The Annoying Side of Art
2010 February 5
Just like any job, there are some really irritating aspects of being an artist, even though nonartists just think all we do is sit around and drink wine and perspire great paintings.
Here’s my list of Stuff That Annoys Me. What annoys you? Post your list in teh comments. :-)
- Cleaning brushes ($20 bucks says we ALL hate this)
- Deadlines (internal/external… they are made to be missed)
- Mid-painting critiques
- Paperwork
- Interruptions (like lunch. or phone calls. or the end of the day.)
I used to hate doing studies too, until I figured out the Secret of Studies, which I will lay on you next week.
Tell us what bugs you!
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Boxing paintings. Ugh! I used to hate stretching canvas but now I buy pre-strtched.
Oh right! For sure. That’s a pain in the butt, LOL.
The fact that all clothes, somehow, in spite of my best efforts, eventually become
decorated with paint. Even my bedspread has some Pthalo blue on it. I have no idea how that happened!
I was going to say “filing taxes ” but I suppose that falls under “paperwork”.
(and that mid-painting critique thing has riled me a time or two also….)
1. Cleaning my palette as well as brushes.
2. Having to go downstairs to wash out my water bucket for some more clean water.
3. Getting other colours of paint in my newly mixed paint.
4. Not being able to mix exactly the same colour on the next painting! Grrr. (Probably a newbie mistake).
I could go on!
Having a “studio” (aka a small bedroom) with wall-to-wall cream-colored carpeting. At least, it used to be uniformly cream-colored. What doesn’t end up on my skin and clothes ends up on the rug. (I can’t believe I dream of “wood” laminate flooring!)
Kristine Kainer
photographing finished paintings… especially after lots of layers of very shiny (but not ever even enough) glazing. the worst!
also, not so much a technical thing but more a state of mind… the first few days of a new painting, before it all starts to come together. You know, when it becomes clear that whatever you thought before, you can’t actually paint, and can’t remember how you managed to ever do a painting before because the knack has left you, seemingly forever.
this, however, is (hopefully) followed by one of the least annoying things about painting: once you get over that first hurtle, stop struggling, and really start to enjoy your work again. when everything finally starts to come together.
worth the annoying bits, in my opinon.
Clients with absolutely no verbal skills to describe what they want, nor a clear idea of what it is they want, and only able to tell what they DON’T want when they see it. “Can you give me multiple versions so I can pick the one I like?”
What bugs me most is needing to have a day job.
Okay, cheeky answer aside, I’m with Allie. That period of uncertainty at the beginning of a painting when I just have no idea how to pull it off (and can’t quite remember that I have this feeling with every painting and that with every painting it ultimately passes) bugs me. Love the feeling of coming out of it, though.
LOL @ bad paintings. They’re like the bluebirds of happiness though, signalling a change to come.
I’m sorry, but I love it all. After spending most of my life in the rat race of the commercial art world, I welcome the stray paint, paperwork and hands-on work that our craft requires.
Regarding the cleaning of brushes: I grew up as a sign painter’s son and we had some of the most expensive brushes made (much more than what us artists pay). When finished with lettering a sign we would swish the brush in some mineral spirits, wipe it a few times and when it was clean, dip it into a jar filled with motor oil. The brushes were then laid flat into a sign box. When we needed a brush we would wipe out the oil, swish it in mineral spirits and wipe it clean. I don’t know where this idea of cleaning brushes (oil painting ones) with water ever came from. It’s elementary, oil and water do not mix. Oh, and my brushes from the sign painting days are over thirty years old, still sitting in their oil, and are in great shape.
I have to say, I hate that I have to take a day or two off to clean my house, do dishes, fold laundry and all the other household chores that nag me when Im at work in the studio! I dont mind the children in and out of the studio, I do mind the mid painting critique from my husband, whom, also happens to be an artist… I can see the finished painting in my mind, but he cant… I love the challenge of it all, and the “not knowing” how it will end up… and love to finish a piece and like it so much its as though someone else did the painting!! I also hate that I have to keep pushing “play” on my cd player when it stops, wish I had an ipod