We began our discussion by addressing the quote from Pogo- in the context of how it is up to us as artists to solve problems that come up in our art especially when there is a temptation that exists to act out of fear -

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” -Pogo

 How curious a thing it is that our very fears of failing in the very making of our art, those outcomes we are trying to avoid, can be the very things that we run into in the end.  Is fear a spirit that subverts the artist causing one to undervalue the work itself?  One thing’s for sure, making art is a lot of work. And in a moment of weakness we can find ourselves caught up in a spirit of fear that falsely judges other artists who we feel are more extra-ordinary than we are, and how that fear can produce a very real excuse to quite making art and give up trying to understand it because “What’s the use?”   That whole attitude of putting others above you because they are better than you are, or have been painting longer than you have or the categorizing of them as the “Big Painters” or “Serious Painters” can really effect how we continue in the making of art ourselves. The fear that we are somehow ”pretending” to do art compared to those that are more “genuine” is a myth and is the voice of this spirit of fear that causes us to undervalue the very thing that is essential and vital; and that thing is our art.

  Our art needs to be respected by ourselves and others; not undervalued. Why? Because there are spiritual forces that are operating through us in the very making of our it that is very sacred and worthy of honor. When fear causes us to disrespect our art or when we allow others to disrespect it, we get cut off from the very source of where our inspiration comes from. Our art is not only our legacy but a living inspiration to us as artists. We all have had moments when we have been disrespected, but we all agreed that our work needs to be respected. We must be ready to defend our art and value it. The solution to fighting off the enemy within is to realize that someone is required to do our work and that we are the nearest person around who can do it. Yes, it takes a lot of energy and faith commitment in the process that creates and keeps the work; but in the end we are the only ones who can create and represent our work.

We also talked about how it is such a waste of energy to worry about how much talent we have. If talent is truly a “gift” that only we can revoke out of fear, than why shouldn’t we all the more seek and ponder direction and a cause. We all admitted the fears of "What If's". Such as what if we started our art making at a younger age or what if we had only devoted our whole life fully to it instead of a taking on a part time job. "What if" thinking can be a very real fear that leads us to wonder if we will ever have enough time to produce the art of our desires and dreams or any real art of significance. The truth is, anyone at any time can produce an effective work of art if they have a solid cause to engage in or a real direction to commit to. Great art depends more on inspired direction and commitment rather than talent alone. Lets face it; there are a lot of distractions in life, especially this time of year. But if we can identify a meaningful cause or direction for our art to go in and make it a priority to show up to make the work, than something amazing will happen most all of the time. Even child prodigies, who rely upon their gift alone without developing further, will peak quickly and fade to obscurity like a nova. The point here is that we are all given a gift.  Once we realize it we need to learn to develop a discipline to work on our work. Which is really a process of committing oneself to sharpening skills and acquiring new ones to get better at working on the work. Every great artist that I have researched, whether a painter who painted from memory with hands behind back or from direct observation with both hands engaged, had one thing in common. They both went back to their studios and worked on the work. They discovered a real direction from the work itself away from the original source of the inspiration. They all had or developed numerous studies, preparatory sketches and multiple paintings depicting many directions from one plein air experience. Could it be that many plein air artists avoid developing their art further in their studios because they desire to avoid perfectionism for a more spontaneous look? Maybe. And yet all artwork created out of a fear of the work having to be perfect is domed from the very start. We all agreed that all art is flawed because we are all human. Art is not perfect and the studio should be a place of risk and exploration with works that are close to and inspirational to the heart. Procrastination should be the farthest attitude experienced in the studio since it is an exciting place where many mistakes can be made and learned from. We all agreed that, “ the seeds for our art work lies embedded in the imperfections of our current piece.” These imperfections are valuable and an excellent guide of what to develop further. This interaction between the ideal the artist is reaching for and what the art really becomes in the end, ties the art into the real world while giving meaning to both the real and spiritual realm.

  For example, I remember Ann Hubert once told me of a woman who approached James Fitzgerald about one of his paintings. She said quite exuberantly,” That is really a beautiful painting!” and Jim replied, “You should see it in my mind!” Jim also told Ann that," Painting isn't perfect, Furniture is!" 

We need to be confortable with our humanity while reaching for the ideal. In this book, Art and Fear, Ansel Adams is quoted to have said something similar by saying, “the perfect is the enemy of the good.” His point, the author continues, “is that if he waited for everything in the scene to be exactly right he’d probably never make a photograph.” To require perfection in your art is to invite a fearful spirit of paralysis upon yourself as an artist. Nothing good will come out of it.

The truth is, the artist is always reaching for the ideal in a painting, but what is actually produced is a substandard version of what is actually invisioned but what makes the artists connected to this world. This work in all its imperfections is the very vehicle that connects the painter to others. Once the artists gets beyond the fear of thinking art has to be perfect, than the art is free to actually becomes more human friendly. The artists is then free to produce excellence while reaching for the stars.

Another common fear is the fear of annihilation, sometime described as a "dry spell." There is a very real fear that comes from attaching one’s personal identity to close to their artwork. The fear is that if they cease to make art they cease to exist. The fear of being complacent and that some part of you will die if you stop making art, yields to a fearful flood of self-criticism of what could have, should have and would have been if only I continued. The truth is we are worth more than our art. Moreover, until we realize that our art does not define our identity but we define the identity of our artwork, we will never create anything excellent. The artist is always free of the fear of annihilation when the artist defines clear parameters for their work. Sometimes called, "Narrowing your focus"  opposed to being so scattered or nilly willy, establishing clear parameters is always a  good idea especially when we decide to take charge of your art and define our identity in it.

While watching the Antiques Road show on MPBN I caught sight of a early Chuck Close painting that an uninformed owner came in to estimate the value. This painting looked nothing like the photo-realistic Chuck Close I had recently seen at the Colby College museum of Art and in other modern collections. The appraiser then said something astonishing that I never knew about Chuck Close. It seemed that Chuck was very inspired by the modern expressionists William DeKooning but never felt he would be as good a painter as him, so he abandoned that style and went on to produce the works he is know for today. This painting was made while he was in college and in my estimation an excellent painting that rivaled DeKooning and was estimated for over $300,000.00! But the point is was not how much the painting was worth but that Chuck Close came to a place in his life where he decided to narrowed his focus and defined his identity in the modern style of photo realism. He went beyond his fear of what he thought he could never be and became Chuck Close.

The fear and deception that art is a matter of magic and that the suspicion we have when our own artwork turns out well and we consider it a “fluke” but when it turns out poorly it is an “Omen” is a destructive attitude.  particularly when comparing ourselves to another artist. The truth is that every artist is amazing and that their talent is theirs and your talent is yours. You don’t need theirs, you don’t lack talent because you see something different in others, and further more it has nothing to do with yours. We all have our own magic. More importantly we all have our own gift that only we can develop. So we ought to be about working on our work instead of wishing we had the unique ability of another artist. By down playing our own successes as a "Fluke", we deny the reality of our own brilliance. By defining our poorly executed works as an "Omen" we turn the very source of our future works into a downward spiral of expected failure. Great painters never did this. They viewed their failures as the source of inspiration to continue to work on the problems that existed in their paintings. They view success in their work as reaching a significant plateau that, with more work, will inspires the next level of excellence. 

The last fear we talked about was the fear that comes from unreasonable and unworkable expectations we place on our art making. These expectations are based on illusions and not reality. They almost always lead to disillusionment. But expectations that are based on the work itself are the most useful tools the artists has. The present work always informs the next to the extent that everything you need to know about how to proceed in the next work  is contained in the present work. If you ask any successful painter what his or her favorite artwork is that they have painted, they will almost always refer to the one they are currently working on presently. Why? Because to overcome the fear of meeting unworkable expectations we need only to ask our present artwork what it needs not what we need. When we set aside our fears and listen to our art like a good parent listens to a child, expectations are put into a workable perspective. Sometimes we make lofty plans for art making in the new year but have forgotten what motivated us in our last work because it has been so long since we have painted. Sometimes we don't even remember the last painting we completed. We make lofty plans without even asking the work where it wants to go because we are concerned about where we want to be as recognized artists. The good news is that we can overcome the fear of resolutions that are rooted in unreasonable expectations if we simply spend some time with our recently completed works. If we begin where we left off and let the voice of our last painting experiences give us direction one painting at a time, we will make the steady progress that leads to greatness.

In conclusion, the spirit of fear in making art can make us undervalue our work. It can cause us to lose direction. It can steal our vision, paralyze us, and even cause us to lose our identity. This can lead us to create unworkable expectations for ourselves that can bring us to a place of disillusionment. As artists we must arise and engage in the battle of working through our fears and not camp out in them. We must fight back or fight through with courage and confidence that comes from remembering our past successes and believing that we can do it again in an even bigger way. There will always be fears that exist in our art and the artistic world around us. But how we push through it and fight back defines our very success and happiness as artists. Peace comes by fighting the good fight and passing through our fears to meet our successes on the other side. In this New Year, lets not just wrestle with our fears, lets pass through them. True greatness will always await us on the other side!

As you can see our last book discussion was a very rich discussion and we hope to do it again. The next book discussion will be January 17th at Kay Carter's House between 10 and noon. The Book we have chosen to read is:

Please read Chapters Three to four an be prepared to participate in a lively discussion at Kay Carter's house from 10 am to 12 noon. She will be making a wonderful corn chowder and would like us to bring drinks and bread. To coordinate please call me at 827-7573. 

Kay Carter's Address is: