Selling out?

You may remember this photo from my May 24th post

 - so this:

is the back.

Before blogging on, here is an apropo question. 

Why do you make art? - if you do. If you don't, why do you like art?

Here are my reasons:  

1. Creative Outlet (I really don't believe I am intrinsically creative, but I do have a passion to create - my landscapes are impressionist (I hope) and not realistic (I hope). I very much admire realist painters, but that is not my goal.

2. Art materials addict (Hello Mr. Blick and Mr. Artarama, etc.) 

3. Art History lover 

4. To make some money to buy art (& art supplies!) I love buying art from my artist friends when I can. 

5. To make some money to create more art!

Chapter 9 of "Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon is 

Sell Out - not the one word "sellout",

which sounds crass and finger-pointing.

Because I want to do #4 and #5 in my list, 

does that make me a sellout?

This chapter is a must read for artists. 

Yes, many people don't want to sell or even show their creations - they are personal. But most of us want to display and have people enjoy it, or discuss it or even revile it. (Remember the title of this book.)

The last line of this chapter ends Kleon's discussion about "paying it forward": "You just have to be as generous as you can, but selfish enough to get your work done."

... and the bottom line for me is to 

make my paintings/drawings/ceramics/sculptures/whatevers

and allow people to get a bit of enjoyment from them because I get so much out of creating them.

(I do not have a website, apart from this blog, so I am not "getting out there" but every so often locally. This "advertising" is a slow process for me!)

Speaking of showing work, 

here is set up and plein air painting from yesterday:

A Bolder Boulder     oil on prepared canvas panel     9 x 12

 the glacier left it

boulder is BBQ size

the moss will take it

This is a much more abstracted painting 

than I thought I was going to make!

Oh, and here is the promised peek at a detail of the triptych:

Thank you for viewing and reading my art blog!