March 2011 - Page 2 of 3 - Sharika Roland

March 15, 2011

Paint over

Every once in a while I will paint over a painting that I feel is not as good as my new work. Many people have freaked out and said that if I needed a new canvas they would just buy me one. But that is not the point. If I can stand to paint over a painting then it is not as good as I thought originally.

Some paintings I would never paint over no matter how long it takes to sell. I would even go so far as to say that if I can do it, then I should do it. Even though there have been occasions that people have wanted to buy an old painting and now it has been painted over. That is just the way it goes.

There have been a few that I miss now and wish I had not killed them. One such painting comes to mind. It is this one you are looking at now. I miss her and wish I still had her around. I think other artists do this too and would love to hear from any that have done this.

March 11, 2011

Freedom

People, myself included, sometimes don’t know they have freedom to do something different. As soon as you have success in one area you start to define yourself by that success. This is a trap. As soon as we start to say I am this or I am that, you close the other doors to everything outside of your experience.

It is like living in a house and thinking well this is it. this is the universe. There is a door on the house if you look and you can go out into the street and even drive away or fly away and do something else with new information. It was way way way more comfortable to “stay home.” Some people stay home their entire lives and then die.

That sounds like an awful life doesn’t it, but metaphorically speaking, we do that with our minds. Even if you are a world traveler and think you have seen it all, you just have a bigger house. Everybody should venture out. Everyday.

March 8, 2011

Art and Women and Money

There is a little talked about issue that concerns art and women. if you are married to someone who makes a lot of money, it will hurt you. If you don’t have to over come all kinds of obstacles to get where you are and pay your dues in sweat and blood then nobody will care.

I was an art broker and one of the artists I represented was someone married to a wealthy man. It is not her fault her husband made a lot of money but it did color how everyone viewed her work. And because she did not have to worry about where anything was coming from, the resulting artwork was pretty but shallow. It sounds like being a bigot against wealth but it is true.

Your fellow artists wont respect you getting anything handed to you. And your work will not have the edge it needs to live for any length of time. Obstacles to overcome will make you a much better artist. If anyone disagrees with me I would love to hear it.

March 8, 2011

The Place you live

Sometimes we get upset if we are not in a a town that we think loves us. The place is not important. A city is not important. What is important is that you use everything you have to contribute to whatever place you are in. If you invest yourself you will automatically love the everything about the place. Geography is meaningless. Paris may be great to look at on vacation but unless you really live there and know people and have a job to do and invest in lives around you, soon all the glitter will mean zero to you. Likewise if you are a missionary in the most pathetic place, you will love it, because you love those you are caring for.

With that in mind, do not wast a minute of your life complaining about how this town or that town is unbearable. Geography is not powerful, people are. I have found that if you only have three people that you deeply know you will be connected and then soon you will have six and so on.

You will see a town through much clearer eyes when you love a lot of people. Don’t cry for a pretty time in your life as it is not a good use of your time and will cloud your eyes from seeing the gift that is where you are NOW.

March 7, 2011

Stimulation

Every time we get a new concept it immediately starts to go stale. that is the nature of ideas. creative wise. they are like fresh bread hot from the oven. It smells great and tastes so luxurious to have a hot piece with butter. the ultimate thrill. then one hour later it is not the same cooled down. and then the next few days see it decline in luxury pretty fast. Nuking it might help a little but not a ton. No nothing is like a piece of hot bread right out of the oven.

Painting is like that too. You get to revel in the new concept a few hours then it is on to the next thing. You can never rest on your laurels.

So you always have to make new loaves of bread every day and you even have to change up the recipe too.

The masterpiece done yesterday is just paving the ground for what is next.

And something always is.

next !