Being an Artist!

What is it like to be an artist?

Demonstration - IAPS Convention

Part of being an artist ... besides doing artwork ... is attending association meetings, doing research into what you want to paint (if painting is the kind of art you do), accumulating the art supplies, reading books and magazines on your art, attending workshops, conventions, etc. And, what do you do with the artwork you create? Sell it by putting it in a gallery or shows? Marketing is a large part of what you do if you are selling. If it is a hobby, then you are probably giving them to friends and family.

I am in the process of writing a book about "Being an Artist" ... which is my working title. So the ideal of what it is like to be an artist is the gist of the book. I hope to address many of the issues of the life of an artist, not necessarily techniques for painting, but the day to day things we deal with. There is such a misconception about being an artist and how carefree we are. I probably work well over 40 hours a week doing what I do for my art. Yes, our schedule can be flexible, but if not careful, your time gets frittered away before you know it. Respect for what we do, and thinking of it as a job.... yes a pleasurable one ... is a key element in being successful.

So this is just a small snippet of some of what will be in the book. This post is about the most recent attendance at the pastel convention known as IAPS! 

The beginning of the above waterfall! 14"x11"

Attending the IAPS Convention!

This June 2017, my husband and I went to the IAPS convention (International Assoc. of Pastel Societies) in Albuquerque NM. I think this was my eighth convention for IAPS. We love going and Haywood helps out in the Terry Ludwig Pastel booth in the vendor market... so he keeps occupied while I do my networking (meeting with my friends) and demonstrations in the vendor market for Terry Ludwig and Ampersand Pastelbords. In years past, I would go to different sessions, so it was a good thing he was occupied and not just bored and sitting around waiting on me. 

Above you can see the waterfall painting the way it was when I stopped. And, you can see the small number of pastels in the Strada Easel, that I used for the painting. The photograph is in the upper right, but has a glare on it. 

I probably won't do anything more to this painting.... it has charm just the way I left it! And, to the left you can see how I started the laying in of pastel on a grey Ampersand Pastelbord. You can see the simplicity of the dark and light pattern to the painting... which is a wonderful way to see if the composition will work out well.

I was at the Ampersand booth demonstrating the use of their boards! I did this for the three days of the convention's vendor market. I also had on a Terry Ludwig apron, and talked a lot to attendees about the use of his pastels as well as the boards. His booth, a double booth, was just a couple away from me. 

I did four more demonstration paintings over the three days, but I think I'll break up this post into a couple more so it won't become so long. Here is an image of just this painting as I stopped that day.

How I stopped for the day!