Artistic integrity vs. needing to eat
I just successfully wrestled with an artistic dilemma. I want to make a second piece for the upcoming Mukilteo art show, and I asked K what she thought about the colors. I was thinking about changing the palette entirely to cool blues and silvers because I would like to work with those colors for awhile. On the other hand, it wouldn’t work very well as a companion piece so someone might buy them both as a set. She said I should use similar complementary colors.
Immediately, I felt a little crestfallen. I really wanted to work with different colors for the second, but they wouldn’t work well with the first palette. So I did some color sketches yesterday to see how I could just move the colors around a little. It started to feel like a chore.
Then, late yesterday afternoon, I found How to Be Creative, by ad-guy and cartoonist Hugh MacLeod. It’s lengthy, so I printed it out and read it here and there last night and this morning. It is one of the best and most useful things I’ve read all year.
Item# 21, “Selling out is harder than it looks” made a particular impression on me. MacLeod says, “Diluting your product to make it more ‘commercial’ will just make people like it less.”
Suddenly, I realized that I don’t need to create something that someone might want to buy. I need to create something beautiful because I need to create beautiful things. I can use any colors I want. So I’m going to. If someone else likes it, cool. If no one buys it, so be it. I will at least be able to say I liked it. I don’t need to sell anything. I feel relieved, freed, lighter.
I forget K thinks like a marketer, not as an artist. That’s not a bad thing, and I don’t mean to imply that she’s not artistic, because she is. She will never be an artist, though, because she is a self-admitted perfectionist and she can’t ever create anything good enough for her own high standards. I think that’s tragic. But, anyway, my point is that I need to listen to my creativity, not someone else’s marketing strategy. When I need marketing, later on, then I will listen attentively. Right now, I just need to create.
I forgot to mention I just ordered this:
from Art Supply Warehouse for a total cost to me of (drum roll, please) $170. Specs are as follows:
Imported from Italy, this press is perfect for greeting cards and small prints. It is suitable for etching, collagraphy, embossing, unmounted linoleum and paper lithography printing. 10-1/2 x 16-1/2″ metal bed plate and 10″ wide roller makes this unit capable of making prints up to 9 x 15″ in size. All-steel construction assures long use and service. 3.5mm upper and lower roller are adjustable to accommodate various types of printing. Smooth 360 degree action is easy with the simple L shaped handle. Sold with 10-1/2 x 16-1/2″ felt blanket. Overall unit size 9-3/4″L x 12-3/8″W x 6-3/4″H. Weighs just 20 lbs. Easily installs to bench.
I love my block printing press, and I really want to get into monotype, chine collé, and collagraphy. I debated for weeks, but finally decided to just go for it. I ordered blankets (wool felts, one to catch sizing (“catcher”) and one to help feed the printing plate through the rollers (“pusher”)) from Dick Blick. I hope I can trim them down a little, since those are for a slightly larger press. It comes with a cushion blanket. It’s a direct-drive press, meaning you crank the lower roller and it turns once for each crank, unlike more expensive presses that have gear ratios of 2:1 and up. I don’t care. I’ve found this for sale only 2 places, and Jerry’s Artarama is selling it for $219. ASW had it for $169. The price for a better press jumps up to $399 on sale, and that’s just for a small (“baby”) direct-drive press a couple inches larger than this one. Even if it kinda blows, if it works, then it’s a fantastic deal.
I wonder where I’m going to put it? Well, it’s only 10.5×16.5, and I can take the bed off to store it if I need to, and it only weighs 20 pounds. It’s portable!
I’m kind of excited. I would be more excited but I’m a little upset that I had to use my credit card and I’m not sure I can pay the card off by January, when the 0% interest goes away. Oh, well; it was a really good deal and I think it’s perfect for a beginning printmaker with a teeny-tiny studio. I am excited. I’m also rather calm. Instead of “Oh, goody, goody, goody, when’s it coming, when’s it coming?!?!?!” I’m more like, “Yeah, a press. Cool, man. Really cool.”
