Manic Sunday - The Art Life
DEVIL'S POOL Now in the heart of Summer and the temperatures in the 90s I expect Devil’s Pool to be busy almost everyday. The crowd is seemingly more diverse than prior years and I think it has a lot to do with people finding out about it on social media. I get a lot of people asking me for my Instagram name and when they find out that I don’t have an active account I get a look like I’m a weirdo or something.
I'm trying to paint at least one watercolor portrait a day but I would like to paint at least two. Experimenting with color and brushstrokes excites me as I try to discover what I'm searching for with this fictional society of portraits. This is my anti-famous body of work that isn't the decor / merchandise of Warhol, Basquiat and other famous people disguising itself as art.
ART SUPPLIES and the GENERATION GAP
Every once in a while I engage younger artists in conversation. I say “every once in a while” because I forget just how painful those conversations usually go. Every conversation isn’t a test of patiences and blood pressure but it does occur enough for me to generalize. The latest conversation was about funds for art supplies from sales, patrons and grants. As I was expressing the need for over a dozen different items the younger artists were talking about clothes, vacations, apartments, cars and phones. In all they mentioned almost no art related supplies except for the need for a well refurbished artist studio with air conditioning, wifi and a community room. I rolled my eyes so far back that they still hurt.
I guess I quickly became the old outdated artist that has no interest in anything they mentioned….well, maybe the car since I would be able to travel to small towns to take photos. But I’m sure they meant whatever the car trend is at the moment. For clothes I’m more than happy with my military surplus pants, t-shirts or a sweatshirt depending on the season, an M-65 jacket for cold weather and a pair of Converse Chucks. I don’t own a single piece of dress clothing, not one and nothing considered smart casual. My attire is something between street attire and what the late photographer Ricky Powell coined “Bummy Sophistication”. I don’t have a need or want to get away from it all so I haven’t taken a vacation since 2003 and that was only to Seattle.
My general impression was that these youngsters who were in their early 30s but acted more like their early 20s seemed more interested in the celebrity lifestyle of the today's artists than the lifestyle of creating that consumes real artists who aren’t interested in internet fame, wealth, the non tangible NFT or following trends or copying the art market.
Right after the conversation ended I began compiling a list of things I need for the next three months. If you notice there isn’t one non artist related thing on this list of necessary items. Sure I could have added fantasy items but they would just be paintings and photographs from other artists.
Epson P800 Ink Cartridges - 6 Cartridges - $360
That's just off the top of my head. This is why art patrons, grants and adding new collectors is so important because without them the creative process can come to a grinding halt.
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