You don’t need to have the idea in place before you begin. Most great ideas come in the middle of playing around and then you get a bead.
I call getting a bead when the smattering of a great idea is starting. I can feel it. Everything feels meaningless and then suddenly it is right there. The way to go, the reason for this painting to live, the big idea the right color , the right direction.
When this happens everything else goes away and I am home. I do not want to leave there ever because I am in the place that is the reason I even try in the first place. Flow. It is flowing out. It is telling me what to do beyond my usual knowledge.
I used to paint with charcoal and varnish because it was cheap. What a mess and probably toxic as all get out but it worked.
I once sold a painting that was made of charcoal and varnish and masonite from a dumpster. I sold it in a coffeehouse.
When that happened I knew anything was possible. anything. People don’t care what you use they only care if they like it. They also don’t give a ding dong about where you went to school. They could not care less.
I have had people call me us and want to hang out with me to pick my brain for one thing or another. Mostly it is how do you sell your work. How do you break in.
Some of these people have gone to Ivy League schools. what a joke, They think I have fairy dust and can help them. They think I have the answer.
I do. The answer is nobody cares where work comes from . they only care if they like it. YOu are good enough right now.
There also is another key. If you sell a lot of things when you are just a kid you will make it. That seems to be the other thing. It happens when you aren’t even trying to sell it.