Before You Begin "To Work"...
Nicole Palmer
I made my living as an architect for 43 years in Cincinnati, and for 39 of those years it was in the firm which I co-founded and loved every day. What is interesting about having a job, is that each day when you show up for work, there is something which needs to be done. Something or someone who requires your attention.
As an artist, that it not the case. Before you stand in front of that easel, you need to know what it is that you plan to tackle that day. Sure, we spend time shipping a piece out of state to a buyer, or maybe its framing 10 new pieces or toning 15 new canvases, but I am talking about when the brush meets the canvas.
Before that can happen, your imagination must be wrapped around an idea of how you plan to bring that canvas to life. Speaking for myself, that idea is born at least a day before I begin the painting. This conceptualizing is one of the primary things that separates an artist from most of us who have a job. Our work is not waiting for us each day, but rather we are the ones who bring the work to mind, literally, and then the work can begin.
So let’s paint!
