The Magic

Somewhere out there there is a thing, a tool, a concept, an idea which if embraced will instantly transform your art into show winning, top-selling, news worthy stuff.
Sure. Maybe you could do a sex tape too.

Unfortunately there is no secret magic cure; this art stuff is hard work. Why do you think the folks out there spend so much time talking about how crazy artists are? They do it because they too believe there is some magic which allows artists to live the life of Riley without working.

Harry Potter aside there is no magic. Now here comes the disclaimer, writers are the worst. I’ve been reading Stieg Larsson and the more I read, the more convinced I become that if I only wrote in more violence and hatred of women I too could have a more successful writing career.

But it doesn’t work that way, I can’t just mimic J.K Rowling, Stieg Larsson or even Janet Evanovich, they’ve use that McGuffin and it just won’t work again for a generation or so until the readers forget that they did it and think it’s all new once again.

And that is true for artists of all stripes; you can’t just do whatever trend is current and expect to create great art. You can’t use whatever technique is hot and expect to have winning results. You can’t buy the latest gimmick and think it will transform your work into the blue ribbon you always wanted.

Look, trends are just that, they come and go and for an artist to chase a trend is like looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You can look and look and all you’ll get are eye strain and tired feet. By the time you identify the trend, master the technique and get your work out where it can be seen, something else will be the trend.

It’s like chasing the horizon, no matter how hard you run it will always be the horizon and just over the edge of the world.

Techniques are the basis of all creative process, we have to know what we are doing in order to do it at all and if we don’t study and practice that technique we will never master it and make art worthy of notice.

You all know I am trying to re-learn to draw. There was a time way back about the time man invented the wheel when I was okay, never great and never stunning, but my draftsmanship was good, I could manage the human body and get all the parts in the right places and the shapes in perspective and the appendages not too long or too short. Yeah, that was a long time ago, now I struggle to get even close. Some days I do okay and some days I do Picasso.

But that doesn’t give me a pass. The only way to get the skill back is to do it every day. Do it a bunch. Do it till the fingers cramp, the eyes burn and the head throbs. That’s why in ages past artists served an apprenticeship. They didn’t get to go out on their own right away; they had to copy their master until the master thought they had it right. That day never came for some. They never got to be journeymen or masters, they always stayed apprentices.

So have you served out your apprenticeship? Have you worked your technique until the blood dripped from your fingers? Have you work long and hard into those sleepless nights when passion and desire drive you to work, work, work?

If you haven’t you’re just spinning your wheels looking for magic.

Passion and desire are the next things you need to find. If you don’t have those in your bag of tricks then there isn’t much practice can do. One of my favorite writing mentors, Lawrence Block says, “The odds of you getting published are so thin you might as well do what you like. Then you’ll enjoy the process.” That is so true. Remember that when you sit down to create, enjoy the process.

Too many people approach art as a curse. If only you’d been attracted to something less demanding you could have accomplished everything you wanted.

Do you really believe that? Sure art makes you sweat and strain and weep bitter tears especially when it isn’t going right, but when it does, then there is nothing better. You aren’t curse you’re called.

We in this material, toy driven society forget when a job was a calling. Police, teachers, clergy and scholars didn’t expect to become rich and famous; they heard the sound of the siren and answered its call. They did what they had to do because they were called.

Now take a look around, plumbers and carpenters want to make as much as doctors. Lawyers sue for incredible amounts for pain and suffering when the injured party couldn’t expect to see that kind of money if they lived to be a hundred years old and worked until they were laid out in the coffin, but try to tell a litigant that and see if you don’t get sued too.

Even if you manage to avoid all of these traps and focus on your work to the exclusion of all else, there’s the toy factor.

You need a bigger, sturdier easel, more brushes, better canvas, a brand name camera, a special French mud, some imported chalks, a Japanese kiln, watercolor paper and maybe better lighting.

Oh I know all about this stuff, I’m a photographer. Just open any photography magazine and you’ll see page after page of gewgaws which if you’d just buy your pictures would be sooooooooooo much better. There’s a DSLR which is exactly like an SLR but digital, longer, bigger lenses, lights and strobes, backdrops, backdrop stands, and all of the stuff for displaying the better pictures you are going to take once you buy all of this stuff.

How did nineteenth century painters/photographers manage? They didn’t have any of this stuff and yet they actually produced some great work. Maybe they didn’t waste so much time on distractions.

You can always find some magic thingy which if only you had it would make all of your work better.

But it won’t. The only thing that makes you better is constant, daily practice. Okay, so I believe competition with your peers helps and selling to the public and you can do all of that without a single magic charm.

o are you filling your pockets with gold coins and heading for Diagon Alley or will you stay and work? Work to make your own brand of magic without all of the myth and mumbling.