Lessons from Oxford

"Ignored"
acrylic on board
6x9
sold

"Don't Forget Me"

acrylic on board

6x9

email to purchase

"Last Light"

acrylic on board

5x7

sold

"Under Cover"

acrylic on board

6x9

email to purchase

Don't be shocked but I'm going to start with a crass statement. If you don't learn from every experience your are just plain stupid. Learning can result in joy and pain, sometimes it is both. My trip to the Oxfrod Fine Arts Fair was mostly joy but there was a bit of the other.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm the most extroverted introvert you will ever meet. Though it was my work that was on display, often it feels as though it's a show of my heart and that is difficult for me. This is the core of the lesson I've learned and I now understand why.

Comparison is deadly in the arts and yet we all do it. Everyone wants to know how they measure up. Depending on your ego you either feel superior or like a dirty lump. Opening night of Oxford I checked out the others artists that were of my genre. The talent there was grand. These people could paint. For some reason I felt awkward and I couldn't peg the reason.

Throughout the weekend I watched people as they passed my art. More times than not, they stopped and touched their chest or nodded. Sometimes they stopped to tell me that my work spoke to them. Children brought their parents to my paintings to show them their favorites.

Color, brushwork and framing were mentioned as positives. However, most of the time people spoke of "soulfulness" and "softness". Someone even said it was "emotional".

There was my answer. What makes my work unique is that I keep it personal. Some other artists paint in a decorative manner and know what formula sells. Each one of my paintings hold a piece of my heart; there is no method. I share with you an emotion, a fear or a joy that is mine but I know to be universal. So when others walk by my paintings, I truly am on display.

I am not the only artist to do this but we are rare. The right people recognize it. Others are pushed away. It is a difficult way to live and to make a living but I know no other way. If nothing else I am painfully honest. Sometimes I think this makes me weak to be so vulnerable and other times I think it is my strength. These sensitivities make me easy prey for those lacking such. However, Lyndon B. Johnson said, "Any jackass can kick down a barn but it takes a good carpenter to build one."

I want to thank all of you who have admired or purchased my work. Thank you for appreciating me and Soulful Studios, whether it is for my pet portraits or my paintings done in oil or acrylic. Because of you I know I am not alone. I must say I'm surprised as there are many of you.

To the minority, let me just say, there's nothing wrong with the structure of my barn.