Wednesday, December 21, 2011

A few thoughts on artsiness

Today, I went out for coffee with an acquaintance, who showed me some of the therapeutic art she's been doing in the off-time from her (unrelated to art) degree. She wanted to take the artsiness to the next level (learn to paint better/actually exhibit her work.)

Things that came to mind for someone that did art as a hobby were as follows:

1. Books. There's very little you can't learn from books, technique-wise, and good photographic reference tomes are invaluable.
2. Classes. As much for learning as for making a connection with fellow enthusiasts. Keep in mind that some of the things taught in art classes will be detrimental to your own work. Attend at your own discretion
3. Time. The results you'll get practicing any craft (and art -is- a craft) are directly proportional to the number of hours you'll put in.
4. Community involvement. In fact, networking in any way, shape and form, period. It also helps to keep in touch with people whose work you admire, since, on occasion, they provide something ephemeral called 'wisdom'.

Things that did not come to mind immediately, and that really should have, were-
1. Marketing yourself. Self-explanatory.
2. Validity of the source for information above. As a person who's still figuring out how to make a living doing art, I'm possibly not the best reference.

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