The other day one of my students asked me what I do when I get “Artist Block”. I quickly responded “Artist Block? It doesn’t exist!”. This student disagreed as well as other students in the area who were listening to the conversation. “Yes it does.” One would say “I never know what to draw!” said another. I listened to their arguments and though about it for a little. I realized that what my students were thinking was that you need to have some grand idea before you can get to work making art. And in my experience it is quite the opposite. Ideas rarely come from sitting there trying to think of ideas. Ideas come while you are hard at work. I responded to my students “I never experience artist block because I am willing to get to work without any ideas.” Some my respond to this with “But what if what we draw looks stupid?” To that I say who cares? As an artist you need to be willing to create and it is possible you will make stupid looking drawings. You won’t learn otherwise. Everyone needs to start somewhere. And I will let you in on a little secret. The better you get the more you realize how much you have to learn. Something I love about art is I feel like I can sculpt my whole life and still have more to learn. The conversation when on, but the gist of it was that if you are waiting for something brilliant to draw before you start drawing you will always have artist block. If you are willing to draw anything at anytime no matter what it is going to look like you will feel that artist block doesn’t exist. And it won’t! Not for you anyway. This seems like common knowledge to me but the more I teach the more I realize this is a foreign concept to many people including may artists. However I know that I am right on this topic and I have a few very well know artists backing me up so I am also in good company. Pablo Picasso said “Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.” Doesn’t that sound a lot like what I was just telling my students? Artist Chuck Close put it another way, he said, “Inspiration is highly overrated. If you sit around and wait for the clouds to part, it’s not liable to ever happen. More often than not, work is salvation.” He also said, “I don’t work with inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work.” There is a story one of my artist friends likes to tell me. He was once in Jackson Hole Wyoming visiting an art show. At this particular show Artists were participating in an event called a quick draw. Basically artists are given 3 hours to draw or paint whatever they want. People walk around and see the artwork being made and in the end they auction off all the artwork. Toward the end my friend was walking around seeing a bunch of wonderful artwork being made. He came across an artist who had painted a canvas with a few dots and was now sitting on the ground cross legged and meditating to get inspiration on what she should do next on her painting. That’s it! After three hours all she had was a few dots! Now who do you think were the artists receiving inspiration that day? The artists who got to work, or the ones who sat on the ground waiting for inspiration? Now I’m not saying that meditation is a bad thing. On the contrary it can be a great way to clear your mind and get you ready to work. But that is just it. It has to be followed by work. I try to teach my students that when they are working on one project they should be coming up with Ideas for their next project. This is the way I work and I have more ideas than I know what to do with. In fact, I get so excited about my ideas that often start another project before I am done with one. I currently have six sculptures that I have started but aren’t finished, and that doesn’t include a few paintings I have also started. Will I finish them? Sure I will! I enjoy having multiple things to work on so I can switch back and forth whenever I choose. Some of my students catch on to this and end up doing the same. One of my students who will be graduating on Tuesday once said to me “it’s funny but all of my best ideas come to me when I am working on another project.” and likewise she has so many ideas she barely has time to finish them.
So now the question is, what do I mean when I say to draw anything? I mean anything. I often will pull up figure drawing videos and draw from those. You can read a post about this here. I also show my students creativity building activities like doing a squiggle drawing or a back and forth drawing. Draw your hand, draw your shoe, draw the items in your pocket. Too many people shoot their ideas down before they have had time to develop them. Here is a quote from me that I often tell my students: “There are no bad ideas in art. Just ideas that you have not spent time developing” -Daniel Borup I like this quote and I think it is true. All to often when a student says “I have no ideas” what they are really saying is “none of my ideas are very good.” Good ideas rarely come in an instant. They start small and you build upon them. Overtime if you develop it in the right way it might become something that will affect the emotions and lives of many. If not that is okay because there are an infinite amount of ideas to come and take its place. The point is the time and effort you put into your ideas. In one blog post I detailed some of my creative process of a sculpture I am still working on, which you can find here. I will leave you with one more quote from Andy Warhol. “Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide whether it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” -Andy Warhol What do you think? Have you ever had “Artist Block”? What are some ways you have overcome a creative block? Let me know. I appreciate your comments.
Just yesterday I was traveling in Salt Lake City to drop off my sculpture The Good Samaritan to the Church History Museum for the second round of judging in the International LDS Art Completion. When entering the contest you have to submit a sort of statement about your piece. The statement I submitted reads: “Some of my favorite stories about Jesus are the ones that he himself told. These parables teach us so much about the way to happiness and eternal life. The parable of The Good Samaritan has always been, and still is a story that speaks to my spirit. To me, this parable encompasses all of what Jesus was trying to teach us by his words and example. This story truly teaches of Christ-like love and compassion. It is easy to forget to love thy neighbor as thyself, and it is easy to forget that everyone is our neighbor. This story reminds us to be loving to everyone no matter who they are and what our differences might be.
Hopefully we can all relate to the Good Samaritan. Hopefully we can all have compassion and show mercy to our neighbors. Yet there are times we will find, that we are the ones in need of saving. It is important to remember at these times that it is Christ who is the ultimate Good Samaritan and he shows compassion and has the power to save us. In my sculpture The Good Samaritan I hope to portray the same Christ-like love and compassion that I feel when I read this story.”
While in Salt Lake I decided to visit a few Galleries and talk to them about gallery representation. In one gallery (I won’t mention them by name) I was talking with one of their sales reps (Not really the person I needed to be talking to anyway) and she took a look at my portfolio. When she got done flipping through my portfolio she said, “We don’t show religious artwork in our gallery”. I have never thought of myself as a religious artist so was a little surprised and asked “Do you think of me as a religious artist?” then opening up my portfolio of figure sculptures she turned to The Good Samaritan and said “well… This one is.”
The conversation was pretty much over at this point but I went on to explain how I strive to make inspiring and uplifting artwork. Although The Good Samaritan is a story from the bible, I don’t really view it as a religious story. It is an inspiring and uplifting story that teaches us we should be accepting and loving to everyone we meet no matter who they are or what their background is. This is a story that applies to everyone, religious or not. And I would venture to say that it is a story that just about everyone knows even if they have never read the bible. That being said I can still see her point of view thinking that by me sculpting this, I was a religious artist. And I will admit. I am religious; I just don’t always put religion into my artwork.
So with these two instances involving my sculpture the Good Samaritan I naturally was thinking of the artwork, the story the art was about, and how my artwork could inspire others to be a “Good Samaritan”, and treat others with more kindness.
After my excursion in Salt Lake I stopped to visit my brother Brent Borup (Who by the way is a religious artist) in Preston, Idaho. Brent was letting me borrow his tent and art booth supplies for an art show I will be selling my work at in Jackson Hole this summer. Now you might be asking “What does this have to do with your story about the Good Samaritan sculpture? Well… nothing. I just wanted to put in a little plug for that show. And if you are going to be in the Jackson Wyoming area July 10th,11th and 12th you should come and visit my booth.
Driving home around 10:30 that night in the pouring rain somewhere on Highway 91 between Preston and Downey Idaho, I came over a hill and immediately saw a car on the side of the road with the hazard lights on. The car was too close to stop before I got to it and as I passed I saw a lady sitting in the car. The truth be told I thought for a brief moment about moving on. I might have justified this by saying. It’s late and my wife would probably like to see me back before midnight. But instead a picture popped into my mind. It was my sculpture The Good Samaritan. The story itself wasn’t the first thing I thought off but the image I created. Of course the profound message behind the image followed and I knew I had to turn around. This all happened in a split second and I made a quick U turn.
I got out of the car and approached her car. She unrolled her window and I asked if she needs help. Her response with a tear in her eye was “Oh, you are such an angel!” She then went onto explain that her window wiper had blown off while she was driving and because of the rain she couldn’t see anything. She wanted to move the passenger side wiper to the driver side but she couldn’t get it off. Luckily my wife likes to save our old window wipers just in case of emergencies like this. I was able to not only move her good window wiper to the other side but I was also able to give her one of our old window wipers for the passenger side. As we were standing there in the rain, me fixing the wipers and her holding her phone up for light, she started crying again. Then she said “Sorry, I’m so emotional. My father just passed away and then this happens.” I assured her it was okay and as we parted I told her to drive safely and she said thank you.
Feeling good about my good deed I got back in my car and turned the key. Put it into drive and stepped on the gas. My car stayed put. My heart sank. I listened closer. It was hard to hear over the sound of the rain on my car but I soon realized that the engine was not going. I turned the key again and nothing. I was now stranded in the middle of nowhere with a car that won’t start and the lady had already driven away. I said a little prayer and started searching the internet on my phone to try to figure out what could be wrong with my car. Nothing seemed to make sense.
After a little while a truck pulled up alongside me to help out. Now I was the one that needed help and the Good Samaritan was coming to help me. In the end it was an easy problem that I feel a little embarrassed about so I won’t go into the details.
So… can artwork inspire you to be a better person? Yes it can. This is just one example from my life and it is on my mind because it happened just yesterday. I have always felt a strong connection to art and the feelings I get from seeing beautiful uplifting artwork. I hope that my artwork can inspire you and I hope that everyone can surround themselves with artwork that is not only beautiful but has the ability to be an inspiration in your life.
What do you think? Do you have an experience when you felt uplifted by a particular piece of artwork? I’d love to hear your comments.
This week I was pleased to enjoy an awesome demonstration from one of the most fantastic artists I know Marilyn Hoff Hansen. I enjoyed it so much I decided to make this post is feature on her. Marilyn is know for her beautiful horse sculptures and paintings. The artwork in this post is hers. I first met Marilyn at the Idaho Art Lab about a year ago during my first Artist residency. I was familiar with and admired her work before this time, but now that I know her I admire her for the wonderful person and artist she is. The first time we met she was pleasant and friendly and so willing to share all she knows with me. Some artist tend to want to keep secrets about their processes. Not Marilyn, she was happy go into detail about how she works. She likes to joke and tell me “Come by my studio and I will teach you all I know… It will only take about 5 minutes”. This of course is far from the truth as Marilyn has a wealth of knowledge about many aspects of art. My conversations I have had with Marilyn have inspired me to do more relief work and to begin casting in concrete. Her casting techniques have taken her many years to develop and perfect and that knowledge she freely gives. I am very grateful for that.
I recently assigned a relief sculpture project to my high school sculpture class. One of my students wanted to sculpt a horse and I thought to myself. “It would be so great to have Marilyn come in and do a demonstration for my sculpture class!” So I called her to ask if she would come and she gladly accepted.
What lucky students I have to be able to meet such a woman. I too learned a ton from her in the short time she was in my class.
She talked about her casting process and then showed her thought process as she composed a new relief sculpture piece for us. It was fascinating to watch. I was the lucky one because after the class was over she stayed for some time during my prep hour and I got to ask her all the questions I wanted.
I hope you will spend a little time today to visit her website and facebook page, and see more of her wonderful artwork.
I love getting to know other artists and being inspired by them. Thank You Marilyn.
It has been a little over a year since I sculpted Shelter. This sculpture was a bit of a breakthrough for me. I knew I wanted to be a figure sculptor but at this point I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do and say with my art. There is nothing wrong with sculpting something simply because it is beautiful. There are many artists who do wonderful work that do just that. However, I wanted to do something more. I wanted my work to mean something and to say something, yet up until this point my work didn’t really say much at all. It was beautiful work! But didn’t say much.
The concept for Shelter came because I wanted to say something. I wanted to portray an emotion. I wanted to sculpt part of myself into my work. And because I did those things, people connected with my work on a deeper level than ever before.
Here is the first image of Shelter which I first posted to facebook.
Shelter portrays a strong woman in the midst of a storm. She is bearing through the storm that rages on behind her. Hunching over and learning to shield (or Shelter) herself from the storm.
I chose to show her elevated to represent her ability to rise above the storm and overcoming her trials.
This concept comes from some women in my life who were metaphorically in their own storm. I see these women learning and growing stronger from their trials and although they will never be the same when the storm subsides that is not necessarily a bad thing.
I love this sculpture because it speaks to me. I feel something every time I see it. It motivates me to persist a little longer, and bear through my own storms (although small) and grow from them.
I hope that you can be inspired by this work also. To not only see the things that I do but to see more. To feel the sculpture talking to you and helping you through your personal storms.
Recently I had this sculpture cast in bronze. The limited edition of 19 is available to purchase on my website at this link.
This sculpture was just the start. I have made many sculptures since then that depict different emotions and each have their own story. I hope you will get involved with my artwork. If you are able to purchase the artwork great. If not, please follow along with my progress as an artist and hear the stories behind my pieces.
What do you think. What does Shelter say to you?
A common problem among artists is where to find artist reference photos. The ideal situation is to take your own photos. However not all of us are competent photographers and even those of us who are it is not always convenient or realistic to find and pay a model and schedule the time to take these photos. Or go to the places needed to get the photos.
With the internet it is becoming increasingly easy to find great reference photos but this can be a controversial issue also because of copyright. Over the years I have found many different ways to get reference images for my artwork. In this blog post I will provide you with links to some of my favorite sites to get images as well as tell you a little about each. Royalty free Image Sites.
There are many image sites out there known as Royalty Free Image Sites. Royalty free meaning you will be able to use these photos without paying royalties to anyone. This however does not necessarily mean the photos are free to take. You will still need to buy them for a small one time fee, sometimes as little as 20 cents. This is not much to ask for the perfect picture. However, If you are wanting to browse pictures which are completely free I recommend Morgue File. Morgue File is a site with a large library of high resolution photos which are completely free. (however you should still reed the terms of use for each photo to make sure you are following them.) Sometimes the quality leaves some to be desired but it is definitely worth a look. I always look here before anywhere else. It also Links to some of the more popular royalty free paid sites directly on the Morgue File Site. Figure Images & Life Drawing Videos
Quality figure pictures are some of the hardest ones to get especially if you need a nude model. Lets face it, unless you are married to the person most of us aren’t going to ask our friends, family, or neighbors to model nude for us. There are a few sites I have found that provide an excellent database of figure models. New masters Academy
New masters Academy is an online art school with fantastic professional artist instructors. They have a strong focus on classical art instruction which I love. This is a paid site with membership fees starting at around $20 a month. However they also have a number of free resources as well. With a membership you have access to their full image library of nude and non-nude models as well as animals. They also have many instructional videos in drawing, painting, and sculpture, as well as 3D models so you can view the model from any angle and even change the lighting according to your needs. I cannot find this information on their site now and I am still waiting a reply from them but I once read that these images are free to use in your artwork with no copyright issues as long as you are not using the actual images such as a photo collage. However you should verify this information yourself.
To get a taste of New Masters Academy you can subscribe to their youtube channel for free. Every week they come out with new timed figure drawing videos to practice your drawing skills. They provide both a Nude and Non-Nude series to fit your needs. Because these are photos you also get more active poses than you would in a real life figure drawing session. I use these videos all the time for warm ups. I also use the Non-Nude videos in my High School art classes I teach them figure drawing.
Here is one of their videos:
Croquis Cafe
I also very much enjoy Croquis Cafe. They too provide weekly figure drawing videos. These videos are recorded in real time which makes it feel more like a real figure drawing session. They also provide short drawing tips at the beginning of the videos. Here is an example of one of their videos:
One other thing I love about Croquis Cafe are thier 360 videos. They take a model and provide a 360 view. This is great for sculptors or for 2D artist who want a slightly different angle. Sketch Daily
I also often use the site http://reference.sketchdaily.net/
I like this site because you can customize your drawing session by choosing the length of time it shows each image and if you want male or female, nude or non-nude, action or stationary. They also have many of their figures in costumes so it can be fun if you are in the mood to draw ninjas, pirates, or someone holding a big gun. This website appears to be in the beginning stages but has the potential to be fantastic.
The sites listed above are great for practice and giving you ideas of interesting poses. Sometimes during my figure drawing practice I will find a pose that I like and will then recreate that pose with my own live model to get various angles. Posespace
Another great site is posespace.com. If you are serious about getting great photos you can use in your art and then sell your art you will want to take a look at this site. You will need to purchase each pose but they will provide you with a full 360 view of the figure in high resolution. You will find nude and non-nude poses on this site at high resolution. you can purchase each image for $5.99-$3.50 depending on how many you buy.
By no means is this an extensive list of all of the websites you can find photo references for your art but they are some of my favorites that I have found. Do you know of other websites we should all know about? Please share your comments below. I am always looking for new great places to get quality photo references.
