Day 221

I had a goal in mind tonight. The idea was to create a self-portrait with great economy in my use of line or mark-making. There was no pre-drawing with pencil; the image was made using only ink and a brush. From start to finish, I would estimate that I easily spent less than 5 minutes.

I know that this sort of information often causes the casual viewer to take pause and question the quality of a work of art. It seems that the common thought is that for an artwork to be "good" then it must have taken a long time (which usually translates to a lot of effort) to produce. And I'm here to say that this is simply not always the case! Now, I should clarify that I'm not by any means calling this self-portrait a masterpiece of art. But it is a decent work of art, and it has a definite personality to it.

The problem that I often find, especially when working with students, is the frustration encountered when one person can make an artwork in a short time, yet it takes another person much more time to create a piece of similar quality. And as artists, there is nothing more that we can do other than to accept that this is merely a stark reality of our chosen field. Sure, it seems unfair, but to be quite frank: that's just the way it goes...

#221 May 29, 2011,  Ink

Sounds: Alison Krauss and Union Station, Every Time You Say Goodbye