Make Time your Friend not your Enemy

"Release" 24 x 30 mixed media
(Currently I'm adding two panels on each side and turning this into a triptych.)

Get a group of people together and their number one concern is time or the lack thereof. Their problem isn’t a lack of ideas. It isn’t money, although, this is a restricting factor. What worries small business owners the most is time. Every decision that is made is concerned with time: what it’s worth, how to set priorities, where to focus it for optimal growth. Marketing alone requires enormous amounts of time, and making product requires time. Without a product, there is nothing to sell.

(Sketch on panel)

A novice once asked me for detailed information on what it cost me to do a painting. He divided it into parts: supplies, paints, canvas, tools, and time spent in the actual painting. This picayunish breakdown was designed to belittle me and other artist’s work with little regard to the years it takes to perfect a skill or the knowledge required to assimilate what one sees and interpret it on canvas.

I gave him a simple mathematical tool he could use to consider basic costs: Multiply the size of the painting (i.e. 24 x 30), add any overhead costs the artist may have incurred (leased space / gallery, a model, etc.), and add the cost of a frame. This exercise at least gives you a basis from which to judge. Add into the equation, the artist’s background and notoriety and the worth of a painting is much easier to appreciate.

To reduce a painting to a dime-store print or a knock off which has been photographed on canvas and then given a few swipes of paint is an insult. This is not a serious buyer, but a person who hopes to get something for nothing. Walk away!

"1st panel on left" Will require many layers of paint to complete.

Some people get overwhelmed when they see the big picture and understand all the work that is required to become successful. If this is you, try to slow down and take one piece at a time. A child doesn’t learn how to walk all at once. Neither does success come without a series of mini-steps and hurdles to overcome.

Focus on one thing at a time:

• Prioritize your work list in order of importance
• Do as much as is humanly possible in your 24 hour day
• Don’t neglect your health or there will be no business
• Small increments of time are better than nothing
• Use down time for planning, organizing your thoughts, and creatively solving problems.

When your body is at rest, your mind can take over. I mentally paint even when I’m not at the canvas. Sometimes I solve problems in this way. At other times, an idea completely changes and moves in another direction. By the time I’m able to actually work at the canvas, I can move ahead quickly with confidence. Use your time wisely and it can be an asset not a liability.

"Bella Bellissiomo" 16 x 20 Acrylic on canvas
Currently on display at the SWF Coop Gallery at Coconut Point

Two other paintings are on display at this Gallery: "Hey, Coconut Man" and "With These Hands -- Hope"

My Favorite American Beauties Re-Captured

Long ago, I purchased a book that has cheered me up, inspired me, and given me some goals to aspire to. The title: “American Beauties; Women in Art and Literature” with photos of paintings and artwork from the National Museum of American Art, and the Smithsonian Institution, Edited by Charles Sullivan.

I wish I could share the entire book with you. Works of art are matched with literary selections which make the viewing of the piece more interesting and complete. The purpose of this collection is to illustrate beauty “broadly defined” of American women.

“The Girl I Left Behind Me” was painted by Eastman Johnson sometime in 1870-75. It is an oil on a 42x347/8 canvas. The painting was illustrated with an anonymous song by the same name.  Energy is created by the wind and the ocean where wave’s crash and tumultuous skies roll past the young girl who is standing on a cliff longing for her lost love.

The next painting by Theodore Robinson 1887 is called “At the Piano; oil on 16.5x25.25 canvas. It is paired on the page with a poem called “The Day is Done” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

…”Who through long days of labor, and nights devoid of ease, still heard in his soul the music of wonderful melodies. Such songs have power to quiet the restless pulse of care, and come like the benediction that follows after prayer. . . And the night shall be filled with music, and the cares that infest the day, shall fold their tents like the Arabs, and as silently steal away.”

No artist can compare to John Singer Sargent for the painting of portraits. Here is Elizabeth Winthrop Chapman following her marriage in 1898. The porcelain skin color of the period and the expectations for women to be delicate and refined are captured here.

Harry Siddons Mowbray’s painting “Idle Hours, 1885” Oil on 12x16 canvas portrays women as having too much time on their hands. Ezra Pound’s poem “An Immortality” is used as illustration:

“Sing we for love and idleness, Naught else is worth the having. Though I have been in many a land, There is naught else in living. And I would rather have my sweet, Though rose-leaves die of grieving, Than do high deeds in Hungary to pass all men’s believing.”

The women in the painting would probably flutter and faint seeing today’s women “bring home the bacon,” “cook the bacon” all while pleasing a husband and taking care of the children, the laundry, and the home. They never dreamed of “role reversal” or men who would be willing to share the responsibilities.

Mary Cassatt is one of my favorite artists. Her “Sara in a Green Bonnet” 1901, oil on 16x13.5/8 canvas captures the impish smile of the mischievous girl behind all that frippery.

Lara Wheeler Waring’s portrait of “Anna Washington” who was most likely “hired help” in 1927 is an oil on 20x16 canvas. The poem “Old Mary” by Gwendolyn Brooks was used in illustration:

“My last defense is the present tense. It little hurts me now to know I shall not go Cathedral-hunting in Spain nor cherrying in Michigan or Maine.”

The painting captures the look of resignation and longing in Anna Washington’s face. We feel for her. We want to wrap our arms around her and comfort her.

My own pastel painting "Tansy's Pride" shows a more confident woman who is not only self assured, but comfortable in her own skin. Prints are available for purchase at http://carol-allen-anfinsen.artistwebsites.com