Lately I have been noticing that much of the head space I need to be in while making my art is one that is comfortable with making mistakes. The search that goes into making art is an essential ingredient. Work that is born out of plenty of mistakes and corrections, at least in my experience, ends up having a potency and a depth all it’s own.

In leading workshops I have always tried to create an environment that makes mistake-making permissible. However, now I go one step further and come right out and say that the series of inevitable mistakes about to be made as they embark on a new work is essential, required even, if they want to produce amazing art. Mistakes and the resulting corrections are as important as color, texture and even design in art. read more…

I don’t know what to write about. I am not sure what to paint. When I feel this way I just admit it and sit here… And wait. OK, what am I feeling? There must be something? I feel  emptiness. Openness perhaps. Surely that feels better than emptiness.

What feels open?

When I think of open I think of a sky. A perfectly clear, blue sky with a steady breeze. And the temperature would be that perfect one.

I remember laying in the sand many years ago on the top of a sand dune in Cabo San Lucas. I had just swam a long way in the ocean. My body was tired and I was still wet. The sun felt amazing as did the warm sand beneath my towel. And then a breeze picked up. The wind was about 74 degrees. It was not cool at all but it was not hot either. It felt like a thousand kind touches across my skin. There were flowering pale yellow cactus’ covering the hills that perfumed the air with a delicate sweetness. I lay with my eyes closed and was engulfed in such an overwhelming sense of well being. Joy actually. I felt so absolutely content, so utterly happy, that I never forgot that moment. I am reminded of the confluence of those perfect conditions whenever a wind or breeze brushes across my face and I recognize that force, that perfect temperature.

It reminds me that the possibility for absolute contentedness is just waiting right below the surface of things. Always… Joy doggedly follows us around until we notice it, we might not, but it is always there.

Openness can come out of emptiness. A blue sky with such a perfect breeze can come from the small space of not knowing. And from that, a painting can be started. A painting that I am almost certain will be mostly blue.

What reminds you that you are alive and ready to create?

With gratitude,

Nicholas

P.S. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

I just came across a painting I made about 25 years ago. It was an assignment I did in school. The teacher handed out fortune cookies and after we all ate them  we were supposed to create a picture that communicated the fortune that was inside. Mine was a reminder of how in times of great anger there also is  the possibility for reconciliation. Both simultaneously exist together. Always. My assignment was to depict this duality.

How could I show the idea that somehow when we are feeling incredibly guarded and hurt that we can leave some crack of ourselves open to the possibility of reconciliation. That amidst the anger and hurt there is also the choice of forgiveness? read more…

About 10 years ago I had an art show in Santa Fe. The gallery decided to take an ad out in Art News magazine to publicize the show. I thought long and hard about which painting I wanted in the ad as I knew that the whole show was riding on the this single image. If people liked it they would visit the gallery on line or in person and possibly purchase my art.

The first day the ad came out, a couple from Austin, Texas called the gallery and said they were interested in purchasing the painting. The magazine had barely come out and already someone was trying to buy my painting. This felt like an omen. I just knew the show was going to sell out. I presumed this painting was for sure sold. If it wasn’t it would be when the next people called who wanted to buy it.  They asked for a slight discount on price and I told the gallery absolutely not. Why should I discount something that was clearly going to be in such high demand? I figured they would buy it anyway and were just bluffing… read more…

Art is a reflection of who you are. This makes it both compelling and at the same time kind of nauseating. Although most people, and I am certainly in this camp, find the subject of themselves pretty interesting. If you ever don’t know what to say to someone, my Father always said, just ask them an earnest question about themselves and that problem will go away. Art IS an answer, although often pretty nuanced, to who we are or who we are becoming. This is interesting as a general rule to the artist. It also can be fascinating to others if the arc of created art piling up behind the artist is long enough and able to be seen. read more…

There is something amazing that happens when you become clear about what you want…

You often get it.

Sometimes it’s hard to discern this phenomenon in life.  So many things are happening at once that it becomes difficult to remember why something shifts.  Perhaps years later you realize that things did turn out in a way that you had hoped they would.  Although difficult to sometimes see in life, this idea about intention and clarity is more easily seen in the process of making art. read more…

In most businesses, you are trying to sell something to someone. The more perfected your offering becomes, the more it is wanted and so, the more you are supposedly able to sell. This is how business works.

But not Fine Art. It has a peculiar way of reacting to the commercialization of itself. “Successful” commercialization in “Fine Art” actually diminishes the possibility to engage or even participate in exclusive markets. Mass appeal eliminates the possibility for growth in pricing and market positioning.  If you sell your work too cheap then it will be considered cheap. If everyone knows of it and desires it, then it appears too commercial. read more…

What is it about spring that  wakes us up? I love this picture. It was taken last week in Vermont and it is my daughter who is impatiently waiting for me to run up and join her on this gorgeous hilltop in Vermont. It feels like a time of possibility. Invitation. The time is now. The moment is so precious that it could easily slip from my hands and be a distant memory.  I just want to hold on.  Just remember these moments. Savor them.

I go through different patches of hard and easy when it comes to creating artwork. Spring comes and invariably recharges my soul. There is so much around me that inspires me… nature, blossoming trees, sunshine, and even warmer, longer days. In many ways I think Spring brings a reminder of what brought me into art in the first place.

In making art,  I just want to hold on.  Just remember these moments. And savor them.

I just received this interesting blog post on indecision by Jonathon Fields that I found totally illuminating.

The idea here is that trying so hard to decide and figure out whether “A” or “B” is better, can sometimes overshadow a third option which is choosing neither one by simply postponing-basically ending up in possibly the most challenging state which is indecision.

If you choose “A” and upon reflection “B” was the correct answer then there are all kinds of things you can do in response to the changes brought on with making the wrong decision. One of the most important ideas regarding the wrong decision and one that has comforted me on sleepless nights when regret creeps in, is the  simple idea that we can make a “wrong  decision a right one.” read more…