Until recently, I've referred to myself as a beginner painter. I've become aware that I've moved through the phases defined by the training industry for learners. I personified unconscious incompetence, when I asked an early teacher, "why?" when he told me I needed to learn to draw. I approached conscious incompetence as I struggled with making fields and streets recede and shadows lengthen and lighten, and slid to conscious competence. That's where I seem to reside most of the time, as I struggle with consistency in my painting processes and the intentionality of each brushstroke.  I feel like the percussionist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra who moves his lips and counts the beats preparing for the next cymbal clang or drum bang.  And, sometimes, there are inklings of the next and last phase, unconscious competence, when I put down a stroke and it's right and I know it, and best yet, I leave it just as it is.

If you've followed my posts, you've read about my path, development and process of becoming an artist. I refer to myself as that now, though it still feels a bit clumsy or maybe pretentious as I say it. Being an artist is  my life now. It's how I spend my time, my vacations and my money. It's in my clothes, those with and without paint. It shows in the special but ugly light fixtures in my "studio"  and, the renovations in the garage and my studio that created better storage for equipment, supplies, and paintings that haven't found a home. I bristle at the word "hobby", yet the IRS has a definition I can't deny, but I'm still an artist, even if leaning toward starving in the haven't-found -a-market sense.

The Buzz- Bees and Beekeepers marks the end of the beginning. It's 40 paintings that mark those phases. No doubt, I will continue to move through consciousness and competence and incompetenance and unconscious as I continue to paint and improve my painting. This show allows me to forge a new path and direction, not letting go of what brought me here, but giving me the confidence to move forward. 

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Here's one way I learn about other artists and what's made their work an inspiration. My Art Dish - Video Chats with Artists

Don't forget to subscribe to the My Art Dish series. We're posting 3-4 interviews each month.

Christina Body

Karen Beauprie

Maggie Capettini

Lenin Delsol
Errol Jacobson

Karen Meneghin

Nancie King Mertz

Bobbie Puttrich

Steve Puttrich
Lee Radtke
Eric Rhodes
Stephanie Weidner