Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Coffee Talk with I.C.

I recently had a long, very emotional conversation with I.C. about being an artist. We spoke about what it's like making art for a living.  About being true to yourself, moments of self doubt, handling rejection, speaking to future clients and gallery owners about your art, and all that's involved with getting your work 'out there' via all the different social media platforms. Here is just a small sampling of our conversation.

Me: I had such a great morning. I painted a whole bunch of small practice pieces to warm up before I start on that large canvas painting. You know, one of the cityscapes I'm doing for my November show.

I.C.:  You mean those dark and gloomy city scenes you've been painting?

Me:  Yes, and they're not dark and gloomy. They're dramatic. And people like them. I've sold so many through my galleries, and besides, they've been on TV and in a magazine! I feel I'm sort of known for them now.

I.C.  Did you take any photos while you were painting? The practice pieces I mean, let me see.

Me:  I have a couple on my phone. Here. What do you think?

I.C.:  OMG! These are SOOOOOO gorgeous!! You should be selling THESE!

Me:  Really?? But these are just for practice, just to warm myself up. Confession. I absolutely love them! They are beautiful. But they're just little abstracts. Little color practice pieces. (big long sigh) I DO love painting these though. They're so much fun and the colors are so bright and cheery. I just can't be in a bad mood painting these and I totally lose all sense of time when I work on these. I'm so in the moment. But I can't show these. Seriously? It's so different from what I usually paint.

I.C. Yeah, your right. Forget I said anything. I've seen alot of this kind of art 'out there' anyway. But it seems to me if this is the kind of painting that makes you happy and feeds your soul, this is what you should be painting.

And that ended my conversation with I.C. I went back to my paints and continued painting the little practice paintings I was doing. And when I was done warming up, I began painting a large canvas with splashes of bright color. This is happening. Who is I.C. you ask? My Inner Critic. And this conversation ended on a happy note :-)