For the last five and a half decades I've been proud to call myself a professional musician. I paid my dues and therefore deserve the right. By dues I mean studying practicing hard and long, having plenty of ups and downs and getting paid in the end. I've also called myself many other things: carpenter, electrician, plumber, tile setter, woodworker and sport fisherman, just to name a few. I've worked very hard to earn those titles and got paid well for doing each and every one of them.
Recently, like July, I began painting. Painting, as in art and on canvas or whatever material I find useful. People tell me once they have seen my paintings that they are incredible and have a hard time believing that I've never painted before, until July. I've done about twenty paintings so far, each better than the previous, so they tell me. One of my musician friends said I should try painting, I'd probably be good at it too. One day I took him up on it and tried it. Now I'm hooked.
No matter how good my paintings might be, I can't come to call myself an artist. I don't feel that I've paid my dues. I haven't earned the right yet. I've never had any schooling for it, nor have I had to practice painting for years to get to where I am right now. I'm not hungry, nor am I poor. I certainly have not earned the title as far as I'm concerned until I actually sell one or two, if I'm lucky. I decided to simply call myself a paint manipulator for now.
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| me practicing paint manipulation |
Here's a few of my recent paint manipulations.
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| tide coming in |
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| rough seas |
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Canadian Rocky Mountains
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Some wise guy asked me today if I had painted these by numbers. I told him no and showed him the backs of the paintings. I painted them on luaun plywood. They're all different custom sizes, what I had left over from previous remodeling jobs. Cutting down a full sheet of luaun using a utility knife is a hell of a lot cheaper than going out and buying individual stretched canvas pieces. For what I pay for a three pack, even at Walmart, for just a few more dollars for the cost of luaun, I can get a lot more out of the 4'x8' panel saving myself a lot of money. I just use a wood primer to seal it before beginning with the base coat. Even with a wood primer the cost is less than purchasing the canvas.
