I fear I haphazardly painted over masterpiece by mistake.

photo by almostfinnish

I love the crisp smell of morning  when the air is still cool. There’s a distant murmur that the town is waking up and on the road. The hum gets louder and I smell coffee brewing. It’s Saturday I wake up with no regrets. I ponder the day in my studio with one cat by my side the other one is still in bed. It is very dim in here but light is creeping in through the curtains as the day approaches. I feel the room warm up. My paintings sit right in front of me. I see the mistakes I see the progress.

I’m kind of ruminating over one of my latest comments.

I for one could only hope that someone would stand there in front of a piece and wonder for a moment it’s meaning while quietly being mocked and disapproved of by its meagreness. Because the process it took for me to get there was more work than I had bargained for. More confidence than I realized and more money than I had anticipated. I still got there whether someone was inspired or not. I’ve personally heard everything from the drunk that came in off the street, from the niceties of  blatantly being indifferent to the art, to subtle comment of trying to understand and last the one person who pull you aside and hands you a drink and says you look parched.

It’s a time-consuming hobby and an expensive one too.

But no seriously I think once marketing comes in play isn’t it automatically elevated to be something more? When you open yourself to criticism and critique you are now no longer that quiet hobbiest who paints for enjoyment and relaxation. And having to frame all your pieces and many of them I have to stress for the world to see for a short weekend or a month is now an investment and not just an expenditure. Lastly the number of rejections you have to go through before someone agrees to give you a show is far from comforting. 

They are not all going to be masterpieces. 

Many are not going to be liked.

My masterpiece has not have been painted yet or I fear I haphazardly painted over it by mistake.

 I like watching old movies that well-known stars were in and I think they were pretty bad, young and you know rough but someone seen something in them so they had to start somewhere. 

I think a hobbiest doesn’t really let his work see the light of day. The rest of us who try have earned that right to call ourselves artists.

Come visit me at my website at www.cedarlodgeportraitstudio.com

Author: almostfinnish

Almostfinnish lives in The United States. She graduated from The Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design with a BFA. For the last 30 years she has been displaying her work around the region in group and solo shows. She has won many awards for her artwork and continues to strive for excellence in everything she does. Her artwork resides in private collections throughout the country. Goal: To have a paragraph written about her in the art history books. View all posts by almostfinnish