woodstock art

Drove over to Woodstock last night for Marlen Wiedenbaum's opening at The Woodstock Artists Association. I don't get over to Woodstock as much as I'd like and when I do, I kind of wish I were still a shopper. It would be nice to wander around town more. But, I don't shop because I don't want to spend money on things I just don't need. And I hate the temptation created. So I avoid it like the plague. Window shopping just hold much interest for me. I'd rather look at art.
And Marlene's was well worth the drive. Her pastels are gorgeous. Most of them regional, many of Minnewaska , but some of Italy and other foreign locales. Lots of stone, water and woods. Plus a teapot series which apparently started as a study of shapes and became a psychological window into the people behind the teapots -- those who loaned or gave them as gifts to the artist.
I have to say, I've never been a huge fan of the classics: painting, drawing, sculpture. In their classic forms. But artists like Marlene crack my head and heart open. I've often said I am most changed by the art I initially like the least. It not only grows on me, but makes me grow. I have enormous admiration for the skill and patience it takes to do this sort of work. And probably, I am a bit jealous. My eyes see differently; I am not a realist in any sense of the word.
I remember speaking with Marlene a year or so ago, at a time when she was just scaling back her job obligations to devote herself more fully to her art. At that time she seemed a bit apprehensive. But at the opening she was beaming. There were quite a few red dots, indicating that work had sold. And when I spoke with her she said she'd been able to spend about 4 months totally absorbed in her painting -- but also works as a freelance graphic designer.
Most artists have to work to earn a living. Not necessarily full time. But creatively. I'm one of the most optomistic people I know. And I do believe that you can earn a living full time from your art. But realistically, unless you've got someone else paying the bills, the health insurance, etc. it's difficult to make the jump. Not impossible. Just not always the most plausible thing in the world. And what's important at the end of the day as far as I'm concerned is that we live as artists and work as artists, whether we've got to hold down a job other than our art or not.
I'm not a big fan of the art marketing trend that claims we can all be financially successful artists if only we create business plans and network properly and hand out our business cards every chance we get. For those of us who have worked in business for many years before returning to our art, the cookie cutter approach is annoying at best. And it smacks of exactly the same kind of corporate mumbo jumbo we are trying to get away from. I am personally more interested in ideas than in commerce. When we dedicate ourselves to the true things we are blessed and born to do, our lives are our riches.
Addendum: I ran across this link while arts surfing and thought it was relevant to what I'd written above about artists working for a living.