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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- Towards the end of my Father's life, he lost his momentum to make his Art.
I remember when he asked me, "Why keep making art if no one is buying?" It is a common question I hear other artists ask, but I never thought I would hear my Father, an artist who taught me everything I know about keeping momentum in my art practice, ask.
At first blush, it is a debilitating thought. Nested within the question, is a feeling of collapse. Maybe it is just better to throw in the towel and stop.
Maybe I am wasting my time. This question, if left unanswered, can erode your art practice and the vital energy needed to maintain it.
We need to move, once again, from the external to the internal worlds of our artmaking. It is here where true progress, buoyancy, and inspiration are cultivated.
Here are three positive reframes that can help you move on to more important, meaningful questions regarding your Art.
These ideas came out of one of the last conversations with my Father I had about his artmaking. I think, even though he posed the question, he knew the answer.
How do you move forward despite lagging sales? Let us know in the comments.
I hope your day in the studio is sunny and bright.
Nicholas
PS Check out the Free Art2Life Artists Facebook Group:
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Every day, artists from all over the world are creating amazing art and you are invited!
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It is painful to have a room full of work just sitting there, but to me, finished work is really about the past. The excitement comes from experimenting and finding new ways to express my spirit. Painting comes from an inner urge related to psychological growth and if it is denied, something dies inside.
I have not sold a painting in years but my love of painting never never stops, the process of painting is so important to me and my life.
"artifact of your resilience"- Wow! Love this, and so true. Making art, consistently, def takes deep resilience. Thank you!
"The making is better than the selling". Thank you Nicholas. If we don't keep our energy positive, it will reflect in our art and ultimately in our sales. People feel your Love or they feel your Fear.
This is something every serious artist feels from time to time, thank you
Today I listened to a young man that teach about Photoshop. Amazing how capable this being made a decision to learn as much he could and be able to pass on his knowledge to others in a easy model. And the wisdom when he talks about quality and quantity. Quantity is accountability in the process: how many time are you or I going to make things? How much are you going to do or be able to share with others? Number just being numbers. The quality is a matter of taste and as we know taste is just a subjective estimation of something. Not everybody has the same taste.
And this made it my day more lighter and happiest. I decide for a while not to share my art on IG. More for the problem with quality and the impostor syndrome that dominate my mind. Awful's thoughts and feelings dominating the purist flow of my soul. And now this video is like the confirmation need it to keeping showing and making my art no matter what.
Thank you!!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!!!!
For me the making of art is to enter a very special open and aware state of consciousness unconditionally - its to enter into an open space of creativity unconditionally - like love you must give and receive unconditionally
I agree with this whole-heartedly. Not that it’s always easy, but so very true.
Thank you for sharing that and it must have been difficult to witness...
I made a conscious effort to try and sell my paintings (again) since 2020 especially, due to physical and psychic storage issues! A painter friend once told me I should just stop producing. But I can't - I'm an artist, I need to create. I've sold work 14 years after it was made! I live in Ireland which is a very small and somewhat conservative market, but I will keep going because it's who I am... as you said, don't produce with sales in mind, do it to keep exploring, improving, for the love of it.. 😃🎨♥
Loved hearing you speak with such clarity re a difficult experience. I sell well sometimes - usually commissions are a delight and then I go a little nuts with works cluttering my home studio. I’m going to give some away I think to people who have said they love them but have nothing to spend on art .
Yes, we start using the praise as a crutch to hold us up and hold up our art making. We should really do it for the enjoyment and fulfillment we get from it...the sales can follow if it's in your fate.
Thanks Nick for taking the time to answer a question as significant. I started my art journey as a photographer. I used to sell my work. Over a period of time I found myself not liking my work. Reflecting on the causes, I determined that I seem to have forgotten about the original and genuine reason I became an artist. Selling was everything and to the extent of creating work that pleased the audience at the expense of satisfying my creative urges. My response was to stop selling and create the work I love dissociated from marketplace trends, wants and pleasantries. Ever since I became ever more creative and so much happier. Fortunately for me, I have a good paying job that I don’t have to sell my work. My work became more personal in depicting my journey, which I cherish everyday.
Great session Nick. At 75 these feeling arise but the incredible desire to make art is strong and now am doing the CVP for me.
Enthusiasm, excitement and more for this soul work.
I have gone through this also! But recently I’ve been listening to your workshop - I am taking piles and piles of canvases and looking at them with new eyes and some are getting to be improved and some painted over completely. I was feeling like why am I making all this when it’s unwanted! At the same time I was being too attached to old irrelevant work. What a relief to know it’s only paint and I can slap more on.
Nick, I came upon this site a little while ago and you impressed me with your warmth and ability to talk to people and make them feel at ease.
The topic of this video is something I am sure all artists deal with somehow, I know I am dealing with it now and it can be mind numbing.
I like many have a stack of paintings and no buyers ( that doesn't bum me out so much ), I have sold some and given away more ( this makes me elated, because they end up with someone who truly feels them ). My solution is to paint over canvases, it pains me but it's better than it sitting collecting dust ( and they are expensive ).
Keep being you.
I lost interest in Arts because my arts don’t sell as much as I sell my cupcakes. I’m frustrated by it and don’t think I’m good enough. I don’t know where I’m going. My husband encourages that it’s not about selling, but the most important thing is that I create something. I still need time to digest that. Thank you for this video. I might find my way back to arts some day.
Thank you for every word you said ❤
Painting behind you is really fantastic 😃
thank you, this
Words are very precious ! something important to be aware in creators life.
I learn with each painting I create and it helps me evolve my work,I love to paint be it digitally or traditionally,When I can see a real progression in my work it motivates me to keep working.I see each new piece as a stepping stone in my ongoing visual language. I think if you have it in mind that you should paint to sell it wil drag you down when you don't sell. I do sell my work which is great, but it's not the reason I paint,to make money.I paint because I want to always improve as an artist and to se where my ideas will take me next.I only evr wante to be an artist, and when asked as a child what I wanted to be when I grew up I would say "To be an artist" and fate has twisted in such a favorable way that I am an artist,and I realise it's a gift to be able to be so,making my work helps me engage with the world around me but also with myself on a much deeper level,I love the sense of anticipation I have when I walk into my studio space each time.I paint because I love it. I do show my work and do sell it,but to me a sale is just an added bonus and being invited to show is an oppertunity,but I don't paint with a view to exhibiting or selling my work,I paint because I have so much I want o express.It takes time to establish yourself as an artist with other people I didn't show or sell for many years, but it never got me down or stopped me working,but I knew in timw thing s would change, and it would happen at the right time for me as an artist and a person.I belive in time the work we create as artists will find the right audience/viewers,but we have to be patient and keep working,keep exploring,keep painting.Social media is a great place to put your work and it can help you find your audience/viewrers but it can also put you in touch with other artists who cabn advise and support you and sgare their knowledge and exprience with you.I sense when the world opens up again,art will have a hure part in the new future,because being in lockdown and being at home so much people are contemplating the space they live in a new way, looking at their four walls with a view to making changes as to what they hang on them.We al have more time in the syudio than we've had before because of the pandemic but I have loved this reality and I have really pushed myself creatively.If I'm not painting on canvas or digitally I'm working in my sketchbooks,I work every day. My art is part of my well being,it's a form of creative self care,and that's also part of the motivation to keep working.If you are not selling it doesn't mean your a bad artist in any way or that your art is bad,it just means maybe it's not the right time for you,but it will happen and those future doors of chances to show and to sell will open,but in the mean time just engage with your creatvity and get as much as you can out of your painting in whatever form this takes,evaluate your own progress as it's happening and be open to new directions that arise in how you work and enjoy where it may take you and be empowered by the positvity when something clicks/works in a work you are creating,if you love what you are doing as you are doing it your work will evolve and get better it realy will and you will be able to see the progress you are making.
P.s looking back I did sometimes question why I wasn't selling or being invited to show my work,and I realise now I simply wasn't ready to,I didn't have the confidence in myself or my work at the time and realised if I had no confidence in myself as an artist and my work that others wouldn'y have confidence in me either,but I kept on working and got constructive advice from other more established artists I knew which helped me along and I found slowly liitle by liitle I did begin to gain a confidence in what I was doing.There weill be 'quiet' times when work doesn't sell and opertunities to exhibit don't arise, but those times will pass and it's the nature of the creative path,it has highs and lows,but the thing is to keep working through the lows so when things change for the better you are ready to engage with what oppertunities prsent themselves in the future.
Completely agree! I love the "this too shall pass" reference. It is what I live my life by. The bad times will come and go and so will the GOOD times. No one ever stays up. Life is an undulation and if you get too caught up on one momentum you will not grow. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and best of luck to your journey.
@@coffeewithpepper1233 Thank you,and I wish you the best luck on your creative journey too,stay safe and be inspired.
Nailed it!!!!! 3 great take aways for the artists but also a simple way of conveying the importance of the process vs. product for the people on the outside to understand the value behind an artists work.... I am an k5 teacher and this is a great message for principals/directors and parents (and of course the kids) on understanding value behind student process. xoxo
I’m finding that it’s possible to feel good about making new pieces and yet bad about them accumulating. I get a thrill when I look at a piece and go, “hey...that’s done!” For at least a brief moment, I’m happy with my work and not thinking about anyone else. The part that frustrates me is when I look at the pile of paintings I have and wish some of them could find a home. (Some of them have, but I’m still making more than I’m selling.) the thrill of making - it’s almost “solving” - is a separate feeling from the thrill of “selling”. But I can see how your dad let one feeling influence the other. Ultimately, we make things for others to enjoy.
boom that part where you said " the art will give you everything you need to keep going " But you have to be in it!!! I felt that.
This is a topic that I am coming to terms with. You have to always keep your why at the center and not focus on one side or the other. If your why in life and is money and fame then you will always be disappointed. But if your why is growth then you will always have meaning.
I cold relate to your dad's story because my grandfather went through the same at the end of his life with his garden. My grandfather's way of expression was growing and planting. When he was unable to physically plant anymore he lost his drive to live. It was about a year process and it was painful to watch. I hope I paint until literally the day I die. Good talk. :)
Wow, thank you, Nicholas This is why I am in Art4Life
My answer to that question would be, why is that even a question? But I do see what you’re saying. My art is accumulating but I like being surrounded by them because it’s a good reminder of where I’ve come from. It definitely can be depressing at times but I try to not go there. I purely love making art but I can see close to end of life it could be a different thought process. Thanks Nic, very good talk 🙏🏻
Thank you. 😊❤️
Really powerful communication. Your story and message are meaningful for all of us, especially during these constrained times. And particularly so for those hitting art-career snags at any time, and looking at their mounting "inventory" of artworks. We often need reminders along the way: Creating artworks may be a business for some , but it's MORE than a business. It's a life (not a lifestyle) that develops in the doing of it, and the doing of it may, in fact, develop you. Thank you for sustaining the WHY of what we chose and renewably choose to do as artists.
A footnote: I just joined the CVP workshop and, in my focus on it, missed looking at these wonderfully free posts. My message to share with others at this workshop: don't miss these.
It was great Monday morning session. Thank you sensei ❤️
Why keep making art if no one is buying?
Because if I don't I'll go nuts, for starters.
Thanks Nick. I love listening your heartfelt advice and expressions.
Important message! Thank you!
Thanks a lot you are so good in just hitting me where I need it. Thank you just the line of thinking I have right now.
I keep making art in spite of not selling anything because I feel that it's something that will trascend me, besides being very good for my psique.
Thank you !
Thanks Nic!
I think my art was much better as a beginner. I do a monotype regularly, oftentimes every day, for 2 years now. I have over a hundred finished pieces. Yes, I have learned the tools and applications and have progressed in the skills area, but I miss being a beginner and know I can never go back. My work just seems very blah at this point. How to return to the old days past and make interesting art?
Thank you.
I never made art to sell it. In fact, I do not want to sell it, I want to keep it. For me it feels a bit like selling my children. Seems that this is not normal? Maybe I have to have so much art pieces, that it does not matter if I give some away ... 🤔
I just stumbled onto this video today.
I have a confession to make; yes, I am an artist and just getting started again after a long hiatus.
Finding it pretty hard to stay focused. I now have a sketchbook in front of me, planning paintings and ideas and still end up doing very little but stare at a blank page.
Then I start doing other things and end up doing no art.
Help, please !
Try setting aside some you time every day and just play. No doubt it will encourage you to continue, just have fun. Doodle lol
Artists cannot live on compliments alone
Artists trained since the 60s or 70s or so were taught to "bring for your inner angst" or "express what's deep in your soul". I don't get why art programs don't require BUSINESS CLASSES. The way economics works is providing something to someone that THEY want--not what you want. I absolutely could not stay in my art program in college. It was beyond stupid.