15-11-2022

There were a number of academies of art in Florence. The Angel Academy and the Russian Academy, all needed my investigation, first hand.

All this is originally possible through the patronage of the wealthy Medici family who invested heavily in the birth of Renaissance art. Benefactors of their kind investment were Verrocchio, the mentor to such future masters as Leonardo Da Vinci, Bottichelli, Donetello to name a few.

I sent a call out for help message on Linkedin asking for advice on venues in Florence I need to visit for the research. The response was great. UFFIZI gallery was on the top, Medici chapel, and advice to visit PERUGIA - Fra Angelico.
I also received a great message and advice from Carlos Rodolfo Escala Fernandez who is on the International selection committee for De Bienale of Florence. 

I needed to do more research about Florence and what the city brought to the art world. How it influences the local culture and society. Questions I need to ask for each location I visit maybe; 

1. Why did this region/ city inspire and influence the artists?
2. Has this influence affected the characteristics / psychology of the local population?
3. Has the art created given prosperity to the region and society?
4. What subjects, styles, language was synonymous to the region that attracted artists?

Many more…

16-11-22

At last, after much investigation and application, I have been accepted into the “Artfinder” community of artists. Ironic, and pathetic really, as I will explain.

Over 5 years back, when “Artfinder” was first launched, I was accepted as an artist to promote and within 24 hours I had sold my painting “Parting the waves” to a QC in London. Great !!
Hands up. My fault. I neglected my gallery space for several years and had to reactivate. The application was strict and I was rejected. (This is a subject we cover in the book Journey of a confused artist). This upset and confused me as I had sold my art with them before ?

I never take rejection well. So I created a new identity with email etc and applied again. This time I was accepted. Saying nothing but, Ha,Ha !!

It was clear that I needed to fine tune my research criteria and format structure for Youtube video and social media. There was so much work behind the scenes in order to just promote the Journey of a confused artist series of books.
Research for the content was difficult enough. Trying to create a logical format with the information and then added to this was the promotion and social media content and creation.

Being sadly unemployed at this moment (a starving artist), This journey has allowed me to overcome psychological issues with the loss of Gail and the time of the year. My mental health was good, thanks to being able to try and have fun making mistakes in this journey. I was also learning some amazing facts and information that myself, and many would not have expected.
Paparazzi tales started to form within the books as bite size fun and interesting facts about the great art masters which we never knew. Until now !!

I am learning more skills and enthusiasm which has prevented me from being depressed and feeling unwanted and useless. I have a goal, mission and a journey to travel, and it is great! Maybe some good will become of my efforts. A job to focus on. The future ability to do all I love and generate a passive, regular income for retirement. I love art, design and cultures. I love to engage and learn, I love to travel and to move freely. So how do I make all this come to fruition?

Paint, travel, write and try to generate an income to allow me to continue forward doing the things I love.


17-11-22

Early 5.27am wake up and I am already searching for answers to questions and advice I need. Youtube was always my goto place to learn about how to transfer video files from iphone and laptop. This was complicated and very foreign to me so I needed to venture out to another venue to help me focus.

Due to the economic situation we are all feeling ourselves in, I needed a space with FREE facilities. Warmth and electricity to run my iphone and laptop. WiFi connection. News and live TV followed by warm tea and coffee available on tap through the day.

I was not alone in my search for a safe haven, and Wetherspoons pubs were the savior of the day to many of us. I had found a nice enclosed cubicle with charging points and made this my new office. 


​Next it was time to get this journey moving and so I started to research AiR (Artist in Residence). This gave artists the ability to concentrate on a specific subject or project that they wished to investigate and allow for engagement with fellow creatives and art institutes. 

Sadly I discovered that the criteria was one sided. If your research project encapsulated technology, ecology, diversity, then you were massively ahead of the other applicants.
My proposal and project only had the diversity twist and so I was in a low potential of acceptance.

I wonder if Da Vinci had to go through this process with his Patrons, the Medici family ? Of course not stupid! Things were different then. They had less PC attitudes, regulations and processes needed to be adhered to.

I have seen of late many changes within the artworld. Traditional and New digital. 
​NFT has come to the foreground to give a platform and recognition of a technology art technique.

Many artists have all come to blows with FEAR. We have fear of a blank canvas. We have fear at a point in our artistic creation if we should continue or stay where we are. Safe.
​We become scared that we have reached a point where (If we continue) we will ruin what we have already achieved.

Digital art however allows the creator to overcome this huge obstacle by saving the image created at various point. Able to refer back and start again if all goes wrong. Traditional art does not allow for this luxury. The artist has to demonstrate conviction, strength and belief. Yes we can paint over areas we are not happy with, but FEAR is still there, ever growing.

It becomes a psychological battle to push ourselves through these times. Out of our comfort zone and into the scary unknown , all these add to the journey towards FEAR.

​Bob Ross stated, "We do not make mistakes, we make happy accidents". This is a warming view yet it can be difficult to believe and attain.

We should embrace FEAR. It is not our enemy, but our guiding light into a world we never knew. It helps artists push themselves to create what they may never have thought possible.

​More often artists think too much about the work they are creating and this leads at some point to fear. I think Picasso understood this and tried to escape to purity with no fear it his strokes and conviction.

​A child paints without fear. They create from pure joy, innocence and are not held back from prejudgement. Maybe this is what Picasso was striving to capture in his adulthood.

Many artists stick to what they know they can achieve. It is a comfort zone and they do not wish to step further from the safety and knowledge of what they can create. Great artists are willing to push themselves and make "Happy accidents" in order to develop beyond what they initially imagined.

​I think the book "Art & Fear" written by David Bayles and Ted Orland helps to answer these points.

This is a book about the way art gets made, the reasons it often doesn't get made, and about the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way. David Bayles and I are both working artists, grappling daily with the problems of making art in the real world — the observations we make are drawn from personal experience, and relate more to the needs of fellow artists than to the interests of viewers. --Do not mistake Art & Fear for a pop psychology self-help book — we're not interested in freeing your inner child! This is a book about what it feels like to sit down at your potter's wheel or keyboard, easel or camera, trying to do the work you need to do. What we’ve tried to do is illuminate the obstacles you face, and offer some artistic strategies for getting past them.

Art & Fear has become something of an underground classic, and has now sold over 180,000 copies by word of mouth advertising alone. ​

I personally hope to break through my fear when I paint and go on that journey of discovery. That however will be another story until next time.
​PLEASE leave your views. They will help many in the future, and above all....Have no FEAR of FUN painting..