Why Everyone Should Teach

I'm too busy, too selfish, don't feel like it, can't find the time, looks like too much work...the list goes on and on. We have excuses by the bushel when it comes to why we don't do what we don't do it. And why should we do it, you ask. Why should everyone teach- at least once?

Several reasons. I'll start with the fact that everyone knows something. And most of us know a few somethings really, really well. It's our job or hobby or simply a huge interest of ours but for whatever reason, we know A LOT about that subject. We gobble up articles, watch videos, listen to podcasts and go see demos becuase we're eager to learn as much as we can about this certain subject. We're rolling around in facts and surrounded by piles of information.

What being forced to teach someone else some of the stuff you know is to make you take that huge, messy pile of knowledge and sort it into smaller piles. It's taking the beach in the painting and stacking the pebbles in one pile, the short pieces of driftwood in another and so on. Because when you teach, you are forced to organize your jumbled thoughts and ideas into comprehensive, organized, carefully composed smaller pieces. Then you need headlines to group those ideas under and before you know it, you're able to tease threads of ideas throughout the whole and find similarities in areas you hadn't even relaized existed.

The human mind loves sorting things. Like goes with like. Teaching makes you not only sort and organize what you know, it also makes you imagine what it was like before you knew it all. How did that feel to first learn this? People don't learn by being stuffed with facts. They learn from doing, from hearing stories, from seeing visual aides. Teaching makes you look at your gorgeous, exciting subject and imagine how you can expand your excitement to others. Using your imagination to help others learn. Imagine that!

The painting for this month's blog is The Spit, oil on 18x36" panel. To see more of my work, visit my website!

How to Capture a Day

Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
Lat., Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.

-Horace, Odes

Why is it so hard for human beings to be present in the now? Mr. Carpe Diem thinks we must be in the here and now and not wait till tomorrow but my head is usually in the future despite his good advice. I spend a lot of time worrying about my to-do list, making sure nothing gets left behind, making more lists and adjusting calendars. Spending time to make sure all my balls are still up in the air takes up a good portion of each day. Then there are errands to run, vacations to plan, groceries to buy. Am I even present during all this or just running on auto pilot? Discouraging thinking of my days slipping past with me hardly in them.

The one time I am fully 100% present is when I'm painting. The one time! That wonderful, fully-focused space is so very full and wide. I want to dive down that rabbit hole all the time to the place that is just me, the canvas and the paint. It's problem solving all the way. You might not know that if you're not a painter. You put a stroke down and it's lovely but it's also a problem. Now the stroke next to it needs adjusting and so on. In a nearly perfect state, the hours slip by and you look up astonished that the day is nearly done.

Carpe Diem! When I'm painting!

Artists and the Art of Making Money

Artists and the Art of Making Money

Sissy is an artist whose partner’s income isn’t quite enough to cover the bills so she is constantly under pressure to make up the difference. She came up with an on-line gallery in which artists pay a fee to join. It fills the income gap and challenges her geeky, well-developed skills.  For Cathy, it was either get a day job outside the arts industry or figure out how to bring in the art income she had before the recent recession hit. She decided to go into teaching art to adults leaving her time outside of teaching for continuing to create her own art. Mo, a lifetime artist who needed only to pay for his own supplies and $300 a month for his shared art studio sells art, art calendars, and cards every month at the studio’s artwalk.

There are as many ways and needs for income for artists as there are artists. Artists often have to scramble to make ends meet when they’re artists by doing many arts related jobs. If you’re trying to make it as an artist, you better consider yourself half entrepreneur and half artist. There is no getting away from running your own business though many artists wish they could!  

Lucky artists who have another income and don’t need to make money at their art are often still driven by income. We’re a capitalist nation. We take in income from what we sell. Galleries want to represent artists whose work sells, not artists who give their art away to relatives. I’m lucky in that I don’t need the income from my art to support my family but I do run my art as a business and I want my business to be successful for many reasons.

One big reason is that I give 25% of my profits to a local charity so the more I make, the more I give to neighbors who need the extra help. I don’t know of a single artist who isn’t as philanthropic as me. It seems universal that artists give a percentage of their work to auctions. I think last year I gave at least $5000 in paintings to auctions. Did you know that artists can only claim the cost of the materials when they donate art? That means they get to claim $106 for the canvas and materials when the work retails for $900 and they spent 30 hours of work on the piece.

Word to the wise; learn how to run a business and be a marketing major along with learning the skills of becoming an artist. Be generous. Be as creative approaching your business as when you create art. Help others along the way.

                Happy New Year everyone! And let’s hope this recession is behind us!

Painting, "Harbinger", Original 12x16" Oil on board by Joanne Shellan

Self-discipline

I've been thinking a lot about discipline lately. I put myself on a gluten-free diet to see if it was the cause of tummy disruptions (it was not) and though I still am the owner of a noisy digestive system, I left the diet with a feeling of well being. I can now say I'm going to be self-disciplined and not eat gluten products for a set amount of time and I can follow through with that action. I've stumbled through life without making any New Year's resolutions and things have gone fine so far. But I see the reasons oh-so-clearly now why even a little self-discipline goes a long way.

Once you follow through with some little self-discipline you've set for yourself, you get this wonderful boost of confidence. It's like a little gateway has been opened to larger, bigger things you would like to do. It doesn't have to be a big thing to start you off either. I could tell myself that I'm not going to snack between lunch and dinner. And what a great feeling when I accomplish this little thing. That could lead to saying I'm not going to eat anything after dinner for a week. We're talking bigger resolutions here. No more ice cream at eight!  I mean, this could actually help get rid of those pesky muffin tops. Major good stuff could happen.

Things I really like to do like paint and power-walk are easy to do. I think the couple in my painting like walking every day too though not at a power-walk pace. It's the stuff we don't want to do or that we're afraid to do that cause most of us such grief. Just one little step first is my suggestion. Got a closet full of old clothes to go through? Make a tiny step and resolve to get rid of one item before next Sunday. Keep it doable and then do it. Good luck and may your gateway open up!

Self-discipline; noun

Discipline and training of oneself, usually for improvement: Acquiring the habit of promptness requires self-discipline.

 

My show at Kaewyn Gallery closes on November 23rd. If you get a chance, please stop by. I also have paintings at the Kirkland Arts Center store at Parkplace mall in Kirkland and Gallery by the Bay in downtown Stanwood. The miniature show opens next at Kaewyn where I'll have half a dozen miniatures. And I'm starting with a new gallery down in Hood River called The Pines at the end of this month where the winery and the gallery mix it up.

Thanks,

Joanne

Five Best Outings in Seattle

Seattle Center Fountain- #1 of Five Best Outings in Seattle
8x10" Original Oil Painting by Joanne Shellan

 1. The fountain at the Seattle Center is my top pick when it comes to naming the heart of Seattle. It's where people are drawn to gather in times of mourning and to celebrate when the sun comes out. You can't beat a fountain that is programed to perfom to music and where there are no signs telling you to keep out.

2. Pike Place Market is a close second. It's as honest as the day is long. Real people working long hours down there, no corporations allowed. Farmers, flowers growers, fish mongers and fish throwers, all together in one big happy. It always makes me happy to be down there.

3. The Arboretum is one of my favorite parks in Seattle. Views there just cannot be beat. You can look out on vast Lake Washington or in on lily-padded nooks and trails for canoes. It's a park that beats all others for sizable trees, calm  vistas and long walks.

4. Our friends and relations who come to visit Seattle always get a visit with the troll under the bridge in Freemont. It's too quirky to not show off. I mean, where else in the world does such a creature exist except in a back lot at Disney?

5. Archie McFees is my final destination for our Seattle Tour. Maybe we just have nutty friends but we always have a lot of fun showing off the place and feel quite satisfied about how our nickel and dimes were spent. A faux leather bacon belt and rubber chicken can't be found at any old store. I do miss the old location  on Stone Way though.

 

Email me your favorites. Surly two heads are better than one and a new and improved list can be made!

 

Your best outing in Bothell is Kaewyn Gallery where my show is currently up and thriving. November 5, Saturday from 1-4pm is Meet the Artist Day! Join me for nibbles, hot cider and art talk. The show is up through Nov. 23. And three of five best places are featured in paintings in the show!

 

The Most Impotnat Thing Every Artist Needs to Do

The most important thing a creative person does is choose what to express. It matters less what style the writer uses or what color of paint the artist chooses. It matters less if the clay is sculpted in a rough or highly polished manner. The poet can use a pen or a computer. The playwright can be funny or serious. But before an artist makes any of those other decisions, the number one thing to consider is what they want to express. It may sound simple. Just say it, as Nike would have us do. But say what? Where do you look to decide what you want to say? Do we climb a mountain and look for it there? Do we study meditation to find it? These things can help but it's really about self-awareness. You need to start by knowing yourself and then looking inside to where you keep your deepest convictions and your dearest values and that's where you'll find something meaningful to convey.

My upcoming show at Kaewyn Gallery will feature paintings of places that vibrate within me. I have positive, loving feelings and real connections with these places and have painted them in a very Joanne sort of way. That is how I walk my walk. If I am true to myself and my art, those feelings should come right off the end of my paint brush and be pulled deep into each painting I create.

Nike may say it but we artists try really hard to just do it.

Tell the World

pIf you could tell the world about your job and clear up some of their misperceptions, what would you say? I recently read an *article about this very subject. Fascinating. A librarian said you really do need a Masters degree to do her work. It's WAY beyond shelving books.  I would tell the world that artists never get "there", they're always "going there". For me, that means that I'll never stop at a certain style of painting and stay with it forever. My work from two years ago may look the same to you as this week's painting of Pike Place Market but to me, it's very different. I see stronger, cleaner colors and more focus on design. Artists Evolve. They get better as they work at their craft. They're always on the road, never at the end of the road. Tell me...what do you want to tell the world about your job that no one seems to understand?

Come see my show next month, "Kernel of Truth" at Kaewyn Gallery in Bothell, Washington which opens October 14 and ends November 24. It's a look at the theme of perceptions. My views of Washington State will be different than your views. I want to explore that idea.

Go to my website to add your name to my mailing list if you would like to receive emails or postcards about my upcoming shows. Thanks!

*Lastly, I looked all over to find the link to the article and I cannot find it. It was under READ on the app Flipboard which I love to puruse on my iPad. Let me know if you run across it.