ADVICE
Advice
As well as death and taxes, you can add the receiving of unsolicited advice to an artist’s destiny!
There seems to be an abundance of it. Much of the problem is caused by artists themselves asking peers outside the teaching arena for advice. “What do you think?” is an open invitation for all kinds of conflicting comment.
It's often asked in the hope of getting a positive answer rather than some ‘constructive’ criticism. It can be a way of fishing for praise which is embarrassing when it’s obvious that none is due. And it puts us in a position of having to compromise our honesty!
Once we ask our peers for comment on one painting it can be taken as an open invitation for comment from then on... whether asked for or not. I’ve seen it. If you are serious about your art make up your own checklist and run through it mentally yourself. You can be as harsh as you like and you wont be offended if you find something amiss!
Also make a habit of critiquing other artists works – silently. Seeing faults in another artist’s work is easier than seeing your own and you can learn from it. Once you go public with your art either in shows or online, advice can flow unexpectedly and if you took it all to heart you could lose your very soul. Several times I've seen artists ask for advice on their latest painting on Facebook and they have received a tsunami of “I think it would look better if” comments. You're better off without it. Don’t let your paintings become someone else’s opinion.
As well as critiquing your work, sometimes other artists will advise you on what to paint. Many artists paint to themes which sometimes can last years – these are particularly targeted with advice such as “why not paint something different”. Of course, these are people who will rarely buy your work anyway!
The fact is, what will please one person will not necessarily please another – so, please yourself. Good advice is not easy to come by in the art world but it's there to be had from "modern masters" if you know where to look. Important information from DVDs and the writings from artists of many years standing are there to help.
I think the most important advice you can receive from these artists is from their philosophy of painting, which includes the ‘why’ and not just the ‘how’. Happy Painting!
It was suggested recently that this painting of mine needed lights in the distant buildings – you know, like in real life! Needless to say I didn’t comply.