Your most difficult task?

[jim]

What is your most difficult task as an artist? Now that we know what most
look like, it would be interesting to see what problems they face as an artist.
the work that is posted is beautiful and elegant. I would like to know what
problems you faced creating your work?

jim

[Scout]

Selling. Scout

[Thatch]

Completing a form by carving a wood that has very real structural differences through out and without visual clues as to what lies within is a great challenge, but the hardest thing for me is deciding what to do. The fact that I have not once been able to stay completely with a design once started makes it even more difficult on deciding a path to follow.
Then again that is exactly one of the things I like the best about the process I follow. I never know where it will lead me.

Thatch

[jim]

Hey Scout, I just read an article in the fall issue of Sculptural Pursuit called
Old-Fashioned Correspondence: Standing out in an E-World..
These tips could help out over the long run...
Thatch, I too have the same problem changing a piece in the process
I guess thats why we all have creative minds it never shuts down.
That can be a good thing..

[desertrock]

Stopping to eat.
Mark

[MountainSong]

Hmmm, most difficult……having layers of meaning and interpretation in a piece and building emotional/psychological tension in a piece.
I’m in the ‘content stage’ of the learning process now, and it’s such a hard one to juggle. Too much dialog and meaning and message get obscured, too little and the piece is empty just visual fluff or decorator art meaning nothing and signifying nothing. So trying to create art that has enough narrative or dialog, no matter how subtle, to engage people on multiple levels is indeed the most difficult task for me. :eek:

[tobias]

I have 2 tasks that are equally dificult for me the first is switching from my day job to sculpting. At work i use a microscope for most thingsand have to follow strict rules about form and function. This is mentaly exausting for me. So I find it hard to switch to the rejuvenation and exciteminet of sculpting. The second thing I have trouble with is more complex. I have entered contests both local and international and have participated in 3 international juried exibitions/symposia this was relativly easy not much politics or whatever. I try to get into a gallery at home and keep getting messed around by what seems to me to be an industry that is very unprofessional an disorganised. If I could just carve and do nothing else I would be set.

[Hallac]

Too many things/ideas I want to tackle, and never enough time to do them - not getting any younger. Having to quit before I'm ready is a pain in the welding helmet. Either I have to work in the morning or I'm just trying to be considerate to the neighboring houses. Somedays you reach that state of mind where everything is so clear and working out great, then urrrrrrch!!! Slam! Play time over... ugh.

[Ameenah]

Having to work out of my bedroom, I have to deal with family always trying to come in to see what I'm up to. Another thing I can't stand are the comments like... " why are you changing it?, I liked it better before.... or you know what you should do? :eek: :mad: They don't understand that I have a process and I may do and redo a peice over and over again. I have to like it I'm not doing it for them I'm doing it for me.
My new house in Nashville has an apartment upstairs with a separate entrance, that I can lock and will be off limits to all. :D
Ameenah

[iron ant]

For me it is drawing a fluid organic sculpture for a clietnt to get commision work.when you sculpt by the "seat of your pants" at times ,it is hard to do proper scale drawings that dont look like bad cartoons.Hey scout selling is difficult at times for every artist unless your the "chuilys" of the world.right time,right place,right work,right luck,of course it takes a lot of work too.IA

[G. Murdoch]

The most difficult thing is having a composition in my mind, and a stone in front of me, then rotating the mental sculpture & the stone simultaneously, to ensure that particular rock will accept that shape. The greatest challenge & the greatest reward too.

Graham

[jim]

Hey!! just got back from California. to much Merlot.thanks for the replies.
it seems we all have a lot in common. you guys and gals are great..
ill be in laguna beach in oct..great art galleries. sometimes it hard for me to explain by typing it just doesnt come out right for me but this site mean a great deal to me...so stay cool! and keep creating!

jim

[EJB]

Laundry.

[GlennT]

Thanks EJB! I nearly expelled my breakfast with that one!

[jim]

EJB

Keep whites away from colors!!!
Cashmere sweaters you want to hand wash..

jim

[classicalsculpt]

The time/money circle of challenge in creating sculpture. This is the call on how to eliminate all unnecessary distractions in life, while still keeping a balance of family priorities.
Also, because of this, my second difficult task is actually getting a finished body of work for others to finally see. There has never been a public showing of my work.

[EJB]

Thanks for the laundry tips jim! Hopefully my supply of pink t-shirts (formerly white) will now dwindle. Laundry can also be a metaphor for all those daily tasks that draws one away from the studio. I think most everyone falls victim to housekeeping, family obligations, car problems, illness or injury, perhaps even a real job, in the quest of being an artist. When producing art becomes your real job, the pressures mount even more. The laughable part comes when in the company of the suit and tie crowd who wish they could have such a leisurely occupation filled with wine and cheese openings and daily sessions with lovely nude models. I was thinking of this as I loaded and unloaded the truck for tomorrows installation, then spent a few hours sweeping the floors, sorting tools, heaving around stacks of lumber, steel and boxes and pausing long enough to choke down some microwaved noodles. To the seasoned veterans of this forum this might sound familiar. For those new to the art world, just a brief reality check. It's a lot of work. I supposed the most difficult task afterall is feeling that people recognize that.

[jim]

I understand EJB. I started out a few years ago and its a long process. Im just in the beginning, its like learning a new language..a lot of people can create great art its just getting out to the public thats a process....
I only thought the gov. had RED Tape..

[ironman]

Hi, I've been thinking about this for almost 2 wks now and I think that my most difficult task is trying to figure out WHAT my most difficult task is?
Is it:
Picking one drawing out of many that I want to make a sculpture from?
Moving heavy pieces of steel around my studio?
Keeping the whole process "creative" so that it's not a dull boring construction job?
Spray painting the piece (I hate spray painting)?
Having the energy to do the hard work necessary to complete the piece?
Learning to go where I have to go?
Or, is it just the laundry?
I don't know!
Have a great day,
Jeff

[Nina Florence]

Waking up after being in the studio. Switching my brain from creating to being a mother and wife. STOP staring into space when cooking dinner. Hazardous!! Listen to people with out zoning out. Yep, that my hardest task. I will master it!!

[Berinje']

I certainly agree and completely identify with all of the above answers. I would add to that, stopping the brain from chattering away with too many questions that aren't important. Good questions for me are, is this good art?, how could it be improved?, is it expressing what I wanted it to say? Even these questions can make me doubt myself and procrastinate, but that's okay because they are important questions. It's the brain chatter of, will it make money?, will it sell?, what will people think of it?, that I try to not let influence my need to create sculpture. I have the most fun and am the most productive when I simply can sculpt for the love of sculpting and let the rest just be what it will be. Easier said than done :o

[GlennT]

[QUOTE=Berinje' I have the most fun and am the most productive when I simply can sculpt for the love of sculpting and let the rest just be what it will be. [/QUOTE]

A rousing chorus of "Amen" to that!

GlennT

[jOe~]

Amen.

jOe~

[obseq]

It is a really straight-forward answer from my end--

In the simplest terms:

1)Lack of access to facilities/tools.
2)Sufficient funds to see ideas to fruition.

I realize these obstacles defy expedience, but it concurently facilitates for developing inexpensive shortcuts to achieve the same result.


(The collection basket should be making its rounds right about now) :D

[mark pilato]

Finding the time to sculpt, even when I am sculpting every day there still is not enough of it. Also I hate making Mother Molds on large works. Pictures show rubber and plaster Mother Mold.

[desertrock]

Staying in a positive frame of mind when the form I'm searching for evades me. Unforseen features inside the stone that come to the surface as I'm carving, that change the course of the piece aren't welcomed at first. But that often leads me to a new and fresh perspective. Eventually I reach that balance in form that reveals the colors and textures I want to enhance, and I reach the finishing stage where it all falls into place. Sometimes it's just a battle to overcome a nagging self doubt in my ability to breakthrough this phase on a difficult stone.
Answer: Staying positive and maintaining a healthy tolerance for frustration.

Mark

[KeithBentley]

I'm all about the time/money cycle. I left my job a while back to focus on my career as an artist but, now that I have all of the time, there is no money left.
Why is it artists, who make no money, seem to be the ones who get NAILED for supplies and studio space? Even the cost of an art class is nearly double than that for lawyer - and who makes the money there?

Oh - and laundry really is an issue. That and dusting. Ha!

[obseq]

To be more specific, I think sculptors get a raw deal when it comes to really digging in when it comes to expenses and space.

Painters and photographers should count their blessings! :D


Why is it artists, who make no money, seem to be the ones who get NAILED for supplies and studio space? Even the cost of an art class is nearly double than that for lawyer - and who makes the money there?