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The Perks of Being an Artist

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Abstract Cityscapes, Y’all

15 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by emilypageart in art, painting, tattooing, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

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abstract art, abstract painting, art, artist, artist Emily Page, Emily Page Art, Emily Page artist, life of an artist, oil on canvas, oil painting, red abstract art

Someone stop me. SOOOOO many abstracts for Ratatat Tats! I decided to include a couple abstracts that are more like my dancer series, inasmuch as there is something identifiable within the abstract painting. Instead of figures this time, I went for cityscapes. Sort of. It’s a “barely there” kind of dealio for this first one:

Abstract Cityscape I.JPG

Abstract Cityscape I 30″ x 26″ oil on canvas

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More Abstracts, Y’all

13 Tuesday Feb 2018

Posted by emilypageart in art, painting, tattooing, Uncategorized

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abstract art, art, artist, artist Emily Page, blue abstract art, blue and red abstract art, Emily Page Art, Emily Page artist, life of an artist, paint, painter, painting

I’m still having SO much fun with these abstracts for the tattoo studio. Like the last post, I had a good time playing with the palette knife, though it was on a much smaller canvas this time. I painted over an old painting that was just sort of meh. This isn’t usually a color combo that I love, but S asked me to do something in these colors, and I actually kinda dig it! Don’t ya just kind of want to lick it? Wait, is that just me? Too weird? Oh, well.

Abstract II

Abstract II 18″ x 24″ oil on canvas

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Abstracts, Y’all

11 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by emilypageart in art, painting, tattooing, Uncategorized

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abstract art, art, artist, artist Emily Page, blue abstract art, blue and brown abstract art, blue art, Emily Page Art, Emily Page artist, life of an artist, oil on canvas, oil on linen, oil painting, painting, Ratatat Tats, tattoo studio

I had forgotten how much fun painting abstracts could be! I had been doing such tight, controlled, realistic work, that I forgot how freeing it could be to slap paint on the canvas all thick and gushy-like. I forgot how satisfying squishing and sliding paint around with a palette knife could be. I also forgot how hard on the hands it is working with big paintbrushes. Phew! That’s a workout! But, admittedly, a very fun one.

Here is the largest of the ones I’ve created for my tattoo studio, Ratatat Tats. I love diptychs and triptychs because you can go large and still fit the canvases in your car and not have to rent a van to transport it locally.

Abstract I.JPG

Abstract I 48″ x 84″ oil on canvas

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Rouen In the Rain

02 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by emilypageart in art, culture, painting, Uncategorized

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Emily Page, Emily Page Art, Emily Page artist, life of an artist, oil on linen, oil painting, painting, rouen, Viking River Cruise

I’m having so much fun, y’all!! As we get closer and closer to opening the tattoo studio, I’ve been getting to make paintings to decorate the lobby. Big paintings. In different styles. Of random stuff. Stuff I don’t normally get to paint. This is soooooooo exciting for an artist.

As I’ve talked about before, I’m a very restless artist. I get bored doing the same style or subject matter for too long. But that’s what gallery owners and critics demand. You have to get known for one thing and just that one thing. And then you can very slowly evolve to get known for one more thing. But you have to do painting after painting in each theme/style. And partly, that’s good, because it means you get really good at that one thing. But, if you’re anything like me, you get bored.

As I’ve also talked about before, I have no more room to store large paintings. So I’ve mostly switched to small canvases. And that can be fun, because painting can go very quickly and you don’t have to wait long for the gratification of a finished painting. But I really like the physicality of working on large canvases. It allows me to get emotion out of myself and onto the canvas, regardless of the subject matter. It just feels good while you’re painting. And when you’re done, you’ve created something substantial. It announces to the world that it needs to exist.

So combining working in a range of styles and subject matter with working on large canvases is making me a very happy camper. I’ve also taken some older paintings that I wasn’t in love with and painted over them, which has the bonus win of freeing up that storage space the old painting was taking up.

So over the next few days, I’m going to post some images of the paintings I’ve been doing. I’ve had a hard time photographing everything because our weather has been so wonky (rainy or too windy or too cloudly or too sunny) and I have to shoot the images outside, but I’ll post them as I’m able. Here’s the first. See below it for an explanation:

Rouen in the Rain

Rouen In the Rain 64″ x 36″ oil on linen

Merchandise and prints here, and here. When I took that Viking River Cruise down the Seine last year, my favorite stop was Rouen. I used some pics I’d taken of one street as inspiration for this painting. Here’s the pic I took, and then a little watercolor I did on the trip of that street.

rouen-14.jpg

Painting - Rouen 2

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Why Did I Ever Become An Artist?!

03 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by emilypageart in art, culture, humor, mental health, painting, singing, sip and paint studio, Uncategorized, writing

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

art, boredom, bourbon, Emily Page Art, existential crisis, life of an artist, midlife crisis, painting, Raleigh artist, starving artist, whisky

Uuuuuuuggggghhhhhh. Why did I become an artist? Why can’t I be good at coding, or rocket science, or accounting, or marrying rich men? Why do I have to be good at something that is so damn hard to make a living doing? I need to rearrange the room-where-art-goes-to-die so that I can bury more art in it. I’m out of art storage space. I mean, really, that room is so embarrassing I’m not even going to share a picture with you.

But Emily, you say, you do make a living as an artist. Don’t you own a paint and sip studio? Yes, yes I do. Which means what I’m really making a living at is teaching. Yes, I’m teaching people to play with paint, but that’s not the same things as being an artist.

What they don’t tell you in art school is that you’ll need to spend more time marketing your art than creating it. This holds true for other kinds of art, too: acting, singing, writing…pretty much everything for which I have any vague talent. Hell, I wrote a damn book full of pictures and words and chortles and sniffles and now am overwhelmed trying to just sell one book every couple weeks. I am not a marketer. I hate sales. Schmoozing is my worst nightmare. And when you’re selling your art, you’re selling yourself as much as the painting or manuscript or recording. Selling should really just be called begging. I often say that I’m not a writer despite this blog and my book, and I think one of the reasons for that is that I’m hesitant to own yet one more thing I’ll never make a living doing.

Lately, I’ve been feeling like I’m really-uber-super-extra spinning my wheels. I’ve tried so many things to get my work out there, and none have panned out. I’m tired of feeling like a failure. It’s not that I doubt the quality of my work, it’s that I doubt my ability to get it seen by the people most likely to buy it (whoever the hell those people are). I get shut down so easily by rejection, so it’s really hard for me to keep pushing and rolling with them as they come. I am, admittedly, too sensitive. I hate that about myself, and I’m trying to toughen up, but so far, I’m still all soft and squishy.

And so, as happens every couple years, I find myself in an existential crisis: how do I justify spending so much time, money, and effort making art that’s just going to sit in our third bedroom collecting dust? Do I really need to paint? Could I just…stop? What would that be like? Do I do it because it’s a habit or because it’s what I’m passionate about? I don’t read art magazines or follow the latest art trends. I studied art history in college, but I’m still woefully ignorant and disinclined to correct said ignorance. So if art isn’t in my blood per se, then why the hell do I keep doing it? Boredom? Maybe I just need another hobby. Maybe I should take up wingsuit flying, or collecting swords, or falconry. I swear, half the time painting’s not even fun. There’s always a step or two you have to get through to get to the good stuff. But then, I guess, half the time it is fun, and maybe that’s why I keep going? Though the let down when I add a new painting to the piles of other art that haven’t found a forever home (or maybe they have, and it’s in storage, which is even sadder) kinda negates the fun of making it.

I’m leaving in a couple days for a trip down the Seine with my mom. I’ll be gone for about 2 weeks. I’ll be bringing my watercolors, but maybe I’ll experiment with not painting for awhile and see how that feels. Maybe I’ll see so much great art on the trip that I won’t feel like I need to make more. Maybe there’s already enough. Or maybe I’ll be totally inspired and feel like I absolutely have to waste more time and energy. We’ll see.

Anyway, I’ve lined up a couple guest blogs and will post some old paintings and such while I’m gone so you don’t end up totally bereft without me. Drink some French wine in my honor until I return! Or better yet, drink some bourbon.

old tub

This bottle has my name all over it. This is what happens when you talk about bourbon all the time: your friends bring you awesome gifts like this!

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Emily Page

Emily Page

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You can view my artwork on Facebook or on my website at http://www.emilypageart.com

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