Tell All: Chapter 7

 

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, It's Still Life, and Playing Favorites were the first five projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The final project from The Pulse #5, Tell All, continues now...

Participants were asked: what is the one thing that you know now that you would have liked to have known when you first started to create art? 

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I would not have spent so much money buying every art supply I could lay my hands on! It's a treat to now now where my interests lie and not be tempted by things I will never use. Makes for easier storage too. I have many grateful friends and colleagues who have been the recipients of my many purges in the last few years. Erin Perry

I really started painting again about 5 years ago. It was me all alone in my little condo, painting on large canvases and adding collage elements. I then attended my first art retreat where I found out that this is called "mixed media". I began to devour everything I could find out about retreats, blogs, mixed media artists and the magazines they were published in. So much so that I stopped creating with that unabandoned innocence I had started with in my condo. I'm not negating those things as I've learned a huge wealth of information. But I wonder how much further I would be along had I not spent that time comparing myself to those things. Adrienne "Dree" Berry

No matter how careful you think you're going to be, never paint while wearing a white top. You would not believe the amount of clothes that I've ruined because I didn't cover up! Kathryn Dyche Dechairo

Probably I would have liked to know that any class that required me to purchase an extensive or expensive set of specific tools was likely not for me. I've taken a number of classes that I had to do this for and never used the tools again. I eventually figured out that my first love is paper-based art. I then considered any future classes carefully, paying close attention to the supply lists. I know take classes that help me add to my skill set in the medium that I create in on a daily basis. Lelainia Lloyd

Creating everyday and being consistent is the biggest tool and advantage you can secure for yourself and your art. I've been pretty dedicated to my art since I started, but the difference really came for me when I decided I was going to do something, anything, every single day that gets me closer to my goal. It's been a motivating factor for me. Jodi Ohl

If I had known how much pleasure creating art would give me, I would have started doing it much earlier and more often. And I would have made sure I had a sink in my studio. Susan Madden

I'd share this with all young and all old artists: learn how to haul your regalia or your stuff around - tents, displays, easels, supplies and artwork - because that's what you do a while heck of a lot. Laura Lein-Svencner

Don't get hung up on about having your own style. Just create. Create lots. Your style developed all by itself somewhere in the middle, and just when you think you have your style pinned down, it begins to change. Natasha White

The importance of organization. Organization of the records of one's body of work from the get go would simplify things. It makes things easier when you have a website, when you apply for work, or need to put together a portfolio.  theresa mARTin

It would have benefited me greatly if many years ago I started a sample book of my experiments, both the failed ones as well as those that were successful. With time, some things are forgotten, of course, and sometimes I look at an older piece and can't, for the life of me, remember exactly how I created it. Jessica Walthall

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Next Tell All will be posted on Sunday, February 24th