Speaking of Art Blog

Big Brother Pride, pastel, 18x12"

“Why doesn’t my artwork look like yours yet?” 

Oh boy, that’s a big question. It is one that I heard a student of mine ask me during a pastel class I was teaching. I tried to answer them as best I could at that moment, but when I got home and thought about it, I wrote this email message to them besides. I thought I’d share it here.

"Hi _________,

I would like to continue our conversation that we started in pastel class recently because I need to further explain some things to you. 

Sometimes a student will honestly think that an art instructor should be able to explain their art techniques so well that the student will walk away from a set of lessons and be able to paint as well as their instructor.  Not happening. There's no way I could do that for a student and that's not how excelling in art works. Getting way better in art takes practice, thousands of hours of dogged practice. It's just like learning how to play a musical instrument. I’m not holding back some secret techniques that I’m not sharing either. The only secret ingredient, if you want to call it that, is putting in the hard work at one’s easel. 

Many years ago, I took a couple of years of weekly pastel lessons from a very accomplished portrait artist. I wanted to eventually paint portraits as well as her. I told her so. She replied that I would have to put in all the hours of practice by myself at my easel if I wanted to get as good as her. She wasn't bragging, she was just being honest. I worked on a portrait of our 2 kids using a photo I took when they were very young. My portrait instructor gave me tips along the way each week during class, but 9/10 of my time working on that portrait was spent outside of class with me struggling and learning all on my own. It just about killed me, but I was very pleased with the result. Does it look as good as what my instructor would have produced?  No, but it's the best I could do at that time. I estimated that I spent 75 hours on that portrait and I cried a lot of tears in the process. Side note: I figured out after finishing that epic painting that I don’t actually enjoy painting portraits of people. Portraits of birds and butterflies and the occasional reptile?  Yes please, but not humans. OK, maybe their hands, but that's it.

Art making is creative problem solving. One of the main reasons I am the teacher and you are the student is because I have failed more times than you. Each time I fail I try to figure out what works better than what I just chose and then I try again. And I am not done learning. Every time I start a new painting, I face a new set of problems to be solved. My job as your teacher is to help you see how to side step some of the most obvious land mines. The rest are for you to discover and side step by yourself.

You have so much potential and your high standards for yourself are laudable. Your drive to get better will see you through. Your ambition reminds me of me. But don't short change yourself by thinking you will attain what you strive for in a very short amount of time. Also, don’t be too quick to abandon a piece of artwork that isn’t looking the way you originally thought. As you struggle to make it better you will be learning by leaps and bounds.

Your sense of beauty and your creative spirit are very well developed already and that is something I cannot teach you. Now you need to teach your hands how to put down on paper what your mind's eye can already see. That takes patience and practice. Remember to forgive yourself when you fail and take time to enjoy the journey. You’ve got this."

Best,

Mary Ann Pals

The Meeting, pastel, 14x11"

I still remember the little pep talk given by the school district superintendent to me and a few other new elementary school teachers several decades ago in the early fall in a school in Flossmoor IL. It was memorable to me for one main reason – it was not at all what I was expecting.

The superintendent told us that THE most important thing we can teach to our students in grades K - 4 is to “learn to skillfully adapt to change”. What the heck?  Not teach them how to read or solve simple math problems or play nicely with other students, but how to adapt to change.  Why was that most important? Because all of us from little children on up through the elderly will have to adapt to change our whole lives, so why not learn at a young age how to do it skillfully? That was truth spoken quietly in a small conference room in the upper Midwest by a superintendent who was wise beyond his years.

And so, I find myself needing to adapt to changes in my life this year. For one thing, I’m babysitting our 2-year-old grandson regularly and it’s taking up time in my weekly schedule, but I wouldn’t trade that for anything. That’s why the board book is included in this image. I took it home to fix it with clear tape because our grandson LOVES books and enjoys reading them sometimes to the point where they become disabled and need repairing. I’m happy to do it.

Second and thirdly, I am churning out so many matted prints to sell at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center gift shop year-round that I can hardly keep up, especially during summer tourist season. It’s a wonderful problem to have. Because of that new priority in my art life, I decided this year to set aside all outdoor art fairs. I have been consistently participating in outdoor art fairs for the past 16 years, so the experience of attending an art fair without having to set up a tent or be ready to sell my wares is new to me. Art fairs are time consuming and energy draining for me and I’m not getting any younger. All the schlepping of art fair equipment in the upper Midwestern heat and humidity to a park for a weekend stint has gotten to be too much.  I already sold my art fair tent this spring to a new area artist who wants to get her feet wet in the art fair world by starting with a used tent and figuring out what to invest in in the future that is updated and better suited to her needs.  Smart. That’s exactly what I did 16 years ago.

Fourth, I’m still teaching pastel painting, but will be downsizing the number of teaching engagements I offer each year. There are only so many hours in a week.

Fifth, earlier this year I gave my Indiana Dunes Artist-in-Residence lecture/presentation for the 6^th time to a very receptive audience at the Paul Douglas Center, Indiana Dunes National Park. I have tweaked my presentation each time to better fit with my listeners’ interests, but my message remains the same: convey just how wondrous the Indiana Dunes are and how we humans need to protect our US national parks. I feel strongly about my new-ish ambassadorship (my Artist-in-Residency at the IN Dunes was in 2023) and will make sure to carve out time to continue to give my talk. If you are interested in scheduling me to present it to a nature/art loving group, please contact me: https://www.maryannpals.com/contact Since we live within 2 miles of the Indiana Dunes, my husband Randy and I hike there every single nice weather day year round. The park is my main source of inspiration for my artwork.

BTW, I’m still entering regional and national juried shows and organizing juried art competitions for 2 national pastel societies. And earlier this year I even juried an art show for the Indiana Audubon Society. What a challenging and inspiring treat that was! https://www.maryannpals.com/blog/206415/ive-looked-at-shows-from-both-sides-now   I’m also continuing to do my artwork in my studio at the same monthly pace I’ve kept since the beginning of time, and that will continue to be a high priority for me. I mean, if I don’t keep doing my artwork what’s the point of having an art career?

So, am I happy with all of these changes that are taking place right now? Yes, I am. I thought I’d feel some nostalgic regret when I visited the Chesterton Art Fair today, but I didn’t. I was able to chat with some artist friends and do some leisurely shopping. It was delightful.  Granted, my main way to sell my original framed artwork in the past has been through summer art fair sales, but nowadays I have my list of collectors who know how to contact me if they see me post something new on my website or on social media that they cannot live without. For now, that works.  https://www.maryannpals.com/contact

A few local art lover friends have looked fairly shocked at me when I tell them that I’m changing my art career plans and am downsizing the number of art events in my schedule. The inevitable next question is: “Are you OK? Is there something wrong?” Nothing is wrong, I’m fine. Sometimes change comes when we least expect it.  My art career keeps morphing. I can count on that happening again and again. No two art career paths are the same. There is no right vs wrong path either. Every artist has to determine for themselves what path to take at any given time in their life. The hard part comes when the new path appears before they are ready. At that point adaptation is key, just like the superintendent told me about so many years ago. I’m doing my best to heed his sage advice and roll with the changes so that I can continue to enjoy the ride and thrive in my chosen new-path art career.

For starters, I need to adapt how much cash I pack in my wallet when I attend an art fair as a guest. Oh my, there are so many treasures to possibly purchase from my friends.

Tree Root Steps, pastel, SOLD