The Long Road to a Career

The Long Road by J. Finchum

     An art career is a long road. You start out on a rocky dirt road, but over time you come to a paved road. The ride gets smoother and you travel on that road for quite awhile. Eventually you come to an unmarked intersection, and whatever road you choose will take your art career in a certain direction.
     
     So you pick a road, and travel down it for awhile, and the scenery is great. Then the small road becomes a highway with a lot of lanes. You start to notice that there are a lot of exits along the way. So you take an exit you think you might like and it takes you to a new highway that goes in a new direction. Sometimes you miss an exit that has great potential, but you're afraid to get lost, so you don't take it. Then sometimes you take the wrong exit and have to find your way back to the highway. The further you get along the choices get harder, and its hard to know which exit to take. Sometimes you get on a great road, and sometimes the road is rough and it just seems like you're going in the wrong direction.

     After awhile you get to the point where you wish you could go back to that first intersection and go the other way with the knowledge you've picked up on your travels.

-Tim Gagnon

Brilliant words

Reflective Sunset

"REFLECTIVE SUNSET"

24" x 18" Oil on Canvas Knife Painting

Available for purchase $150

Prints are available on Fine Art America by following the link in sidebar.

This is a 24" x 18" oil painting that is brand new. Knife painting is a delicate and messy approach at first, but a fun way to get different textures and effects out of the paint.

All comments are welcome, any opinion appreciated. 

The Art of Procrast… Distraction

Squirrel by E H Paulson

I was going to write an entry on the subject of procrastination, at least that was the original intent. I figured I would make a list or something to see if I could find out why I was procrastinating, at what times did I do it more, and were there specific things that I tended to put off more than others.

I started making my list and got distracted. I then realized that I had indeed gotten distracted and went back to my list, until I was once again distracted by something else. So what’s the point?

There are two kinds of people in this world. The first is the kind that can finish lists… Why do we get distracted?

For me, it seems to be entertainment and I am easily entertained. I like movies and television and often keep it on as background noise while doing other things. However, I find myself frequently watching rather than doing. Not to the extent of impeding my life in any way, but enough that I have started to notice that I do it. This is when I realized that I was going about the subject in the wrong text.

I don’t procrastinate… I am just easily distracted. These are obviously two different things. One is a lack of motivation and one is a problem. There just seems to be a little nudge in the back of my mind that pushes me to do other things, but not in a multitasking kind of way. I just grow bored with the things I have at hand, and move on to something else. 

(Okay I’m back, no I wasn't distracted... someone needed help with something)

Now where was I? Oh yeah, I think it has to do with the way I taught myself to paint. I use a wet on wet technique but I do it in layers. One layer, wait until dry, then do another layer some time later. I used to work on multiple paintings at a time and this was a good way of using my time. Now however, I put more effort into a single painting and concentrate on doing the one over doing many. This is where that extra time is coming into play and not being utilized well. I wait for things to dry and sometimes start new projects altogether, forgetting to go back to the other.

So now that I have finished my actual list. I am going to implement some things to try and get myself back on track. I am going to leave the TV off while painting or reading/writing. I am going to go back to a slower version of multiple paintings at once to see if that helps with my time management and see if I can limit how often I am distracted by outside influence.

Do you get easily distracted or do you have a problem with real procrastination? Leave a comment and let me know. I am always looking for new people to share Ideas and tips with. If you like this blog, please feel free to +1, Like, and Share it your friends. No pressure though.

It's Monday on Tuesday

Well I went to the Art Expo in NYC this weekend and I got to see a lot of really well done, well-crafted artwork. However, I did see a lot of what the heck is that artwork as well, but you know what they say, one man’s art is another man’s junk. There were some pretty talented painters exhibiting there as well as some very technical sculptors and their works were simply impressive.

I got to see Tim Gagnon and his artwork in person and being able to see just what the textures and colors look like to the eye as opposed to seeing it on a color monitor, was very much a benefit to his art. I was also glad to see that he sold a few. I also found it interesting that an artist from Maine was being hosted by a gallery ten minutes from where I live on Long Island. It certainly is a Small world.

A few other artists that caught my attention were GehryWelty, whose Geometric paintings are mathematically accurate to a point that they are in the correct perspective no matter what angle they are viewed from, were very impressive. He is also a cinema artist and has worked on movies like Iron Man, Robocop 2014 and Inception to name a few.


Alexis Silk had some amazing free handed glass sculpture that looked extremely delicate and were hanging from large industrial steel hooks giving that sense of their impending breakage.

Beatrice Vangreel Had some cool looking line art works that had a vibrant green color that could accent a wall very nicely.

I was also very happy to see Stan Lee had some work there. He was not in attendance, which was a bummer, but his paintings were in the presence of many fine artists.

There were also two other artists whose names I failed to get, bad Joseph. One had some painted wood pieces that really accented the form and patterns of the wood grain with bold splashes of color and fine lines, while the other did some impressive textured paintings that used the application of the paint in a way I had never seen before and thought was a very interesting technique.

All in all, I would say there were some really talented people there and it was well worth the visit. Maybe I will go again next year, but maybe… just maybe, next year I will be in the show rather than just a patron of the arts.

With that said I am sharing with you a sold painting of my own today. This one sold about a year ago and is actually two paintings on one canvas. I hope you like it. All in all, I would say there were some really talented people there and it was well worth the visit. Maybe I will go again next year, but maybe… just maybe, next year I will be in the show rather than just a patron of the arts.

With that said I am sharing with you a sold painting of my own today. This one sold about a year ago and is actually two paintings on one canvas. I hope you like it.

   Summers Winter By Joseph Finchum  18" x 32" Oil on Canvas

"Summers Winter"

18" x 32" Oil on Canvas

Sold

Prints are available on Fine Art America by following the link in sidebar.

This is a 18" x 32" oil painting that sold a while back. It depicts a mountain landscape with summer colors on one side and winter colors on the other.

All comments are welcome, any opinion appreciated.

Missing a Friday :(

No real Friday post this week as I am getting ready to go to the NYC Art Expo this weekend and wanted to hold off in case something really great presents itself as a topic. But rest assured I will have my normal Monday post or possibly two. Can't wait to see what my favorite YouTube artist Tim Gagnon is bringing to the show. Looking forward to this for a while now.

So if you haven't already seen this blog or if you have but have only glanced at it, this is a great chance to go back and maybe see something you might have missed or wanted to look over again.

I have also added a video to the Social Media Interaction post that delves deeper into how bad Facebook's paid post ads are and why it is a terrible idea to use it.

Hope to hear from a few of you here. Please leave a comment if you do take the time to look over and ponder my previous posts.

Cheers,
Joseph

Visiting the Past Again

This is another look back in time for me. This painting is another one of my first works. It is titled "Lady with Ribbons" or just "Ribbons."

Recreated in Photoshop and Illustrator

Original Painting done 21 years ago

I did this painting just after getting out of high school in 1993. It was one of the first paintings I ever did that was not just a typical landscape and had elements of the abstract and symbolism involved in it. Time unfortunately, has not been fair to this piece. The whites have all faded into a dull yellow and mix into the yellow of the stained glass effect I was going for. It has bad line work and some connections of the ribbons do not line up to the counterparts on the other side. It was painted using liquid watercolor paints, used like acrylics, since I had no knowledge of what I was really doing. I am a self-taught artist and this was one of those times when I was trying to get the feel of paints and how they worked. I didn't know that these paints were even meant to be used with water or that they would not stand the test of time.

In this painting, I was trying to get a feeling of movement and energy. To show that I could use my imagination to bring something to life that was only in my head. To me it represents my first real success with painting as well as my first real defeat in painting. I say it is a defeat only because my mother has always been my biggest fan and she didn't like this one. She just didn't feel it so to speak.

 It is to me, representative of my life at the time that I did it. I was trying to go with the flow and the ribbons were meant to represent that. They flow in and out while twisting around the figure in a tornado of mixed emotions. The woman represents the fact that all my friends were out there with their significant others while I wasn't. Being a bit on the antisocial side I have trouble with relationships and found myself feeling alone a lot of the time. The stained glass effect was depicting my rigidness in life. Unwilling to change myself for better or worse and my inability to put myself out there with my art, something I still struggle with to this day. But the colorful paints are showing that deep down inside there is a warm person that is trying to emerge. To break free of the glass and the ribbons that keeps me locked inside of myself. One day, I will finally shed these things and move on with my life.

Twenty-one years later I find I still feel these ribbons holding me in place but they are certainly becoming looser. I am just now truly finding myself and letting go of the things that have held me back. I often think of revisiting this painting and either doing a recreation using what I have learned over the years, or just re-imagining it all together.

I hope you enjoyed this painting and reading a bit about me and my struggles. After all art can be tormenting to the individual and it is only in overcoming these torments that we can really be free.

What do you think of it? Do you think I should redo it? Should I re-imagine it? I would love to hear from you all. Your opinions and feedback are always appreciated.

Joseph Finchum

Social Media Interaction

How do you interact with other artists on social networking sites?

I have some basic guidelines that I set up for myself. These guidelines are set up in a way that allows me to interact, ask questions, and give critiques to any number of artists and either gather new information or just shoot the breeze from time to time. Both can be just as rewarding if your goal is simple interaction or learning something new. I use these guidelines to not only gain exposure for myself and my artworks to others but to make it simpler to interact with more real people and artists. Because that is what people do, we interact with others, even online. We are social creatures at our core.



My guidelines:

• Never add a +1 or a Like to something that is not by the artist themselves or a promoting service helping the artist get more exposure.
        The reason for this is time management and concentrated efforts. If someone posts a picture of another artists work and doesn't include a link or even their name, then that  person is getting and more likely taking the credit.
  
• Only engage with artists that are willing to engage you back.
        If someone doesn't take the time to interact back, then they might not be worth the effort. This does not count against the occasional poster. Only those who are very active but don't take time to engage with their audience. Why have the social networking account, if you aren't being social.
  
• Never +1, Like, or Share something that is asking or begging to have it made so. If someone is asking me to do these things I immediately get that feeling that that is all they are really interested in... their personal numbers. Facebook can be an exception since they limit your views and numbers so that you will pay them to increase it. Ask away on Facebook.
        I get that numbers can be important and that the rate they go up can be thrilling, but this should not be your main focus. I also, will not add one of these requests to anything I post, mostly because it comes off as needy. Yes I want my numbers to go up, who doesn't, but let's not lose control and become lost.

These are my guidelines, not yours, and yours may vary greatly. Do you have any personal guidelines for promoting yourself and your artwork on social networking sites? What sites are you on and or using? Anything you do or don't do? Any tips or tricks?  Whatever you want to talk about is always open for a good discussion.

Hope to hear from many of you.
Joseph

Edit to add this video: Check it out if you have any questions about Facebook ads.