Top ten reasons for becoming an artist (by Jill Rumoshosky Werner) :-)

Top ten reasons for becoming an artist

10. You were planning to go on a starvation diet anyway.
9. You thought about being an actor, but wanted more rejection.
8. You look good in a beret.
7. You wouldn't be able to pass a pre-employment drug screening.
6. You've always dreamed of living in a rat-infested loft with no heat and a clogged toilet.
5. The only other career alternative was working for your mother-in-law cleaning up crime scenes.
4. You don't have to presort the laundry because all of your clothes are black.
3. You took three years of Artspeak in high school.
2. You can behave any way you want in public and call it performance art.
1. You can paint nudes. You can even paint on nudes.

Posted by Jill Rumoshosky Werner on Friday, July 06, 2007

http://wernerstudio.typepad.com/redefined/2007/07/top-ten-reasons.html

You too can paint the Mona Lisa

How cool is this?

Just... WOW!

über skills!!

'Martha Washingtons'

This little one (only 5x7 and painted with acrylics), i think, is my favourite one that i've done. Just thought i'd share at least SOMEthing! :-)

"No-brainer-feel-good" Art

Ah. So that's what it's called; the kind of painting i do. Something to do with "the proliferation of the so called 'easy do', 'unschooled' and 'no-brainer-feel-good' art".

I love Robert Genn's work and his marvellous Painter's Keys Twice-Weekly Newsletter - you really should subscribe if you haven't already @

- but sometimes labels get thrown around too much for my taste. It can get a bit judgemental when some of the commenting artists express their opinions.

And that's ok. Everyone has a right to their opinion. And labels seem to be very important to a lot of people. Hey, even i get into them myself sometimes (in a hopefully much less judgmental way).

So, in the name of fun and playfulness, I will take that label of "No-brainer-feel-good Art" and embrace it with joy.

This is how i want to paint right now. I want to paint simple daily situations in a simple folk-art fun style, because it is what i want on my OWN walls. Big stress in the real world warrants simple fun paintings in my world!

That's how i see it . . . for now.

'Trying to Relax'

New Paintings!

I think that cats are going to be a recurring theme in every series i do. These are from two series: Quilts and Women; both have cats, curiously. ;-)

This is how i want to paint right now. I want to make happy, colourful folk-art paintings. I want to paint small (they are 6x6 & 5x7). I want to paint fun scenes from everyday life. Maybe they're more suited to greeting cards, but it's what i want on MY walls, so that's what i'm going to paint.

One thing that will probably keep me from ever becoming a 'real' artist... IE: one who actually sells their work... is that i still don't want to part with my paintings! How does one actually get over that? I just don't know! I paint what i love, and i love what i paint, and i want to keep it! :-D Oh well.

Anyway, here they are (along with their numbers for my reference sake):

22-Qui1-LogCabinWithTuxedo

23-Qui2-SawtoothWithSiamese

24-Wom1-TryingToRelax

25-Wom2-UnhappyParticipant

I've been painting!

I have finally done what i've wanted to do for decades. Take some painting classes! I should have gone to art school when i was younger (that is my ONE regret in this life), but i didn't. So now, i'm starting to take some week-long workshops.

The last one i went to was one on Colour Theory. Very important for me, because i love colour so much and want lots of it in my paintings, yet i am so afraid of it! The class helped me a lot, though i have a VERY long road ahead of me. At least i have taken the first few steps! Yay! :D

This workshop was at a great studio on Quadra Island... Firesign Art & Design Studio and B&B. It was incredible to stay there for an entire week, immersed in art with other like-minded artists. What an experience!


Sept/06 Note: *sigh* Unfortunately, because i had nowhere to paint once i got home (in this construction zone.. we're building a house), my choo-choo-kachoo got up and left. I'm back in my slump!

My style...

I seem to lean towards a very definite style. Even when i try to do other things, i end up back to this way (rough & seeing the background through the paint). So it's good. I have a way i want to paint things.

Actually, i enjoy a few styles. One very folk-arty (which is my background), one sort of cartoon-y and graphic and a rather impressionistic style. I can't wait until my new house / new studio is finished (though it will probably be half a year). I want to dedicate so much more time painting and experimenting!

*sigh* I'm painting! :-)

Jan/11 Note: This post was done more than four years ago... I had thought that the house would be finished in "probably 6 months". Well, it's still not finished! We live in in now, but it's still a construction zone! I do NOT want to think about it! Grrrr. *Puts fingers back into ears and says, "lalalalalala"*  ;-)