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Pricing art is one of the biggest headaches for myself and I believe many other aspiring artists.
First you need to work out the price and unfortunately realise that until you are better known you wont be able to do art as much as you’d like. Then comes motivating to curious people why that’s the price.

Art is expensive (when only coming from a fresh artist) because it takes a lot of time to make it. And about half of it might not even be the part were you are actively painting, sculpting or creating. A big chunk of time goes into contemplating the idea- what are you going to make? Why should you make it this way instead of that? And if there is an underlying deeper meaning than of course you will have to set aside time to figure out and make sure that comes across to the future audience. After this comes the design phase where you sketch and play around with composition. This is a really tricky part because this is where you for the first time have to consolidate the idea, something intangible and abstract, with a physical form of some type. Often what we imagined one way will not always translate the same once on paper and need reworking to match the idea and then more revising to keep up with the concept. At this stage you might need to go back to it again to make sure the result looks the way you want it to. This can happen several times over as the idea often expands and evolves as you work on it. Then comes the the time you spend actually painting which can range anywhere between weeks to months or even years if it’s a more complex project.

I recently told a colleague from my day job, who was commenting on the price of one of my pieces; Imagine what you earn in a day. This piece took me over 6 months to complete, every evening after work and almost all my weekends, every week. If I put together the amount of time spent, severely rounding downward it equalled two months of full time work, not to mention not having any spare time at all for half a year or counting any of the design work. Now imagine what you earn for 2 months of work.
Even if we imagined me paying myself minimum wage of £7.50 an hour this would come up to £2400, and you would be hard pressed to find many of my work in this price range.

Everyone knows that it is expensive to hire a plumber. This is because the work they do takes time and you want somebody you are sure is qualified so they don’t end up doing more damage than good. This all makes sense to me, though I hope I wont have to invest in a good plumber in the foreseeable future. Changing a lock is another one of those commonly known expensive services.
I remember a couple f years back where I couldn’t find my room key and had to reluctantly call a locksmith to come change the lock. This costs around 100 pounds and upwards. From what I understand this is within the norm for this type of service. However isn’t it weird? The work they do only takes 5-15 min and these days you can find videos on youtube how to do it yourself and it doesn’t seem that hard (apologies to all the lock smiths if a lot of training goes into this). The lock they put in is likely mass produced or at the very least not made by the smith himself, so I would imagine that majority of the cost is for the labour itself. This is all based on assumption for the sake of argument and I might be getting it all wrong but bear with me. The point I’m trying to make is this; even though these two services are expensive most of us would invest in them as and when needed and (reluctantly) pay the price.

However when it comes to art the necessity just doesn’t seem to be there for many people? Why is that?
Is it because a lock or plumbing fills important functions whereas art is just for decoration and you can get by fine without it? No, all wrong! When you find the right piece for you, art is so much more than some colour on your walls or something to balance your Feng Shui with. It could be the source of calm and tranquillity in a hectic life or that something that sparks a smile and a giggle to keep you going through the mundane. It could be your inspiration and the reminder that you need to take that next step, the zen in a vortex of chaos. Simply put art is something that can give you happiness.

So why is it we are less willing to invest money on our own happiness than a leaky pipe? Admittedly one is slightly more urgent but only just. Cause how can your happiness not be urgent and just as important at the least, to a mere pipe? And when it comes to filing a function one takes care of your waste and the other of your contentment, how can they even begin to compare?

– jeanie

The fabled (or so it seems,) art statement.
The piece of writing that is meant to both give an overview and go in to some amount of details, to be general and specific at the same time. Simply put it is meant to give you a bit of insight into the meaning of a piece, a portfolio of work or the thoughts behind the artist work in general.
It is supposed to be eloquent without using too many arty terms so anyone can understand it but at the same time describe something that in some cases only make sense to the author, ie. the artist. I actually came across this quite frequently while studying and one fellow student in particular had such highly developed, specific and intricate ideas that most of the time she was struggling to explain it to anyone else, and not for lack of trying! And most of us were already fairly familiar with the art lingo. This particular person always created amazing work but even with the finished work was rarely able to get the idea across.

I sometimes feel that the concept of an artist statement, what it is relation to some institutions, can be quite pretentious.
As an artist, when submitting your art to exhibitions, further education or applying for scholarships or residencies in almost all cases you are required to also submit this poem of writing. I call it a poem because to write one of these statements is practically an art of its own. Because depending on how your statement is written, regardless of what your paintings or sculptures look like, you will receive a apologetic rejection or a confirmation of approval. The statement for you art, meant to spread clarity to the observer becomes the entry itself.

This can be quite frustrating if you are working with a simple idea, say for example the beauty in color combinations and implied movement. There are only so many sentences you can use to describe this. Whereas someone who may be working towards reflecting the deeply seated fears of people born in 1972, through shapes and color as specified by Freud, will have a little bit more to write about. At a glance the second concept might sound more intriguing but is actually complete gibberish (I literally just made it up).

As someone that tends to keep it simple, it makes me wonder; what about a simple idea makes the art less interesting and engaging? And why is the overtly complicated, valued higher?
Surely art can be for more than deeply confused thinking?
I believe that as an artist there is more that I am able to share with you through my art. And to be fair what is the point of a highly evolved idea, however great it might be, if the art isn’t executed to a level that can embody it? What is the point if you have to read a two page essay to understand what you are looking at? Or even worse after reading the statement you feel like you read a text for something entirely different.

I won’t ever do like some creatives, who create a piece of work and then make up a text to go with it unrelated to the reason and real motivation for the piece, to make it seem arty.
I for one want to be able to inspire something simple and honest with my art.

– jeanie

Have you ever felt like doing something different, almost uncharacteristically for yourself? At the spur of the moment you feel like you absolutely have to fulfill this amazing idea you’ve just had? I found myself in much the same situation recently, except I feel like this all the time. While moving houses I was inspired to (involuntary) step away from my painting and try something different for a short while and I thought id share it with you.

For the longest while i really wanted to build something myself, that I would be able to use, to be creative with a functional result at the end. Of course there’s also something incredibly satisfying about making something with your own two hands, that you can feel happy about long after its completion.

Having moved into an unfurnished flat my thoughts were immediately steered towards furniture or storage to be precis and that’s how it all started. I decided to make a ottoman- style bench, a type  of storage box with a cushioned seat on top. In all honesty I had wanted to make a completely different, much more complicated piece of furniture long before this but that’s another story. As a complete novice to furniture building I figured that a box, straight angles and all would be a suitable first project to undertake and a great start to prepare myself for potentially more complicated projects.

First I started with the empty spot where I wanted my box, underneath my window, from there I was able to decide how big I wanted it and the overall dimensions in comparison to the window. Since my window is quite wide I wanted my box suitably wide and decided on the measurements of 120 x 40 x 40 cm , Width x Depth x Height. With this information I could then move on to looking at materials and prices to find the best match.

If you would like to try this yourself, once you selected your materials make sure to include the thickness in the calculation of the final size or your project will either be too big or not join up properly. I chose pine wood timber for the frame and MDF for the sides of the box. After that it was only a matter of picking up the material from the store. Luckily they were happy to cut my massive 244 x 122 cm MDF sheet into 6 nice manageable 120×40 cm pieces and I’m so thankful my boyfriend could drive me or it would have taken me many trips of very awkward travel on public transport and many a scratches.

After I had my material back at the flat the construction  could begin, first with the frame, one side at a time and later on adding the sides. Because I didn’t want a really heavy box and to keep this project from costing a fortune my material were somewhat on the thin side therefore the use of screws and nails proved unsuitable, so my  box was made using almost only glue.

As I made progress on the box I started looking at upholstery for the finishing touches. What fabric to use, how thick the seat should be and how much of everything I would need. It’s really great because most of these things you can get made to your specific measurements and you can make it as personalised as you wish in terms of seat firmness and effect not to mention the texture and pattern of the fabric you use.

I found some fantastic jaquared fabric, the type that look like Baroque floral, that I loved. Unfortunately it was about £35 per meter, so I settled for a nice chocolate brown chenille fabric instead. Fairly late on I also decided I wanted some feet on my box to not scrape it against the floor, I made these by gluing two pieces of 2×1 together to achieve the desired height and then sawed them into decent shapes.

After adding the foam and fabric to the box I realised that the seat could have easily been almost an inch (2.5 cm) thinner, but it still looks and feels great so it was definitely worth it! It felt great to mix things up with a bit of DIY, I highly recommend it. Such an fulfilling way of to grasp a sense of achievement.

-jeanie

I’m not much of a deep thinker but on occasion I enjoy to ponder on things small and sometimes great. The meaning of life or trying to figure it out is a concept that is as old probably as the human race. Even though it is a historical classic in terms if philosophy, how relevant is it today in contemporary times?

Do a big portion of us still ponder upon the mysteries of our existence? Trying to work out how to fulfill  the true meaning of life or maybe even just to motivate themselves in an ever mundane cycle? Or is it simply all about making the best of what you’ve got whilst still trying to obtain the latest gadgets? However relevant it might be in our current era, what is the actually meaning of life? And where do you even start to work out what it might be?

I don’t want to seem conceited but I was lucky enough to have figured out what I wanted to do with my life at a fairly young age. As I was sat in a history class with our teacher talking about an inventor who lived long ago I remember thinking that I wanted to be remembered after I’m gone as well. At this stage I was already very fond of drawing, even though I wasn’t necessarily very good at it. I figured that if I were to be remembered for something, I would have to do it for a very long time so it might as well be something I liked, I would be an artist. And that is how it started out for me something simple sparked the idea in me but before long it became more about the art and the act of creating it more than anything else. Being an artist has been my goal, what has given me meaning in life, ever since.

So is that then what it is all about; making something with your life, making a mark on history for when you are gone? Or is it maybe about being the best that you can be, to help improve the world around you with your actions?

Maybe it is grander and less selfish still. It is easy for us as humans to think of life as something that means only or mostly us. We are in the center and everything else circles around us. But if you look at it from an outside point of view there is so much more to it than just us. We are only a small part of an ecosystem that makes up our whole planet. And for every living being there is something we all have in common and that is to procreate, to pass on our genes and genetic makeup. Some would call it mere survival or you could even look at it in terms of survival of the fittest but we still come back to “why?”
Why is every living being trying to survive, are we all unknowingly trying to evolve into something higher, is that the meaning?
Looking at the tiniest microscopic lifeforms and their life cycles to the life span of stars, galaxies and universes we all play our part of the whole.

Is it as religion would have us believe that we are all a part of God’s grand scheme and we have to do our best to fit into that role?

Perhaps its not amazingly profound and its simply about leading a good happy life, having your own meaning to motivate you through your days. Helping those around us and being compassionate and understanding. To find someone to share your life with and in doing so making yourself and somebody else happy. Is our purpose to spread contentment and appreciation one person at a time until we all see eye to eye and no one will feel the need to go to war over differences in ideology or culture?

Whatever the meaning of life might be, be it personal, spiritual, interplanetary or otherwise I’m sure that if we strive to be the best that we can be, that is all we for certainty can do.

-jeanie

It is funny how something so inconspicuous as balance or the lack of it can make such a big difference.
As a creative person I am only starting to begin to understand how my need to create dictates what balance is to me. And the fact that I get increasingly irritable when I don’t allow myself the time to be creative is altogether new to me.
Like most people living in a big city there never seems to be enough time for all the have to’s and all the want to’s.
With information available at a click of a finger the amount of frustration and impatience that builds up when you don’t have time to do the things you love.
Personally I found this site helpful in changing my way of relating to things. As well as allowing my self to work on my art regularly in what ever small way.

-jeanie

There comes a point ( or many) in any artists life and career where he or she has to write a statement. It can be for a competition, an application or even just to have to hand for those interested in reading it.

I have gotten to that point, yet again and I have to say for me it is one of those things you slowly improve at but will never fully get to terms with. Finding the right words to describe your art be it painting or pottery, in a way so that it is comprehensive to others, is no simple task. I find myself feeling as if squeezing my brain for the right words to seep out.

Having said that, when you finally do find the words to describe your art after minimizing the amount of art lingo, that sense of contentment makes it all worth it!

-jeanie

My favorite way of blogging

When I first decided to start a blog it was originally to a) market myself as an artist and increase my presence on the web. And b) having an easy way of updating my site frequently. It both seem like the logical next step and is also recommended in various “how to market yourself as an artist”-sites.

Looking around reading other blogs I found that some of them kept writing things like ” ill write more later, no body is reading this anyway..”

I don’t know about everyone else, but as a reader that sort of comment really puts me off. On me that has the same effect as telling me: “stop reading, this has no value”. I mean if the author assumes that nobody is reading it, logically that would be because the author sees no value in his or her blog, why else would they assume nobody reads it? And if the blog’s creator doesn’t even appreciate it why should you?

A few weeks after starting this blog I find myself not worrying about how many people read the blog or how I can increase that number. Instead I find it surprisingly rewarding and relaxing, a lot less than a chore like I thought of it at first and more of a liberating option at my disposal. I actually really enjoy writing down my thoughts on art and bits and pieces about life, if nothing else because it is such a great way of flaunting my vocabulary and improving it further. Ha ha ha  and considering how I am a predominantly visual person some practice every now and then wont hurt.

– jeanie mester

I recently decided to post regular updates from now on. So on every Sunday there will be a new, hopefully interesting post to read. And sometimes inbetween for when I’m very excited about one of my many projects.

As a matter of fact the work on my self portrait is going really well and is nearing completion. If you would like to see the progress have a look at my facebook page.

To be continued…

Every once in a while I think we all have a good lazy day, some perhaps more often than others. But how often is it that you have one of those lazy-didn’t-do-anything-all-day type of day, where you didn’t regret it by the time you went to bed?
When you didn’t think, I really should have done ..xyz today?

I think there is at least two types of lazy days, the main one where you just cant be bothered to do anything even though you know there are alot of things you should be doing. And the second type which is about the same as the first except you are consiously deciding that that’s what you are going to do and therefore dont feel guilty about it at the end of the day.

Not having the guilt of “should-do’s” in the the back of your head, or in my head at least made my lazy day into a content day.
Its incredible how having a content day rested and reacharged me in a completely different way than just resting would have. My levels of focus and inspiration along with resourcefulness and drive just shot through the roof.

I suppose that is the value of allowing yourself a break. If you get a chance I definitely recommend giving it a try!