Ready to Roll! 9 x 12 oil on masonite panelI am a Sunday Painter. I am not ashamed...I feel priviledged to have found something that I adore, love, can't live without. I relish my short times to paint....and am sad when I can't--due to whatever reason. Sometimes, though, I do enjoy imagining what my life would have been like if I could do art as a profession...like Rembrandt or Vermeer. What would it be like if I could study a flower for the whole day? How would my art be different if I could concentrate on it...doing countless sketches every single day??
A couple of weeks ago Ovation TV had day long specials on different artists. How Rembrandt went to autopsy's to study the human form. How many of them did he study to be able to make portraits so beautiful? How did Renoir feel when his parents were proud when their son decided to become an artist--not worried that this was "just a hobby"?
Do not get me wrong..I do not regret going to college and becoming an accountant. I was a single mother and raised two children by doing this job. I love the job that I currently have--the people I work for are wonderful and I get to live on a 4,000 acre ranch all year with countless inspiration and the time to endulge in my heart place....and that I have found is art. I don't know if I will ever be "any good" at painting...get into any real shows, hob nob with the "real" artists. etc. But all that doesn't even mean anything to me anymore. I love my process of dreaming and thinking of where I will be painting, organizing my tools, planning when I will be able to go, looking forward to the experience, getting out there and just painting...not thinking about anything else. No dishes, no laundry, no work...just painting...and what I am experiencing in nature. That is enough for me. I then begin again...dreaming of the next time...and it starts all over again.
