​So I finally got around to renewing my expired content marketing certification (I know, like it shows, right ^^) And while I was at it I had to come up with blog topics and this was one of them ~ sort of like, ‘for your next blog’. So this is me kind of ‘giving truth to the lie’ ^o^

I do have a few thoughts on this, very personal thing ~ I think setting up one’s ‘painting factory’ as I’ve repeatedly, *affectionately* referred to it here on the jillablog ~ is like one’s toothbrush. (Or one’s hat, as H Marion Crawford’s Watson put it ^_^) Or having kids ~ none of other people’s business ^^

But you know ~ on the off-chance anyone who might just be starting out or wondering about how to go about setting up studio space ~ for what they’re worth, here’s a jillamonster’s two cents ^^;
​

I know it’s a brand new year and all ~ but there’s something I couldn’t help noticing about my work in the past year (and actually, in the past few), and it’s got something to do with colour.

This reminds me of something that happened waaay back when ~ I was giving something in to a book, a ‘group’ book ~ you know, the kind where everybody gives an illustration and they compile it. The thing I was supposed to be illustrating was a folk song about a butterfly.

My work was rejected because they said my work had always depended on colour (for it to be worth anything) and since all the illustrations were in black and white… (Anyway, lucky me x I guess they took pity on me and put my work in the table of contents. Not to be ungrateful or anything, but, yip (haha).

You know how I always seem to get those chatty cab drivers? The ones who start telling you their life stories for no good reason (certainly not because I ask)? Well for the next eight days I’m stuck with one of those who cross-questions you like they took an interrogation training course with the CIA.

He started by asking me what I did for a living. It was around 3AM, I was exhausted, and therefore unprepared with a more diplomatic answer. I said it was complicated and, what with things being lost in translation, I just went with the naked truth and told him I was an artist.

I had the privilege of participating in Ang INK’s latest exhibit called Guhit, Bulilit, Guhit! (Draw, Kiddo, Draw!) ~

I didn’t know it was going to be called that when they let me know about the show (thank you, Rex) ~ they just said ‘children and art’, and I can be, um, quite literal about these things, sometimes (read: I have no imagination 😅 )

Before anything else, I have always sucked at portraiture. So take everything that follows with a salt mine.

Weirdly, if you think about it, though, a greedy lion’s share of my work could be said to be portraiture, although I have never once thought of myself as a portraitist.

But like all my recent posts that have been just, reactions, basically, to what’s been going on in jillaworld, I thought I’d share a thought or two about portraiture and why doing it the slow, old fashioned, by-hand way is still worth trying to do in an age when you can just shoot people with your phone.

I mean photography was invented a bazillion years ago, but people still painted portraits and made busts of other people after that (although probably not as many). (I’m just writing off the top of my head, by the way; lazy jill’s not looking anything up.)
​​

I don’t know whether I’m saying this because I’m, me, or because, it’s true ~ I mean, what about the artists who work in pairs, or collectives, or, artists who have whole teams behind them? Like Michelangelo didn’t paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling all by his lonesome.

And even if artists didn’t have a team, there would still be the framer, or, the people at the gallery, agents, maybe, that kind of thing. Then, there are (obviously) married artists (sometimes to each other), or artists who have artist buddies. There are entire communities, too.

And what about orchestras or ballet companies, or bands? Writers have editors, and sometimes chefs have teams, too.

And what about the audience? Or the viewers? The listeners? The (pardon the parlance from my other job) target market?
​

​This may seem, I don’t know ~ stuck up, or, I don’t know. Like I’m full of it ~ and I suppose (like all artists? lol) I am. But there are times I feel like there doesn’t seem to be any, advice out there for artists like me.

I mean, not that I’m anything special, you know. (Although at the rate AI is going maybe artists like me will soon be extinct lol, in which case… lol not that anyone would care? Haha) Painters and sometime illustrators like me are a dime a dozen.

It’s just, I see a lot of advice out there for young artists, or artists who are just starting out (like maybe you picked it up or started to give more time to it after retirement).

This one guy on YouTube who I admire very much mentioned something like, an artist who’s been at it for, oh, 18 months and is on the verge of giving up ~ months? Try 18 years lol.

Although it’s comforting to know that there are lots of other artists out there who have to work a day job to make ends meet (and who aren’t shamed for it, I hope).

And it’s also comforting to see folks out there encouraging their fellow artists to just hang in there and keep at it ~ even if things aren’t working out the way they planned, or hoped, or have seen it work out for other ‘more successful’ artists.
​

So yeah, I used to teach art ~ not at schools, as such, meaning, I wasn’t on the staff, or faculty ~ I would need a licence or I would’ve had to pass the LET (which is no walk in the park, and I have the deepest respect for anybody who’s passed it) for that.

Having made that full disclosure, I did spend quite a few years teaching art ~ in workshops, mostly (a few at a few schools, as a sort of art club moderator, I suppose you would call it). I taught kids, mostly, although I had taught babies (literal, months-old babies), teens, and seniors (as in older than me or as old as my mum and dad).

I taught classes (as in groups of students) and I taught one-on-one (or two, or three, if the student had siblings, or a cousin ~ usually in people’s homes. And I taught all sorts of things ~ drawing, arts and crafts, illustration, watercolour, acrylic ~ the last time I ever taught was an oil class at the museum (which was when I wrote this guide).

​If you saw The Incredibles, you probably remember E saying how she never looks back (dahling) because it distracts from the now. I also knew this famous artist once who I remember said something like, for example, if in 2024 he did, say, clay sculptures, this year he would say ‘that’s so 2024’ (and therefore he would no longer do it).

This particular post was brought on by something we were asked to do at INK in connection with the exhibit we had going (I think it’s still up at the time of writing) focusing on the creative process. We were asked to share old pieces that we didn’t like (from way back when) or pieces in progress we never finished.

Given what Miss Mode and what that artist dude said, is there, in fact, any value in artists looking back at what they’ve done before, apart from maybe, being able to make sure they don’t repeat themselves lol ~ heck they say Wolfie plagiarised from himself so WTH ^^

You know how some folks say when accidents happen while making art, you should work with them to create something beautiful and unexpected? We’re not talking about those kinds of happy accidents.

This month I’m continuing on from my last post (and continuing to rip off that hardware blog I was working on for a client at my day job).  I had meant this post to be a list of safety tips for avoiding booboo’s while you’re painting (or sculpting, and so on). But instead, I ended up recalling all the accidents (one or two of which really were quite serious) I’ve had in the painting factory over the years.

The sad thing is that when it came down to actually listing the tips for avoiding these mishaps, it really only came down to just three (super basic and obvious) things. Anyhow, my hope in sharing these experiences and bits of advice with you today is so that you can avoid such things in your own practice so that you can stay safe.

(Although really, unless you’re as clumsy x accident prone x Calamity Jane as I am, I trust you won’t need them.)
​