so much time to paint and draw now. After spending so long running towards something it feels a little strange to have got there. I'm certain ly not running away from it, but it sort of proves my view of chasing the dream being the ultimate goal, because once you find it, you have no dream left. I'm still happily chasing rainbows though regardless..😆
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