How do I know when I’m on the right creative track?

It has been said that the hardest thing for an artist to know is when to stop.

I don’t know of any painter that hasn’t over worked a painting or not taken it far enough.

How do you know when a painting is done? Are all the colour values uniform with so many complimentary and contrasting hues in a row? Is the feature element of the painting sitting in precisely the correct place on the canvas so the viewer will know you designed the painting with particular forethought? Have you created a perfect balance between form and space?

The truth is, all that stuff is academic. The elements that make a painting truly spectacular are the ones that come from within. We all know instinctively when it is time to stop, start again or walk away. That applies to every thing in life not just art.

I played pool/eight ball many years ago in my youth and I always knew when I was on a roll. I couldn’t miss and couldn’t be beat and I didn’t have to try hard. The balls kept going in the pockets and I was so confident I thought I could close my eyes and still sink any shot.

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This world class city got me excited about art more than 25 years ago.

I was in Florence Italy in 2005 participating in the Florence Bienelle. As the show preceded my preoccupation with the locale of the exhibition consumed me with anticipation of a visit to the famous Galleria digli Uffizi.This gallery /museum is world renowned for its collections of Italian renaissance artists like daVinci and Michel Angelo. Any artist that has flogged their way through Art History survey courses would appreciate the concept of seeing an original daVinci as apposed to a slide reproduction. Well! I finally made it and my intention was to see daVinci’s  “ Adoration of the Magi”.  Entering the Uffizi was monumental with spires and columns lining the court through which all tourists enter. I was just a speck, another body upon ...

Abstract impressionist painters, realists, modernists, sculptors are all being affected by a boom in the global art market. The one defining quality that most artists DON'T have whether they create paintings, video, sculpture or ceramics is Marketing. If you want to be seen you have to take a proactive approach to marketing  yourself. A great example is Graziano Cecchini's Coloured Ball stunt on The Spanish Steps.  This artist proved that art is about spectacle and that  us artists should pay attention. Our world is changing rapidly via, global technology and every one has access to T.V. and the internet   so it isn't good enough to be part of it ,you have to be the best at it. & ...

This question receives mixed reactions.

I was asked that question many years ago when I was a student a the University of Lethbridge School of Fine Arts. I don’t remember my answer except I’m sure it had to do with something formal like the aesthetics of painting, sculpture or printmaking or ceramics. Many people in the class were asked the same question and they all had a different answer. The conclusion we all came to is that art is a very subjective thing that is based on various levels of experience, education, appreciation and of course perceptions.

A fellow artist once said to me if someone insists on giving you a finite definition of art run don’t walk away from them.

The truth is that the subjectivity of ar ...