artist – Page 3 – Moose Pants Studio

Break’s over, baby

Joanna Zeller Quentin / art, artist, charcoal, create, creating, horse, horses, painting, sales /

Okay, okay. I admit it. I’ve been enjoying my two weeks off. Amid economic uncertainty and under much personal angst, I took my leave from my employer of four years. The time was right, ripe… perhaps overripe, with a distinct air of moldy about it. Meh. Had a couple of interviews, put out a resume or two, and kind of lazed around the house for the past two weeks.

Good news on a few fronts. I have kept my record of being offered every job I’ve applied for (two at the moment) AND it’s given me a chance to get back into the studio and actually do some art. Big shows are coming up- AAEA in particular- and that is hot on the heels of Muse I being accepted to the HITS Art on the Hudson extravaganza up in New York. It’s a big deal. The painting will be gallery hopping for a few months and then will be sold (hopefully) the same weekend as the new million dollar Grand Prix. Lots of exposure, lots of horse people, and hopefully lots of fun… if I get to go, and I hope to.

Back to the art. People who know me know that my studio is full of half finished pieces, and my head is full of even more that haven’t made it on to paper or canvas yet. I work on something, put it away, bring it back out, work on it some more, and then decide if it’s worth continuing or if it literally and figuratively belongs on the scrap pile. Some paintings don’t work out. They just don’t. And some of them come together brilliantly after a few months or even years. And don’t ask me how or why- I have no idea. One day I dig the thing out, look at it and think, “Ah! It wants…. purple! right there.” And, voila! done painting.

One of the nice things about commissions is that they usually have a set deadline- they HAVE to get done by X day or I don’t get paid and lose a customer. Same thing with shows. I tend to work to a show deadline, sometimes with several pieces at once, all vying for a spot on the entry form. Rarely these days do I do a piece just for fun. But that’s what I’ve been doing lately. No real pressure, no master plans, just ideas I’ve been kicking around in my head and want to get on paper. I’m trying to simplify- my art, my life, my everything. AE London (an artist who I admire greatly) talks about, “… the magic of deliberate mark making… the line itself can speak volumes.” And she’s right. Line, shape, form. The hardest thing in the world is to do a piece of art simply. The urge to overwork is overpowering. I have been accused of being “seduced by media” in the past, and so I’ve been very careful what I’ve been putting on the paper lately. Yesterday it was conte crayon. The day before, conte, charcoal and coffee. The day before that? Colored pencil. These may not be show pieces, and they may never be shown publicly or put in a portfolio or turned into prints. But they have been fun, and I’ve enjoyed the process of creating art, maybe more than I have in years.

I’m painting! I’m painting!

Joanna Zeller Quentin / Arisman, art, artist, charcoal, equine art, fear and frustration, figure drawing, horse, painting /

Well, my self imposed three month hiatus has officially come to an end… with the flourish of a paintbrush. Despite (or perhaps IN spite of) staying out of the studio for the past few months, I’ve managed to land three new portraiture clients, sell some giclees, get accepted to a few shows (including the AAEA Fall Open Exhibition- first acceptance- YEAH!!!) and distribute the remainder of my latest set of postcards- a fact I discovered when I finished compiling my latest mailing list, hit the print button and then happily trotted off to the box where the postcards live… only to discover there were only a handul left. So… in desperation I went through my portfolio looking for a new postcard piece, but nothing really jumped out at me… can you guess where this is going????

A few months ago (three, to be exact) I drew out a really cool charcoal of a horse- head on- with the most amazing lighting. It was from a photo I’d taken at the HITS show in Ocala of this amazing, drool-worthy jumper who was doing (get this) half passes and canter pirouettes in the warmup ring before his round. (I know, jumps 5′ easy AND does upper level dressage????? Good for his owner!) Anyway, I was going for more of an edgy look, heavy lines, deep shadows on rough textured gessoed Masonite, and I had some sort of vague notion that I wanted the charcoal to show through the oil. Maybe. But I drew it out and was so pleased with it that I sprayed the thing down with fixative… and then became completely scared to touch it. It was so cool, so nice, so… ALIVE… that I was immediately screwed.

(Side note- Marshall Arisman came to RSAD to do a few master classes while I was a student. We sat with him in a figure class and watched as he deftly carved out an amazing figure drawing with just a few strokes of charcoal in about 15 seconds. He stopped and stared at the drawing for a moment, and with one sweeping movement ripped it off the newsprint pad and cast it aside. The moan that went up from the surrounding class was audible -I know I groaned, as did everyone else around me- at the sight of this gorgeous drawing being thrown down on the floor. He turned around to all of us goggling students and said, “That was a really nice drawing, huh? I really liked the nose.” He paused and added, “Do you know why I threw it away?” We all shook our heads, aware that we would give anything to be able to draw so confidently and vibrantly as that. He went on, “Once I realized I really liked the nose, it was completely ruined for anything else. I’d be so afraid of ruining it, destroying that perfect nose, that nothing else I did would even come close.. and I WOULD ruin it.” That happened maybe 8 years ago, and I have not forgotten the lesson. For the record, he then went on to produce another three or four fantastic gesture drawings. Sigh.)

So, with Arisman’s dire warning ringing in my ears (I really like this, I really like this- CRAP, I’m going to screw it up!!!) I set it up next to my easel and stared at it for a few days. Days stretched into weeks, and finally I tucked it aside so I wouldn’t feel guilty every time I stepped in the studio. And there it sat… until Friday evening, when I pulled it out, threw a bunch of paint on it and got to work.

And… here it is on Sunday night. Paint is on, background roughed in, even a few patches of “Hey, that’s really kind of nice” are peeking through. If- and this is a big IF- because I haven’t hit the dreaded 90% done/throw everything away and become a dental hygenist phase- I can get it done this week it will be my new postcard. After all, I’m going to Kentucky at the end of this month (show opening, third wedding anniversary AND my first trip to the Bluegrass State- I’m so excited!) and I don’t think my 20 or so postcards will last for the whole trip. At least, I hope not!

I can’t get my digital camera (HP and ancient) to talk to my new Mac (shiny and pretty) so I can’t post a picture yet. But I will figure it out, and since I’ve been taking pictures of this thing step by step as it progresses (just for fun… also so that if I do totally screw it up I still have a really nice charcoal drawing there) I’ll post them when I can. (And when I figure out how to post pictures to this blog site!

Thanks for reading!

Blogging- part one

Joanna Zeller Quentin / art, artist, create, creating, drawing, equine art, horse, painting, sales /

So, I haven’t written much on here, I know. Part of that is quite simple- this is a blog devoted to artwork (mostly my artwork) and the day to day struggles of being a painter and creating art- and I’ve been on a self imposed hiatus for the past few weeks. The main reason most of us get into art in the first place is because it is something we enjoy, and I just wasn’t enjoying myself. Between mailing out prints to customers (thank you!), organizing upcoming show deadlines and entries, and creating an excel spreadsheet with all inventory, prints, originals, sales, prices, etc- I was just wiped out. I finished a painting, worked my a$$ off to get it done, and then decided, out of respect for my already precarious sanity, that I needed to take a break.

Well, I’ve been thinking about art. Haven’t actually DONE any- yet- but I’ve been thinking about it. My husband is also a professional artist (animator) and he stays very busy, so there’s always art making going on in our house anyway- it’s impossible to get away from. But over the past week I’ve been getting little flashes of inspiration, moments where I think of a work in progress or one that I’ve wanted to start and go “aha!”. Then I remind myself that I am on a BREAK… and it goes away, kind of. A lot of it has been sitting in my head- the way I would depict a photo I took the other day- how it would look in graphite- how I would do it, etc.

So, all in all, I take that as a good thing. Art making is hard- no doubt about it. Making a living with it is even harder. And there is always the debate over commercialism vs art for art’s sake- something a potential customer may want vs what you are trying to say from the deepest pit of your heart and soul. Problem is, not a whole lot of people want your pain and anguish hanging above their couch. I paint what I love- what interests me, what I know, what strikes me as important to convey- and I’ve been pretty lucky in that I have an audience. Niche market, maybe, but a good one.

But I’m not quite ready to pick up the brush just yet. The fact that my mindset is changing though- from last month’s exhaustion borne”I never want to create a piece of art again” to “hmmm- that might be a really cool painting” gives me hope. Heck, maybe in another two weeks I’ll even pick up a pencil again. Maybe.