"Learn as much as you can from other established artists. Study their work. Use every medium you can to fill your head with ideas. Watch some TV. Watch music videos and great movies, and read - novels or poems are good. Visit museums. Observe and learn everything you can about both your chosen craft and the world today. Successful artists get paid not only for technique, but for great ideas."Raul Colon, The Artists Magazine interview, September 2010
I love it when I'm given permission to expand my world, to drink it all in and not feel guilty because it appears to be time away from the actual making of art. Right now I am totally engrossed in that book - some might think it too light on pictures and too heavy on text, but I am fascinated with the stories of the artists represented. Some of my favorites are in there, and I am learning so much from those I'm not so familiar with. To the right of the book is a pastel painting by my friend Bonnie Griffith. I'm baby sitting it and two others until she can pick them up, and I am in no hurry. It has been a treat to live with them, study them unhurriedly. As for the plant, it is an amaryllis that bloomed a year ago, after which I was advised to throw it out. I just can't do that, so it sat on my porch until late last fall. Cut back with a paper bag over it, it hibernated for awhile before I decided it was time to unveil it and see if it would put out new shoots. Indeed it has, and it too has been interesting to study as changes can be spotted daily.What fills your head with ideas?
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