Archive for the ‘Landscape Art’ Category
New Year’s Resolutions for the Landscape Painter
Here we are almost a week into the New Year. Have all you landscape painters made your New Year’s resolutions? What do you want to achieve this year? Usually we make a few resolutions, then life gets in the way, and in a few weeks we have forgotten or neglected our heartfelt desires.
If you decide that this will be “your year”, you will need to: 1) Write down your goals. This gives you the focus to follow through. Make them realistic, but with leeway. Put this list where you can see it every day. 2) Make a plan. Develop a roadmap to achieve the goals and desires you want for this year. 3) Set a deadline. When you have a deadline for achieving a goal, you are more likely to follow through and actually make it happen. Highlight the deadline date for each idea and look at it every day. Challenge yourself to finish each idea by the selected deadline. 4) The “how” comes once you have decided to follow your dreams. So, decide what you want for the year, make a plan, set a deadline for each idea and know that the “how” will take care of itself.
Tips for Getting a Grant by the Landscape Painter – Part 2
Yesterday’s article about getting a grant for the landscape painter continues: Like the project you’re proposing. Only apply to a fellowship or propose a project that you’re actually interested in doing. Most programs have specific requirements for applications, so make certain you understand them. For example, if you’re not a sculptor, applying for a fellowship to support sculptors is not for you. Follow the proposal submission directions meticulously, with attention to page limitations, font size, spacing, number of copies, etc.
Be professional. Proofread your application for typos, misspellings and grammatical errors. If images of your work are required, provide high-quality photographs or digital files. Program themes and qualifications can and often do vary from year to year so always be certain you have a current grant prospectus. Don’t procrastinate in requesting letters of recommendation: Asking colleagues can be intimidating, but don’t put it off! Writing good letters will take your colleagues some time, so give them ample notice.
Tips for Getting a Grant for the Landscape Painter – Part 1
These tips are listed in the January issue of the Artist’s Magazine and are important for the landscape painter to heed. Search online for opportunities. The internet provides a wealth of information. Network with members of local art associations, such as city arts councils and sign up to receive the clubs’ newsletters. Be conscious of the application deadline. The application process will take time, so start preparing early.
Be wary of application fees. Most legitimate groups that distribute grants and fellowships are nonprofit organizations and don’t require fees for applicants. Many programs are theme-based; therefore your application should directly address the theme. Understand all budget restrictions. For example, if the granting organization is unable to provide support for capital equipment, your budget cannot include funding to buy a camera.
The Landscape Painter’s Vision
Happy New Year, everyone! Do you ever wander back to that time when you first started thinking about making art? Do you ever think of the vision that you first had – how your art would be made, its themes, its looks? How simple it was then. For some of us it was just a matter of learning the skills and enacting our vision.
Then with a little seasoning under our belts, we modified, changed, expanded, contracted. We grew – or perhaps regressed. We landscape painters are constantly faced with forks in our roads – and the realization that some of the paths we take are a genuine pressing ahead with our dreams, and others a caving into demands and the easy backslide into mediocrity. It’s sometimes possible to confuse creativity with compromise.
Perhaps it’s a matter of figuring out what is true. Take a break regularly and reassess where you are going, review whether you are doing what you truly like and want to do. What are you doing right? What is uniquely yours? Which subjects and stylistic elements give you satisfaction?
Go back to your dreams. Feel the evolution since the beginning as a natural unfolding. Think of misguided moves only as potholes and part of the process. Breathe deeply, be thankful and be true to your true self.
A Must-Have Magazine for the Landscape Painter
One of my favorite magazines is Professional Artist, formerly Art Calendar. In the December issue, on the cover are listed four articles, all very important to the landscape painter: Refine Your Artwork, Master the Art of Critique, Learn to Teach Workshops and Be More Productive.
Also within the magazine are three monthly columns: Coaching the Artist Within, The Photo Guy and Heart to Heart (Are you a 20% artist?) as well as three other interesting articles including Planning Your Art Business (Part 3: Tracking Cash Flow). In the back of the magazine are a bushel of contests, exhibition opportunities, calls to artists by galleries, grants and fellowships, juried shows, publishing opportunities and residencies, some with fees and some without. I find all these articles relevant to me, interesting and thought provoking and the contests interesting to contemplate. Professional Artist comes out ten times per year, costs $37/year and the web site is http://www.professionalartist.com. I wouldn’t be without it! Happy New Year, Everyone!
Nirvana for the Landscape Painter
A well known anthropologist, Robert Ardrey, wrote in the 1860s that living beings are driven by four factors that govern their performance: Security, Recognition, Reward and Stimulation. As a civil servant tends to be more driven to achieve security (stability), the creative soul of the landscape painter is more driven by stimulation rather than any of the others.
It is stimulation that makes us cut through the skin and get to the meat, simply to work harder, to surround oneself with like-minded people, to experiment, to push boundaries, to look at everything sideways, to levitate onto a more spiritual dimension and see life from an objectively focused vantage point. Our Nirvana is a far cry from the TV set or a pat on the back.
Robert Genn, Landscape Painter
Today I received the book Robert Genn’s Twice Weekly Letters from July 10, 1999 to September 25, 2009. It is a good 2” thick volume and was my gift for joining the Premium Artists on his website, The Painter’s Keys. I shall enjoy reading that for a long time to come.
I love receiving his twice weekly newsletters. They are witty, thoughtful and informational. Genn is a landscape painter who paints mostly in acrylics, sometimes in oils, as I understand it. He lives near Vancouver, BC, Canada. He doesn’t teach, but conducts occasional workshops with his daughter. Examples of his current work, galleries and art dealers can be found at www.robertgenn.com.
The Claus Factor for Landscape Painters
Robert Genn, Canadian landscape painter, in his twice weekly newsletter reminds us that Santa urges his followers to go forth and be generous. “An artist gives,” said Veronica Roth. “He gives visually, through courses, with free advice, through generosity of spirit and through a need to share.”
It’s not surprising that most charity fund raisers are near the Santa Season. We love to donate – a fine way to help a children’s hospital, a dance center, a small village in Africa, or further research toward a cure for cancer.
Of course, there are little gifts we give on our own. A gift that is personally crafted by the giver is most likely to be a treasure by the receiver. It seems that Santa’s up-north workshop, once hands-on and all abuzz with creative elves has now been transmogrified into a Chinese factory – all the more reason to get out your brushes. “It is when you give of yourself,” said Kahlil Gibran, “that you truly give.”
Facebook Fan Pages for the Landscape Painter
Every landscape painter should have a fan page to drive traffic to his/her website and blog. The books I ordered last week regarding how to do this have not had time to arrive, but sometime this week I’m looking forward to getting my fan page up and running. At any rate, in the article by Lori McNee in the January issue of The Artist’s Magazine, she lists more fan page tips.
First, choose a page name that reflects your brand. Note that once you have 100 connections you won’t be able to change your fan page name so make the initial decision a good one. Secondly, to gain more fans and followers, add a Facebook widget to your blog. By adding a fan box or “like” button to your blog, you’ll encourage visitors to join your page. Third, you should always post your blog links to your fan page wall. You can choose to use a blogging network such as NetworkedBlogs or Blogged to automatically integrate a feed to your latest posts. Fourth, post Facebook profile updates at least 4 times a week but no more than 5 times a day with the postings preferably spaced apart. You might start to get complaints if you flood your followers’ feeds with too many updates.
Holiday Greetings
The holidays are here. There is only a little time left to do the last minute preparation – to share gifts and thoughts with those who are dear to us.
I want to thank all of you for reading and subscribing to my blog – for being passionate about creating and willing to put yourself “out there” for the world to see and judge – for your great desire to become better, not just as an artist but as a person – to trust yourself enough to go deep and find the artist that resides within your soul. It is you that makes the world a brighter place to live, and I thank you. Wishing you a happy Holiday Season and best wishes for the New Year.