Painting to Our Own Standard

There are so many different types of art, and an equally number of creative talented artists in the world. One only has to visit Flickr.com to be exposed art produced by artists in every country of the globe.  It is amazing how in our electronic age we can communicate with those artists, comment on their work, or just look at their finished product and marvel at their accomplishment with a brush, a pencil, charcoal or pastels.

There is art to suit every taste, some bizarre, (okay in my opinion), some well done, some not so well done, and some so incredibly detailed and expressive that they just grab you.  Wow, if I could paint like that!  What a pleasure it is to be able to be artistic, and to be able to paint something from our imagination, or something from life that is very difficult to capture. My medium is pastels and my preference is to complete my paintings so that they very closely resemble what I am looking at.  For some artists, they have a talent for looking at something and coming up with something totally abstract, that is pleasing to look at because of its lines, its simplicity or its color.  Each of us have been influenced by our surroundings, our likes and dislikes, mentors along the way in our passion to create. That challenge for all artists is one that has so much of the artists personality in the final product.

When I am done with a painting or a drawing, I know it, because I can finally lay down my pencil or pastel with the satisfaction that I have achieved what I envisioned from the beginning.  My painting has satisfied my own inner standard. I don't have to add any more color or detail in  any part of my painting.  Such was the case for this painting of Cook's meadow in Yosemite National Park.

The greates feeling is to have people comment on a finsihed painting and to love what you have created.  To marvel at the color, or the detail, the feeling that painting transmits to them.  In some, the feeling is so strong that they want to buy it and take it home where they can look at it again and again. That is an artists reward, knowing that his or her creation has found a home where it will be cared for and cherished. That is a part of what drives me anyway.