My First Full Body Painting
When Michael Jordan decided to play baseball in 1993 a lot of people criticized the fact that he was not as good as baseball as he was at basketball. He is a professional basketball player after all and many will argue that he is the best player of all times. That didn’t come easy and he practiced a lot. It is very unfair to think that he would be as good in baseball in a very short period of time. Yesterday I had the opportunity to work on my first full body painting. It was an amazing experience and I had so much fun. It was a lot of work. Five hours painting left me exhausted, but it was worth it. The model was excellent and so patient. I kept repeating to the point of being annoying, “It was not too bad for the first one”.
I am aware that I can’t become an expert or even as good as professional body painters on my first try just because I sculpt and paint. It would be ridiculous to think otherwise. It is like expecting Jordan to be excellent as baseball because he played basketball. However, there is always criticism and I must confess that most of it comes from myself. Interestingly, a lot of people liked the result. I liked it too. I liked it a lot. On the other hand, and if you know me and my brain, you know I was taking every minute of it to learn and figure out the strategies I’m using in the next body paintings. It should be better next time. I can still dedicate more time in details by avoiding mistakes and things that didn’t work as expected this time around.
There will be more. I have a few already scheduled leading to demos in September and October. I need the practice. I believe it is possible to learn each time something new. It is with everything we do and try. There is so much to learn and to try. Experimentation is always fun because it leads to discovery. It is important to learn from others but we need to try to figure things on our own and find the techniques and methods that are better for us. That’s what learning is, making meaning of knowledge between our own cognition and outside information. I am looking forward to the next experience.
I thought that it would take me longer to decide when to begin a new project. After drawing a large sketch on a canvas I decided to begin a painting. Since it is Monday and this is my studio day, it is only logical to step away for the computer. Friday was a long day in front of it taking care of business. Art business is so much more than just painting or sculpting, specially when I take care myself of the changes to the website, the design of posters, cards, and other graphic design for marketing, not to mention writing for the blog. No, I don’t have an agent or a PR service to promote what I do. I’ve been blessed with awesome supporters who by word of mouth let their friends know about the parties, the art, and other events. Also, social media plays a very important role in the process. I am very thankful for all the followers.
Experimentation and Discovery
Kids have the capacity to engage in a task without considering what people might think. Kids are not creating because they want to please someone or to show off their abilities. They create because it flows from within. They create for the fun of it. Their minds are free from prejudice. Kids are not concentrated on a future sale or market value. They just create.