“Martin wasn’t paroled “just because of the plan” for his internship, Hamer says. “It’s because [Geng] sat in front of Cedric Martin, heard him speak, and saw who he was. She was not constrained by his situation. He was in pretty deep, and people I think don’t usually get parole from there.
“But she saw something, the something that we now all see,” Hamer says.”
Martin is a large, friendly presence, ready to greet you, shake your hand. He’s a nerd through and through: He’s a huge fan of math and science, and his favorite Star Trek captain is Deep Space Nine’s Benjamin Sisko. When we saw him on First Friday in January at Yellow Couch Creative, the gallery on West Colorado Avenue owned by Martin’s mentor and internship sponsor Jana Bussanich, Martin had attracted a crowd." By Greta Anderson Johns & Nick Raven . Read more
Press Opportunities, Contact Jana@janalbussanich.com
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Arts in Society grants are administered by RedLine Contemporary Art Center and are funded by a collaborative of private and public foundations, and government agencies. For the 2022-2023 grant cycle, the funder collaborative includes: the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, the Colorado Creative Industries Division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade, The Colorado Health Foundation, and Denver Arts & Venues.
Meet the Grantees
To learn more about the history of this program, previously funded projects and partners, please visit www.redlineart.org/arts-in-
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Artists solve problems of scarcity all the time, and we seem to thrive in this kind of environment, and I don't mean with the starving artist kind of psyche. Recently, I had the chance to talk with Jeanne Davant, Reporter for the Colorado Springs Business Journal about affordable studio space for artists, specifically, about ArtSpace, a unique project that soon will be taking shape in Downtown Colorado Springs, says Jeanne.
"Painter, author and teacher Jana L. Bussanich shares the space at 218 W. Colorado Ave. with artist Chris Alvarez, three other artists from the Bridge Gallery, Purple Mountain Coffee Roasters and the GROOVY Print Shop.
“We share common events,” Bussanich said. “On First Fridays, the whole building is open, and we cross promote each other. It’s like being in a big house together.”
Bussanich, who owns Jana L. Bussanich Art and the Yellow Couch Gallery out of the building, lives within a bike ride of her studio and gallery.
Bussanich has been there for three and a half years, but she isn’t sure how much longer this ideal arrangement will last.
“The tract of land we’re on — all that’s going to go away eventually,” she said. “As we see the construction and the changes Downtown, we’ve all been talking about what’s coming in the next year and a half to two years. There is a lack of affordable space in what might be considered the Downtown core. None of us are looking [yet] but it seems obvious that we would have to move further out of the Downtown core when the time comes.”
Bussanich has been in business long enough that she is secure in her living and working arrangements.
But she knows artists who are just starting out are faced with a shortage of affordable living and studio spaces and might not have a network of people to partner with for living and working arrangements." (Read more)
As expected, in the days after the interview goes to press, I'm still mulling over thoughts prompted by Jeanne's questions, and the recent surveyors spotted shooting property lines on the plot of land bordered by Bijou Street to the north, Colorado Avenue. Bridge to the south, I-25 and Fountain Creek to the west, and the Union Pacific railroad lines to the east, where my studio and gallery are located.
This tract of land is Part IV of the city's Urban Renewal Plan, to reduce, eliminate and prevent the spread of qualifying conditions within the Urban Renewal Area and to stimulate the growth and development of the Southwest Downtown Area. In particular, the Urban Renewal Plan is intended to promote local objectives with respect to appropriate land uses, improved traffic, public transportation, public utilities, and other public improvements. Specifically, the purpose of the Plan is to create an urban neighborhood which leverages the community’s investment in America the Beautiful Park and creates linkages to the downtown core and which is in accordance with the Downtown Action Plan and the Imagine Downtown Plan. (Read more)
I see the space I'm in as an opportunity to practice creative problem-solving, which is an essential skill needed for all the other things I create. Being closed by the pandemic meant I could re-envision my unusable classroom space as the new Yellow Couch Gallery and my studio as the new Yellow Couch Classroom online. I painted the walls and began staging the area for an opening (the first was July 2022) while venturing into the virtual space to create another realm for my work. In the process, the author inside came out, and I self-published my first book Watercolor Technique and Color Theory Essentials: Cultivate an Art Practice that Works for You and Your Art.
My space is a theatre set to me (coming from a set design and construction background in the theater). It's okay that it's temporary, though it would be ideal to have a couple more years there before solving for an art space again.
Yes, it's a challenge to find affordable space as a creative, And it's an opportunity to externalize and practice the internal reality of being a maker, looking for the most unique and unusual space that feels congruent with the artist on the inside.
The artistry of living a creative life is the same elements in good art –composition, design, light and dark, warm and cool, rough and smooth, color, contrast, texture, movement, the sensitivity of the line, and more. The process is for the artist, and the result is for others (the part most people identify as the art). For me, and those with whom I work closely there is little separation between the internal and external realities of knowing who we are and how we move in the world.
Developer Chuck Murphy tells me he came to the feed store and barn along the river as a boy, now my gallery and studio space. Retired firefighter and Colorado Springs native Patrick H. frequented the feed store and barn throughout his childhood, and it was one of his favorite places to spend time. Acquaintance and fellow creative Robyn B. tells me she spent hours in the seed and feed store (218 W. Colorado Ave.) with her grandfather and an aunt, who later was the first in a long line of artists to occupy what became known as the Arts Depot District, made an island, cut-off from pedestrian and car traffic by the Colorado Ave. bridge.
Sometimes I think, what if we could revitalize the area and bring back the seed and feed store, baby chicks in the springtime, a barn full of sweet-smelling hay; alas, where is the money in that idea? But then I think about riding bikes with my four grandkids in Littleton, along the Platte to Hudson Gardens, and I wonder what's possible for 218, down by the river, under the bridge, and beside the tracks.
What skills do you think were most essential?
Before a skill can be fully developed, there must be interest. So the first question might be, “am I interested in watercolor as means of expression in art-making? It’s essential to start with your interest, in this case, painting with watercolor, so that you’ll be less likely to quit when the thing you are learning feels hard. Because learning something new is challenging (whether you are interested in it or not), an interest followed leads to an aptitude developed. Aptitude (or talent) developed builds to competency, and competency boosts self-confidence.
Thank you, Canvas Rebel for inviting me to interview with you, again.We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jana L Bussanich. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jana L below.
How did you learn to do what you do?
I am a self-taught watercolorist, painting instructor, and author of Watercolor Technique and Color Theory Essentials: Cultivate an Art Practice that Works for You and Your Art, released in 2021.
Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process?
Two things are true, there are no shortcuts to learning to paint, but there are shortcuts that make possible the likelihood that you’ll learn to paint. The only way to master the discipline of painting is to do it, but the fact that we don’t know how to do it is why many people with the secret wish to learn to paint never start. Establishing a regular art practice and getting to know your materials is the most crucial first step to learning to paint. Painting requires moving between learning and integrating acquired knowledge. It helps to understand what painting is–it’s drawing with a paintbrush in your hand. And drawing is seeing. It is the calibration between the hand and the eye. The hand records what the eye sees. To speed your learning to paint, attend to the discipline of drawing, which we might say is the discipline of seeing.What skills do you think were most essential?
Before a skill can be fully developed, there must be interest. So the first question might be, “am I interested in watercolor as means of expression in art-making? It’s essential to start with your interest, in this case, painting with watercolor, so that you’ll be less likely to quit when the thing you are learning feels hard. Because learning something new is challenging (whether you are interested in it or not), an interest followed leads to an aptitude developed. Aptitude (or talent) developed builds to competency, and competency boosts self-confidence...read morePhoto: Watercolor by Jana L. Bussanich after Winslow Homer, Stowing the Sail
Thank you for reading my words. Please share your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to stay in conversation with you about these things.
To not express creativity is the practice of self-annihilation, which leads to death as we systematically make ourselves smaller and smaller. Not necessarily physical death, but being cut off from our true identity is a kind of death that eventually takes its toll on our physical, mental, and spiritual health. At the very least, we miss out on the utterly prosperous existence designed for our enjoyment in the harrowing experience of life. But I cannot stop there because of my belief that there is more room for beauty, goodness, truth, and love. We will never run out of space in our hearts or the world for such things, but we suffer greatly for their lack through intentional expression. There is no time to waste! There is no substitute.
The difficulty of making our art is not the skill of painting, writing, or composing. Anyone can be a technician. The problem is in excavating the interior landscape of our souls and understanding how we will bring what we bring in the way only we can convey it.
Create the space you need to be more of who you are, first for yourself, then for others. Be and Do, You. Xx
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We had the good fortune of connecting with Jana L Bussanich and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Jana L, as a parent, what do you feel is the most meaningful thing you’ve done for them?
Knowing who I am and what it means – what I am made for – and modeling that strong identity empowers our children (and others) to do the same.
Knowing who I am and what it means – what I am made for – and modeling that strong identity empowers our children (and others) to do the same.
I am the mother of four now-grown children and Nana to six grandchildren, ages 2 to 11. I have found that it’s essential to continue self-discovery, know my preferences (likes and dislikes), cultivate vital interests, and pursue my dreams apart from my role as a mother. And now a grandmother. This accomplishes two (likely many more) crucial things: First, children are a temporary assignment. A mother will be better equipped to navigate and support the various stages of the child’s individuation when engaged with her own development. The irony of motherhood is to help your very dependent and needy child (as an infant) know themselves better than they know anyone else and use that self-knowledge to create a satisfying, meaningful life. Children are like presents to be unwrapped through the years. They come to us with all they need for life, love, and relationships. We help them identify their unique shape, usually revealed through their interests like clues to an aptitude. When followed, this grows into competency areas to go out into the world and create a meaningful life. Second, when a mother understands her identity is separate from her role as a mother, her children can see themselves as individuals who function within the family community, bringing their unique wholeness that makes up the family culture. This relieves the child from taking on the role of satisfying the mother’s (parent’s, really) unfulfilled desires, interests, and dreams and frees them to excavate and mine their own interior landscape, looking for clues to the hidden treasures of their very being. Read more...
Halfmoon Bay, New Zealand 2019
Piha, North Island, New Zealand 2019
Vienna, Austria 2019
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I wrote this book - Watercolor Technique and Color Theory Essentials - to fast-track your understanding of watercolor and its unique qualities.
I set a new goal [in 2008] of learning to paint with watercolor. As soon as I told myself I would do this, my next thought was, "But you're too old - 45 years too old." You've missed your chance, and you have no formal training". This was followed by an absolute miracle of a thought "wait a minute – the next five years will pass whether you do this or not. Why not find out what's possible?"
]]>I found my kids' watercolor set, some mediocre paper and started painting. The results were just as mediocre as the paper. The colors were dull, but I was hooked! I learned more about paint, paper, and brushes, and with much doubt and slight panic, I began to paint from my own source photos. I had not yet developed the discipline of drawing and relied on graphite transfer or the grid method to draft my paintings. In 2012, the youngest of our children entered middle school; I rented my first studio and began teaching others what I'd learned (and wished I'd known at the beginning, especially color theory).
A decade following, I've acquired skills and developed an art practice that serves me and my art when I approach the paper. I keep my focus on the process and consistently get results that I feel good about. If you think it might be too late to learn to paint, I want you to know that I understand how you feel. You may want to skip the intro and get right to the lessons - no time to waste? I get it. I'm notorious for doing things backward. I wrote the glossary before the complete text to get clear about what I want to tell you.
I wrote this book to fast-track your understanding of watercolor and its unique qualities.
About My Art
Book's Layout and Design
Technical Information
Chapters one-three: Learn three watercolor techniques that focus on water management, paint-to-water ratios, and brush techniques necessary to successful painting with watercolor. Mastery of technique and following the order in which we build out or layer a watercolor painting is essential.
Chapters four-five: Learn to mix the color wheel using three primary colors - red, yellow, and blue. With practice, mix any color you can imagine or see for all your paintings. We join color theory using the principles and techniques from the first three chapters, combined with discovering color preferences. These elements, along with mark-making, are where we begin to identify and strengthen our individual voice, painting with watercolor.
Now, back to the glossary. It contains all the words I thought you might need to know so that you can continue what you started here with competency and confidence. For this reason, you will not find all of the words from the glossary within the main text. Backward, I know. Or is it?
What do you mean by the essentials?
This book does not pretend to be a single source for your development as a watercolorist or artist. That's why it has the essentials with a few dozen extra words in the glossary and varied examples of artwork. This book attempts to be a guide that whets your appetite for more. More of what? More knowledge, more inspiration, and more of the things that will keep you moving forward toward your goal with watercolor or making with anything that interests you.
Why combine Watercolor Technique and Color Theory?
Completing technique exercises when we don't yet know how to paint can feel tedious. Learning color theory without context is difficult to remember. Combining technique and theory makes the process more exciting and challenging, with results that inspire us to return to our practice.
What's in your toolbox?
I want you to know that you can teach yourself to paint and get results that you feel good about with a few new tools in your toolkit, a little bit of knowledge about watercolor's fluid characteristics, and some encouragement. Let's get started!
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Why practice contour drawing: Working simple allows us to focus on hand-eye coordination without becoming distracted by things like shading or other details that make it difficult to practice.
The Yellow Couch Classroom is an online learning community for those interested in exploring painting in watercolor with Jana L. Bussanich Art. We provide high-quality art instruction by qualified instructors and coaches.
]]>My words for 2021 and beyond: Nimble, Adventurous, and Noticeable. Be quick and light in movement or action; agile; willing to take risks or to try out new methods, ideas, or experiences; easily seen or noticed; clear or apparent.
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As we gain experience working with these higher concepts, we build a strong foundation for hanging our intuitive stylistic marks. Without this foundation, they will be, well, a bunch of marks without interest, context, or genuine substance. Our instinctive marks and learning our preferences serve a great purpose when they cause us to think more critically about the process of making our Art-we become fluent. Let's continue developing an art-practice we feel good about and making our Art our way with results that we feel good about.
Fakes & Forgeries Art Show and Sale
I am so glad to be part of this show!
Virtual Show
January 1 – March 31, 2021
Local artists take on the great masters by copying their work or putting their own spin on these masterpieces. Now is a perfect chance to acquire a famous masterpiece at a fraction of the cost! The next best thing to owning the real thing, and the art is done by local artists.
To purchase a painting, please call 719-337-2863 or email ChrisAlvarezPaintings@gmail.com
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Jana, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It was around 2008-2009 when I first began to self-identify as an artist, even though I’d spent most of my life following various creative interests. I was talking about myself as an artist sort of secretly. There would be those first moments in a conversation when someone would say to me, “What do you do?” and I didn’t know what to say.
Read Full Article Here
]]>Finding our voice through our art is synonymous with finding our voice in life. We might notice that as we identify our preferences of color, subject, and form, our awareness of other personal preferences will simultaneously emerge. It could feel disruptive to those around us, as we gain confidence in our ability to make decisions that are congruent with who we are on the inside. As we exercise these muscles in making our art, we become empowered to do the same in other areas of our life where we may have deferred or abdicated - or put ourselves last.
I chose this series of paintings to share with this post because they are paintings done under constraint. They represent what part of my artist's journey feels like to me.
Yellow makes me feel happy. I live at the base of Pikes Peak, Americas Mountain in Colorado. I love hardlines and the built environment. This bright abstract landscape is full of possibilities. And, I can now see the light at the end of this tunnel called a pandemic as my life and art move in this new direction.
The narrowing of life is often the passage to clear knowing. The reduction of options in our work as artists can also be the passage to clear knowing.
I've been on a life-long journey to find my voice. What seems like a single week of painting that unlocked it all - as represented in my work made here is the result of a very long process of learning to be seen and heard.
When I was silent, I was hiding from the truth within - I was hiding from myself and others. But silence is a noisy place, and speaking our truth (my reality) can become a place of quiet—a place of rest as we learn this new language through art.
If you are new to finding your voice through your art, I want to tell you to be kind and patient with yourself. Being here means that you already know that there is a part of you that longs to speak this language - a piece that wants to tangibly exist. While the ABC's of painting - the tools, principles, materials, and rules of art-making are universal, your way of expressing. - the syntax- is uniquely yours to arrange.
When the lockdown occurred, I transitioned my art students to online instruction. The learning curve is steep, the commitment is high, the technology can be daunting, and screen time exhausting. We don't know what we don't know, but as soon as we do, then everything changes. I had a sense of how much work it is to convert and deliver my content online, so I had not done it. I've worked more hours the last 6-months to accomplish this transition - albeit somewhat clumsily - than I've worked the previous year teaching physical classes and mentoring instructors. But now I know more about what it takes, and more fully appreciate the labor and love behind free-weeks and other courses I've taken online with amazing artists like Louise Fletcher, Gabriel Lipper, and Nicholas Wilton.
If you find that you are feeling a loss over not continuing in the upcoming YC Classroom, 10-week course, consider what you've discovered about yourself instead. This feeling of loss might point to your need to be in a community with people who share your interest and goals. What will you do to "find your people"? How will you meet this need, if you can't join the 10-week course right now?
There were many years of scarcity when I did not have money to pay for things like art supplies or courses, but there are other ways to meet these needs when finances are tight. Artist's solve problems of scarcity all the time. You can solve this one too! Let any feelings of desperation be fodder for inspiration.
]]>The conditions for making a painting are never perfect. If they had to be, the work would never get done. During a visit to London in October, I stumbled into Chinatown at the end of the day. I entered through one of the gates, rounded the corner to see people bustling down the middle of the busy street. The light of the setting sun was falling perfectly under the threat of rain clouds looming overhead. The dark shapes and contrasting filtered white light formed the cast shadows of the people in the street. These shapes lead my eye to a focal point on the horizon. The warmth of the red Chinese lanterns, illuminated by a sliver of silvery light from the sun, hung in stark contrast to tall buildings from which they are attached. Unaware of themselves as subjects for my next painting, the scene arrested me. I stopped in the middle of the road and shot a dozen reference photos.
The inspiration photo was taken in London’s Chinatown ©janalbussanich2019
Photos, for me, are paintings made with a camera in my hand. I see pictures made with paint when I look through the lens of my camera. But here’s the thing. I could have easily missed this moment altogether. I was in an unfamiliar part of East London, the rain was looming, people were hurriedly moving past me, I felt slightly cold and was debating the need to dig my raincoat out of my bag. I was hungry, or was it hangry? Aware of darkness falling, with a 15-minute walk to the Central Line and a 30-minute ride on the crowded London Tube, were all good reasons not to slow down long enough to capture the scene. Maybe I’ll come back to Chinatown tomorrow? I could be more intentional about my visit if I weren’t feeling tired. I wonder if the sun will be shining or if the clouds will form themselves in the same way tomorrow? Maybe I should check tomorrow’s weather on the Weather App? With each question, the golden light was disappearing. Experience has taught me that these moments are fleeting and that once passed, they’re gone forever.
A few days later, in Wales, I finally had some time to make the painting inspired by my visit to Chinatown. I had not planned to paint big on this trip, so I did a small sketch in my art journal. I was about 1/2 way through it when I knew enough to start again on a larger piece of paper.
Art Journal Sketch – ©janalbussanich2019
Because I travel light, I did not have any large sizes of loose paper to work on. But my colleague, UK Artist Jean Perrett, offered me a sheet of some handmade paper that she had brought to Wales for our painting holiday.
What I love about this piece – Chinatown London: Lifted – is that it embodies some of the challenges artists encounter as they try to bring their art into tangible form. Sometimes the difficulty is a lack of funding to buy materials. Other times its scarcity of products. But often, it’s all the things I mentioned above that become roadblocks to making our art. For this piece, the unique and unfamiliar paper presented challenges because it’s not my usual ground for painting. Soft and slightly flimsy for a medium-weight handmade paper, it behaved and took on paint water differently. So not only was I creating a new idea in my art, I was trying to make this paper my friend at the same time. Getting to know your medium of choice and the tools of your craft is essential and an often unknown part of the learning process for those who are new to painting.
I’m celebrating 10 years of painting with water media this year. From the beginning, my work is marked by the use of Vermillion or Chinese Red. I’ve painted red trucks, poppies, trees, and skies. Red is considered the color of life. It is associated with blood and eternity. It’s use dates back to 7,000 to 8,000 BC. I don’t know why I like it so much. I just know that it’s part of my palette, and anytime I avoid it, my paintings feel like they are missing part of me. It feels like I didn’t show up on the paper.
Watercolor and Caran d’Ache Classic Neocolor II Water-Soluble Pastels on handmade cotton rag paper. 23.75″x15″ Framed with glass mat Available ©janalbussanich©2019
This painting is a breakthrough piece for me. It represents a different era in my work. As a result of this piece (+ 10 years), I’ve just completed a body of work that was not possible without this one to open the space for them to be. And, this is what I love most about it.
Join me next weekend for a Holiday Open Studio in the historic Old North End of Colorado Springs, CO, USA.
]]>When you finally agree that Being creative is part of how you are made and you set about to let your art emerge, you run into obstacles that feel surprising. Still, the thing persists, whatever it is, that voice continues to clamor for your attention. And your art pursues you and asks you to go places you never thought you would go – both internally and externally.
The first step to becoming more of who I am was to call myself Artist in the absence of any external proof. I bought supplies, set myself up in the corner of a room, and made a hopeful start. Soon after, it felt hard to show up to do the work, and that was a confusing time. As we try to answer the call to express through our art, we become aware of it’s constructive and destructive power to heal or hurt ourselves and others. There were times I felt so desperate to get into the place where making my art would be possible, that I thought I would implode. I wanted everyone and everything (the destructive power at work) to get out of my way. Other times, I planned, made space (the constructive power at work), and showed up at the paper with time on my hands and supplies ready but found I could not put a mark on the paper.
When I first started exploring my art, in earnest, my husband was like, “Oh, look, isn’t that cute. My wife’s an artist”. But as time went on and I became possessed by this single idea of living coherently with myself and my art, that sentiment became something like, “Holy S4!T, my wife is an artist”. This is, in part, because that thing that I’d cut-off was no longer the loudest voice in my head. It was now the most booming disruptive voice in the room (and that’s a post for another day).
After a decade of becoming more of who I am in my life and art, I’ve learned to manage the Thing instead of letting it control me. “Managing” means listening to it and trusting my instincts about when, where, why, and how I produce my art. And, I no longer feel like a fraud because I’m no longer defrauding myself about my own identity. Most days, being Whole and living with Integrity of Self feels like winning the lottery.
Who are you? What does it mean, what can it mean, what will it mean?
]]>Title: London Chinatown, Gelli That.
Watercolor Gelli print.
Watercolor Gelli print with graphite drawing.
Watercolor Gelli print and painting.
Thank you, Tasha, for sharing your knowledge and skills with us!
]]>I’m finishing up coursework offered by artist and painter Nicholas Wilton, founder of the Art2Life and Creative Visionary Programs. We painted in acrylics during the course, which is not my usual medium. Now I’m reworking some of the assignments in watercolor. For this exercise, I taped off sections and rotated the paper as I went, building each area a little at a time. I’m exploring color as value (light and dark shapes) and their role in the design. Our eye is drawn to dark shapes, with areas of high contrast, first. When the image is converted to BW, we can more easily identify those shapes by their value and not be distracted by the colors. It’s is said that value does the work, but color gets the credit. Which area(s) below have the weakest design as it relates to value? Which areas are the strongest?
Jana L Bussanich teaches watercolor technique and color theory in Colorado Springs, CO
]]>Size: 24.75″x15″
Available
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October 20, 2019
It was around 2008-2009 when I first began to self-identify as an artist. I was talking about myself as an artist sort of secretly. There would be those first moments in a conversation when someone would say to me, “What do you do?” and I didn’t know what to say. I felt like a total fraud. My art was living in the gallery of my mind, where it was carefully hung and perfectly executed. There was very little evidence on the outside of my inner reality. I knew I had to begin expressing who I am if I wanted to transform the way I was operating in the world. At that time, I would say I was still a blocked artist because I wanted to produce work, but I hadn’t gotten there yet. But I knew it was an essential part of my whole being.
I had a deep sense of beginning to understand this part of myself that had been allowed to go dormant, that had not been cultivated and had been, in a way, cut off. Some of that was my own doing, and some of it was circumstantial, not enough time or money or raising children, other things that steal your time away. It’s easy not to get to the idea that you care about most. Also, the awareness that the creative process requires a certain amount of space around it. It feels almost like time-wasting, and if you don’t have a lot of time to waste in that way, it is challenging to emerge. It meant that I had to make some calculated decisions about how to build some space around myself so that I could begin actually to move in the direction of producing work. And that takes linear time when you’re raising a family since you can’t shift everything all at once. Sometimes it feels like you can’t shift at all, and sometimes the shifts are small, and sometimes they’re big. The author Parker Palmer was influential for me during this time. I was teaching, and I was reading his book, Let Your Life Speak, where I encountered the idea of what it means to live with the integrity of Self. The integrity of Self is to live from the inside out. Is who you are on the inside congruent with what the world sees on the outside? So, I had this increasing awareness of the distance between who I knew I was and how I was expressing that. Are you talking about yourself as an artist or someone else? How are you operating in the world?
©janalbussanich2019
]]>How do you relate or respond to this idea of play when making your art? I often hear this phrase, but what does it really mean? I feel a bit like a fraud when I apply the word "play" to my work. Because, well, it's work. And it's hard. And I have to solve problems. And I've spent much of my life developing a strong work ethic. The last thing I want to feel is that my work is, in some way, childish.
Children at play seem to be answering the call to self-sufficiency and independent thinking, as they joyfully solve problems and copy adult behaviors. Children play at doing life. It's hardwired, but I feel resistant to using the word "play" concerning my art. So, I decided to try and understand my resistance, and I believe I figure it out. This list is a prompt to help us think about how to play and where we need to mature in our art-making.
To be childish about our work shows up when we blame others for our failures, are hypersensitive to criticism, experience emotional extremes (rejection or anger), are self-critical (I'm not talented, or I'll never be good at this), and attention-seeking. Children have two choices: They can be childlike (endearing) or childish (disagreeable). But adults can be mature while also being childlike, as we find joy in the journey of discovering our art and expressing it in meaningful ways. We need not be naive about the business of art or surprised by its difficulty. We can practice honesty, be delighted by, and carefree in our art practice.
Through careful study and hard work, our art becomes more sophisticated. More complex. Desirable. So, let's learn about the Art of Play.
Jana L. Bussanich Art & Yellow Couch is the home of Fine Art painting, instruction, and related services. We create and sell original high-quality Fine Art. Creative design; manage commissioned private, commercial, & public art; online classes; art business coaching. Based in Colorado, USA, serving clients worldwide.
©JanaLBussanich2019
Debunking a Myth
A little note about talent - it's an entry point, a clue about natural ability, personal interest, and aptitude. Once talent is exhausted, hard work might be the most defining characteristic of the successful artist.
To the artist, musician or athlete we say, "You are so talented" as if there is some supernatural, unexplainable inherent ease to their mastery of a skill or in developing their craft which is more a product of self-discipline, consistent practice, and hard work than anything else.
To the doctor, the mathematician, the pilot, or business person we do not say, "You are so talented" as if talent were the only explanation for their professional success. Instead, we describe them as hardworking people who are dedicated to their field of study, driven and intelligent; some are even experts in their area of expertise.
There are plenty of talented people who decided not to work past the edge of their ability. Plenty who concluded they had no talent and quit when the work got hard.
Discover and pursue your passion. Work from that place of knowing who you are and what it means. Learn to work at the edge of your ability. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Be a student, always learning, and a Master of what you now possess.
Jana L. Bussanich Art & Yellow Couch is the home of Fine Art painting, instruction, and related services. We create and sell original high-quality Fine Art. Creative design; manage commissioned private, commercial, & public art; online classes; art business coaching. Based in Colorado, USA, serving clients worldwide.
©JanaLBussanich2019
I was in Littleton with two of our four grandchildren yesterday when the STEM School shooting was taking place in Highlands Ranch, just 2.8 miles from our daughter's home. The older two grandchildren were at their school, on lockdown, unaware of what was happening for two best friends who attend school at STEM. I remembered being with my own, then, teenage daughters (one now the mama of these four baby-grands) twenty years ago when the Columbine school shooting hit the news. And I felt helpless to understand how it is that kids are plotting to kill kids. And I wondered how it is that 20 years later, my grandchildren are practicing fire drills and "an active shooter in the school" drills as if it were a regular part of their day. I felt flattened by what was going on around us as we carried on awaiting news that those we love were safe and grieving the reports of others not so fortunate. Later, I spoke with another child of ours who is facing a different kind of fear: The fear of finding her way in this big world (she's even written a new song about that, about facing fears, at Audrey Bussanich). And we celebrated what we need more of in this world. More people who know who they are and what it means. More people, young and old, who have a sense of purpose, belonging, and connection.
Today, I went to work. I'm an art instructor, and I was all too aware that I felt a little "off." A little unfocused. A little bit weary from being present to all that life can bring in a single day and I wondered, "what difference am I making?". So I told my class of 6 adults who are studying watercolor with me that I was a little off and needed to say to them why. In the book Courage to Teach by author Parker Palmer, we learn that teaching with integrity means that, if we're honest, our students get the best and worst of us on any given day. Today felt like one of those days when the worst is winning. Then, I remembered the antidote to the suffering we experience in the world is found in the pursuit of a worthy goal. And today, learning to paint felt like both a noble and meaningless goal, but it is not useless.
Jana L. Bussanich Art & Yellow Couch is the home of Fine Art painting, instruction, and related services. We create and sell original high-quality Fine Art. Creative design; manage commissioned private, commercial, & public art; online classes; art business coaching. Based in Colorado, USA, serving clients worldwide.
]]>"One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful; it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely, and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes." ― Annie Dillard, The Writing Life.
I read that the World was waiting for people [maybe even waiting for me] to make history by what I will or won't give, and I wondered to myself, "Is that true?" Is the World waiting for me to do something; anything? Is it possible that the Universe is waiting for me to make history?"
I remember the days when I worked for someone else who was paying me an hourly wage to work 8 hours a day, five days a week. They were paying me to "Give it. Give it all, give it now". I got up and faithfully went to work, and if I didn't they were the voice on the phone asking, "Where are you? Why didn't you show up today?"
I thought about all the days I've shown-up and all the days I haven't, and I asked myself if the World or the Universe or anyone else noticed. The answer: No. I don't think they saw….but I did. I believe that my days will pass and the World, the Universe, and most people will not be calling out to me saying, "Where are you? Why didn't you show up today?". And why is that? It's because it's my job to show up and to do my work. My duty to answer the question of the moment, the hour, the day, the week, the year; it's the question of a lifetime: Will I show up today, and if I do, what will happen? The only voice that will call me out and into the World is my own. I'm the only one at the end of that very long day - sometimes called a lifetime - who will be asking and answering this question.
I do show up, and I do try to find my best self to be. What have I learned? Some days giving it all just isn't very good. And I should only compare myself and my work to only myself and my work, not to someone else or their work. So on days when giving it all feels like everything and nothing, I am learning to be satisfied with the many small steps taken to get wherever it is I'm trying to go. As for making history? Who can know their significance or impact on the World? I think I'll keep listening to my voice and leave it to the World to answer that question.
Jana L. Bussanich Art & Yellow Couch is the home of Fine Art painting, instruction, and related services. We create and sell original high-quality Fine Art. Creative design; manage commissioned private, commercial, & public art; online classes; art business coaching. Based in Colorado, USA, serving clients worldwide.
©JanaLBussanich2014
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