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"What Do I Really Need? Art and Economy " - My view
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Marians Of The Immaculate Conception
What Do I Really Need?
My views as an artist on a poor economy and purchasing art supplies.
It's May, 2009. The economy is suffering, and many people are struggling to pay their regular household bills. And I like to have the finest art supplies available.
When I was about 17, in high school, I had a wonderful art teacher named Mr. Bolton. He was very much under-appreciated, in my opinion, because I think he had the skill and thought processes of "The Masters". He truly was gifted, and that he chose to teach high school was very commendable. I always felt he belonged exhibiting at the Smithsonian or somewhere in the top echelon of the art world. He chose to teach me, as well as many others. Thank you Mr. Bolton.
He gave me a pencil. I sorely wanted to paint in oils, and he gave me a pencil. I was very rebellious and outspoken at the time, and gave him a hard time about how I was "good enough" already for oils, and that I didn't need to learn to draw because I knew how to draw. I was quite arrogant. He smiled, patted me on the back, and gave me a pencil.
What to draw when you have blank paper, one pencil, and one eraser? I drew a portrait of a woman, a side view, with her hair partially up, and a fairly close-up view. At the time, I believe I had short hair, was very "healthy" in appearance as far as my weight :), and was more or less a spoiled kid on Cape Cod whose biggest thing was to hang out at the beach and get a tan. I was an artist, cool. And yet, I said about the pencil portrait "this is me". Well, it didn't really look anything like me, although it was a good drawing. I spent hours on it, working very carefully to capture just the right look for the woman. I hesitate to say it was a "very good" drawing because I know it had flaws I would change today, but it was good.
Kind Mr. Bolton also had relented and allowed me to also paint in oils at the same time as my pencil project, but I had to work on the pencil first and the oils if I had time. The oil painting was one of a Cape Cod cliff, perhaps the start of my "colorist" style, but although I remember painting it, and the result, it was probably simply a study in oil.
These two works were part of my early "good" artwork that was lost when I moved when I was about 21 or so. I had had to work full time at non-art-related jobs, thought I knew where I was going, and didn't give my early drawings their due. There were probably about ten pieces that I lost this way, and only once.
I am now almost 50 years old. I have a son in college, and for the last couple of years or so, have taken a sort of hiatus in my art career. I have been exploring the fiber arts, with spinning wool and other fibers, and creating beautiful functional items. My pen and ink work has always been the "rock" of my art - it is what I felt I could always rely on to do well and consistently. I have always felt that we ever had a flood or hurricane, as long as I could take my pens and inks, I would be fine.
And then, in the past few months, the economy started to worsen, art programs are being cut everywhere, and the expense of marketing art seems almost a complete luxury. For those artists just starting out, don't give in. Insist that your school or college keep their art programs, mouth off, protest, do almost anything you have to do to keep art alive in your community, minus any violence or offensive behavior, of course. Do not give up.
Over the years, the pencil drawing of the woman has been always at the back of my mind. Okay, so maybe it was "very good". Maybe it was even a working premonition of who I was to be. I wonder who has it now, or if it ended up in a landfill. I have tried to re-draw it a few times, but I usually stop and say "I did this already".
So here I am, at a crossroads in my thinking, having more financial obligations than I like, and the economy becomes worse than it has been in decades. My grandparents lived through the "Great Depression", and I always have thanked God in some small way for never having to worry about having enough sugar or butter. Or tea. Is that what we now face? Where does that leave art?
At first I, well, panicked. I bought extra pen sets, complete sets of colored pencils, made sure I had oils, egg tempera, ink for my technical pens, sketchbooks, almost everything I could think of. I have certainly over-spent, feeling that I may never have the cash to buy what I feel are my essentials for art. Of course, this also carried over into my fiber-arts - I have fifteen pounds of wool to spin! And extra sets of all my knitting needles and crochet hooks. I mention the fiber arts because one of the things we all face is deciding which "luxury" is really the "essential"? With wool, cotton, and knitting and crocheting, I can make just about anything. Period. Clothes, bags, socks, all the things that truly are essential. With my rapidograph pens and inks, I can truly use the gift of my talent from God, but it doesn't keep the feet warm. These are the decisions we are all facing.
And yet....... there is still that drawing haunting me. And when I look outside my windows here on Cape Cod, I usually see a chickadee. When we are faced with the most difficult challenges life can give us, I have "always" relied on a concept of thought for myself. The chickadees don't wear socks. In the middle of a cold, grey winter, when I am huddled in sweaters or such, complaining about what I don't have, I look outside and marvel at the wonder of God's creations - those chickadees out there do not have any socks on, and yet they do just fine in ten degree weather.
The chickadees are more than a concept of thought - it's the truth - God has already done whatever we needed Him to do.
Today, thinking again "Okay, do I have all that I need to survive the next few years at least with my art?", I still did it, I went shopping. I have gone through all my current supplies, and yes I have enough. There is always more that I "want", but I have what I "need" for the most part. So, I thought, I better find something that will get me through no matter what happens. A year or so ago, I had decided to work with sketch pens ( Parker Vector pens and Noodler's Permanent inks). If worse comes to worse, and I can't afford replacing delicate rapidograph pens, I have a wonderful Noodler's permanent blue ink (Legal Lapis) and a stockpile of Parker pens. True pen and ink - one color in a pen.
So, today, I decided the counterpart was the beautiful brown and charcoal tones of traditional sketching pencils. That led to a search for all the "sketch sets" I could look at. I suggest, that if you are struggling with finances, you accept Mr. Bolton's suggestion to me, and buy a pencil sketch set, and explore or re-explore pencil. There are a great number of brands, many variations of the traditional four or so colors (Sanguine, Sepia, White, and Charcoal for example). You might even want to get a set of colored pencils, but be careful not to be enticed by color if you are looking for pure simplicity. By that I mean that it is the pencil sketch that has followed me though the years and not the oil painting which was in color. I found something out today while shopping, and after viewing so many choices. What I truly need is God's grace to allow my talent to flourish. That sounds like this is a somewhat "cute" story with a Norman Rockwell-type conclusion, but it truly is all I need. I have bins and bins now of art equipment, and as I was looking today again at so many ways to express oneself through art, I realized it is the thought, the talent, and the acceptance of that talent, that completes the circle with God, and not which equipment I own.
I bought a box of Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 pencils, a box of those nice little pink erasers that go on top of the pencils, and one thing I really treated myself to - an old-fashioned metal pencil sharpener that bolts to a desk, just like I had in school. You see, all these years, in some ways, I have still been insisting I already knew how to draw, to paint, to be "good" at my work of art. Still arrogant in my insistence that I had to move to "the next level", thinking in some ways that was having the best equipment only. Yet I never had before treated myself to a simple pencil sharpener, even though I had always wanted one. Today I did. For all of $12.00 or so, I have my pencil sharpener. And my pencils, and some erasers that don't quite work as well as white vinyl erasers, and maybe that will encourage me to make less mistakes, to take more care.
I encourage you to also find your center, to accept perhaps, that we already have what we need, and sometimes the equipment we buy is simply a reflection of our own fear of not having enough. Buy a pencil. Smile at a chickadee in the middle of winter, as you realize it has no socks on, and most of all Look Up.
Laurie A.E. O'Meara
May 15, 2009
Please check my Newest Work page for upcoming drawings.
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"Pear in Shadow" sketch.
Completed in under 10 minutes, on an index card, with a Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil.
May 16, 2009 - laeom
Please also note: If you really like to work in color, and want to economize to the bare minimum, look for my page on crayons. Yes, crayons. Featuring, for the most part, Crayola crayons that most of us grew up with, this page will show examples of how such a simple and humble crayon can allow all types of self-expression, including fine art work.
My line of Simply Art (c) Beeswax Crayons are available here.
And, if you find graphite or crayons not suited to your style, please read my page on Silverpoint, a third economical way to create fine art.