Leslie Saeta Fine Art
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the everyday life of a working artist

Conflicting Thoughts

5/27/2016

22 Comments

 
Picture
"Reflecting Glass Jar"
Oil, 6" x 6"
Available here.
I struggle internally with a battle every day. It's about painting traditional oils vs. abstracts. Should I focus more on one vs. the other? Should I continue to do both? Perhaps I should just paint one?

I get opinions and input every day on this subject. Which is not necessarily a good thing. Because most people feel very strongly about one or the other. In other words, they like one and DON'T LIKE the other. Currently the input runs about 40% in favor of abstracts and 55% in favor of oils and less than 5% who like both. Ok. I haven't really been keeping track. This is just purely an estimate. Or a guestimate. Or a make-it-up-estimate. But it feels pretty exact. So I will go with it.

I have been trying to paint both. But it is really hard. The approach to painting abstracts vs. traditional oils is very different. It takes a completely different mindset and often I feel "rusty" if I have been focusing on one more than the other. I also worry that it is confusing to my clients as the two are so different. So I am thinking about moving more in one direction than the other. The problem is that I just can't figure out which direction. Geez. Maybe I should just shut up and keep doing both. 

Do you struggle with anything like this? Perhaps which medium to paint? Or size? Any thoughts you would like to share?
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22 Comments
Margaret Horvat link
5/27/2016 03:36:29 am

I can identify with your struggle - In the past year I've more fully defined my style which is more realism than expressionism, and have been mostly happy with it, but I often think that a looser style is probably more popular, and quicker to produce. But I love rendering details so much, I haven't been able to make the change. Maybe it comes down to what makes you love making art.

Reply
Claudia Hafner link
5/27/2016 03:57:09 am

Since you are doing the email campaign with designers (I thought for your abstracts), would that not give you the feedback you need? Or is that where your numbers come from.

I struggle with size options. I like painting smaller because I do outdoor shows and transport is easier, scanning my images and getting reproductions is easier, storage is easier (in a condo), and I love them.

However, for exhibitions I feel I have to paint larger. But so far exhibitions have not produced sales, while my outdoor shows do.

And now my one source for some frames has gone out of business. Never ending decision-making.

I suspect whatever drives the moment is where you need to be. Without the inspiration, painting won't get done. Sometimes pre-planning tricks me into meeting certain goals...like my painting for exhibitions, then switching to a series of small pieces. Then it becomes fun.

Love that you wrote about the agony of it.. So familiar.

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Martha Kisling link
5/27/2016 04:16:00 am

I love how honest you are about your struggles Leslie. I often feel pulled in too many directions artistically because I have been painting watercolors for years and still love the free, spontaneously nature of the medium but I am also enjoying experimenting with all of the mixed media and collage materials out there. And then there are my watercolor batiks. And I would love to explore encaustics more. Too many choices and too little time. But, I guess that is also what makes being an artist so much fun!

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Dotty Seiter link
5/27/2016 04:22:02 am

Paint what your inner self wants/needs painted. You are painting first and foremost to express YOURSELF, to satisfy YOUR creative urge. You are not painting to keep others from being confused! If you enjoy the creative challenge of moving back and forth from one style to another, and confronting that bit of "rustiness" repeatedly, indulge yourself. If it might feel better to stay in one mode for a longer stretch and then shift to the other mode for a longer stretch, i.e. establishing self-assigned "seasons," do that, but do it because that's what feels right to you.

You've read Elizabeth Gilbert's BIG MAGIC, yes?

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Jen Walls link
5/27/2016 04:28:36 am

Your post really resonated with me, I paint abstracts, whimsical girls and odd creatures. And I move back and forth between them. But what I know is each style resonates with a different part of me. We have many facets of ourselves, and I think it is deeply honest to allow each of them space to grow and breathe in our art. Personally, I would miss your oils if you painted only abstracts. And I would miss your abstracts if you painted only oils.

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Melanie Nogawski link
5/27/2016 04:36:28 am

Hi Leslie!
You and I have followed the same path in art. I started with Plein air painting and always played with abstract and different mediums on the side! After going through some life changes I found abstract was my go to, it healed me in ways traditional painting never could & I loved playing with the textures, beeswax ect. I also feel torn at times because I love them both, but I decided to follow my heart and let it take me where I was the happiest. I found that with my Plein Air I hit a wall...I needed to switch it up, needed more excitement. I've watched you start your Abstract and love your new direction. The beauty is as you probably know You can always go back to traditional oils. What keeps me moving forward is wondering if all these great abstract techniques I'm learning can enhance my old style and the combination of all I've learned could creat a unique style, something different no one else has seen. So I keep plugging along and honor all you artist out there willing to step out of your comfort zones. I've learned that's where the real learning takes place. So you have my vote. Keep doing your abstract, they're beautiful & bold and I love that you've stepped out of your comfort zone🙃👍🏻 hope to see you again at one of your great workshops! Xo Melanie N

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Bobbi Heath link
5/27/2016 04:56:35 am

Leslie,

I'm solidly in the 5%, I love what you do with both your abstracts and traditional oils. I also think we gain from working in more than one medium and style, they inform each other and help us grow. Most of the advice we are given about sticking to one thing as an artist is because of the difficulty of marketing two different genre's at the same time, or the pitfalls of marketing them together. You don't have that problem! You've got very strong and distinct marketing and branding for each of your two passions. And that's the most important thing: as long as they are both passions, and both are driving you to paint, I hope you will do them both. And be happy! - Bobbi

Reply
Cindy Hammond
5/27/2016 04:57:17 am

Leslie I can so relate to these inner struggles. Maybe it's an artist thing. I thought I was the only one that felt this way or I thought it was ADD!! I go back and forth with media, oils vs. watercolor, loose vs. detail, palette knife vs. brushes. What to do, what to do. I love your oils but I also love your abstracts. Here in SC, abstracts are just starting to appear more often. We are behind the West Coast, but I was wondering if that movement is becoming the new interest. What sells the best for you? In the magazines abstracts are being mixed in with a lot of eclectic décor and used with the sleek, minimal style. So maybe paint what the need is at the time, but I would miss your oils if you didn't do them. You tell us to mix it up and make change and you were so excited about the abstracts. We have an artist here in Greenville that just launched her abstracts after years of realism. Although her style was very loose and almost leaning toward abstract. (Emily Jeffords) she is on Instagram and has a website. These struggles are difficult, I can't even decide on what to do first on my to do list half the time. Decisions are difficult sometimes. Do you love one more than the other? Maybe you are at a transition and fighting it? Your numbers are so close it doesn't help you. Then again, What will sell best?? If you love both.....

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Carl Olson link
5/27/2016 05:24:16 am

Well-known photographer Rick Sammon addressed this dilemma by adopting as his motto: "I specialize in not specializing". He's done well for himself by living by those words.

Reply
christine m holzschuh link
5/27/2016 05:40:46 am

I struggle with everything all the time...but the name for all of that, I think, is being true to yourself. A life long struggle I suspect.

Reply
Crystal Clement
5/27/2016 05:46:31 am

After four years of mainly painting in the winter (and then only doing tutorials b/c I was scared and not confident) I decided this January that I need to get serious and try do do my own paintings from my own references and such. It has been VERY tough and frustrating for me
just to end up with a decent piece I'm remotely ok with. Plus, I already have the struggle of whether to do more realistic vs abstract. Not good. I'm all over the place. However, I find that I have to do what makes me most content in the moment. Otherwise it's too overwhelming for me.

You are so blessed to have the skill and talent to make a living doing either style or both. Your work is beautiful. I say do what makes you happiest in the moment, no matter what the style is!

Reply
Flavia Lovatelli link
5/27/2016 06:03:28 am

My question is... who do you paint for; your clients or yourself? I hear that a lot from local artists, your struggle is universal, not just for artists but artists express themselves more vocally. I go by what makes me happy and yes I am very much like Martha, love it all, keep finding new passions an will do it all. But I am not like most, I art for me, I create because I cant avoid it, it is in me and I can't wait to see it a finished product. I have no desire whatsoever to listen to a client on what they want me to do. If both are your passions, follow them. I did read one artist blog saying he used to keep separate accounts. If you have this struggle and you see it confuses your customer, open up another website and call it something else and separate the two. In my opinion, it isn't the fact that the two forms are so very different, I think your point is valid only to those customers who are traditionalists, they just don't get abstract work at all, and abstracts lovers are two kind, ones who can't fit traditional work in their decor, and others who find traditional work banal. I have done several shows and I guess I don't look the part of an artist because I get to hear their inner thoughts... You might consider you are broadening your client pool by doing both...

Reply
Adele Bower link
5/27/2016 06:22:52 am

Leslie,
What is your most desired outcome, sales or the sheer joy of painting? If it were possible to honestly answer that question we could proceed. I say "we" because I've struggled with indecision, also; which medium, which style...for a VERY long time.One of my styles sells much better, but that doesn't seem to convince me. If attention, awards, and "Likes" were all I seek, I would have no problem choosing one style, but that doesn't satisfy me. Sorry, I'm no help at all. If I may "vote", put me in the 55% category; your boat paintings are stunning and I love them. Remember, I won one in a drawing one year. Happy me!! Your "traditional" oils are far from traditional.....they are beautifully unique.

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Sharon Ivy link
5/27/2016 06:23:08 am

It's such a struggle for us creatives! For the last 5 years, I've concentrated on my part-time pottery business while I continued to work at my day job and dabble in oil painting for relaxation. The pottery sells well online and at shows. Then I retired from the day job earlier this year and moved nearer family in another state where I have no studio and spotty internet service.

At this point, concentrating on my painting would be easier and much less expensive than having to build a pottery studio, but sales of my paintings are unproven, while I know the pottery sells well. What to do??? Argh!

Because you CAN do both styles of painting, I'd say go ahead with both for the time being. At least they both are painting, not 2 totally different media like mine. I think you would miss one or the other if you chose only one of them. Wishing you all the best!

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Alice Edwards link
5/27/2016 06:23:57 am

If you enjoy doing both do both.

If not don't do both

if you are concerned about losing cliental simply keep them separated especially for workshops

if you feel that you benefit from doing both kinds of workshops then do both

If traditional subject matter pulls in business and lets people see you are not a locked in thinker. keep it as a hook

if the opposite holds true for abstracts keep them
as a hook

stop forcing a decision until you feel good about one or the the other or some combination of both

. give yourself time to let your direction gel for you

.If you force it you will always wonder

also if you decide eventually to let one go publicly you can always do it for fun for yourself or perhaps add another

Relax about it ...

sometimes internal conflict is the process through which decisions are made or an existing direction solidified

give you yourself time to work through it.

Being desperate about a decision will only cloud your mind and bring in confusion and uncertainty.

Both will make you crazy.

give yourself a chance in a calm state of mind to decide

it doesn't have to be decided this minute.

this isn't' a matter of life or death is it? Although it may certainly feel like it

which ever way you decide to go is not the end of the world

if you don't like how the decision is affecting you, your world or your work you can always change your mind

perhaps experimenting with something altogether different, just for fun not profit, will allow the dust to settle and you will see your way clear

fingers crossed for you that you find you way.

the way that only works for you not anyone else,

Alice

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Saundra Galloway link
5/27/2016 07:46:17 am

Leslie, A great question! I've dabbled in both, I've painted animals and landscapes, I've worked in mixed media and straight mediums for years. I've asked myself this type of question for years. I found a way of working that gave me a thrill in my mixed media, but when I found it time to grow some more as an artist I was met with some resistance from galleries I was in. My conclusion to date is to be true to myself, explore and ask myself questions about what I love most about each way of working. Once I have those questions answered I feel more confident to work in one way or another for the moment in life.
Bottom line...be true to yourself as an artist first and the rest will follow. More than whether to work in abstract or realism my questions revolve around experimentation through my growth process. It means less consistency right now; in fact I feel sometimes my work looks rather schizophrenic, but I know it is part of the growth spurt, and I feel it most important to grow. It is great to have a family with artists as we all go through similar things at different times! We have your back!

Reply
Rosie Phillips link
5/27/2016 09:41:04 am

Interesting to hear that you Leslie, and all you other artists that have commented here have this "art drama" going on as well! I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE! Yes, we hear, "do what you love", "paint what makes you happy".... but obviously love both and you are awesome at both. And if sales are close enough in numbers, then....Hard to decide if you feel that you must go in only one direction. If anyone figures out how to come to a decision, please let us know. Leslie, you have figured out how to market your 2 ways separately but within the same art business successfully but I feel your pain and dilemma as to feeling rusty when switching between the two. My art drama is between painting with a palette knife only or with brushes only. I LOVE both and switch back and forth and I do feel rusty, very rusty when I switch methods. I love the looseness of freshness of the knife and I love the beautiful feel and look of the brushes. My sales are about equal between the two so that's no help to me. At this moment, I've been trying to paint with a brush and I feel like I don't know how to paint again! I have tried to do only one but I keep sneaking back to the other method. Such a dilemma this art drama creates for us! I have told my clients and visitors to a gallery that I am a schizophrenic artist and they laugh and say something like, they like both or something like that.... I do feel that if I only painted with 1 method that I would be a better painter but then I feel that when I do both that I am more varied and have options.

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Kathryn
5/28/2016 10:09:19 am

Hey Leslie, Have you considered you are seeing the two as separate when they really are one in the same? As a full time designer and painter hobbyist, I recognize how difficult it is to do and understand abstraction. To competently create abstraction beyond abstract expressionism in which an overall texture is created, one must understand DESIGN. This can be a field of study in and of itself - fully understanding the elements of design, placement ,action, color interaction and how all the elements of a work/interact with each other. Artists who solely focus on realism who stick with conservative views of art who dismiss abstraction as pfft, naively overlook how design can benefit their own work. Think beyond the application of paint to the underlying form and crucial interactions and you will learn what makes great realism as well as abstraction. Mysuggestion is to start stydying Albers, color theory beyond mixing paint, art philosophy, and perhaps start taking high level design courses. You have touched upon a simple form of abstract expressionism and a sure fire way to kick yourself into deep growth would be to really start thinking about what bridges abstraction and realism and that is Design. Good luck!

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Anne Lahr link
5/29/2016 06:06:23 am

Hi Leslie,
I just read this article over on Fine Art View Newsletter...Find Your Style and Stick with It! Sigh . . .(Carolyn Henderson). I really like what she had to say. Have you read it?
I also read a good book titled Refuse to Choose by Babara Sher.
I think some of us just enjoy staying alive in our art studios and experimenting with new mediums. Sometimes we get lucky like you and me and enjoy doing different things. Also, taking classes from new and different teachers gets me excited about trying new mediums and then new projects in my studio.
Great topic! I am enjoying your new blog and always look forward to listening to the AHA shows.

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Patricia Nelson
5/29/2016 03:04:22 pm

Why choose? It might be fun to explore marrying the more traditional with the abstract. A fun exercise would be to take one of your traditional paintings and base an abstract on it using either its colors and forms or from a cropped area within the painting.

I believe you enjoy using technology. I recommend using the app Sketch Club to explore abstracting your photos and developing ideas. Be careful. It is addictive.

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Karen Weihs link
5/31/2016 03:30:22 am

I do both, sometimes I do it all, esp if I get a commission which I call assignment painting. It teaches me growth is real and excites me to move past a challenge. One mentor told me to have two different signatures. That does not work for me. However, the down side is people telling you what they like and don't like, and galleries wanting what sells. So, the answer is do it all, go out and do plein airs, stay in and abstract an idea, till it falls in place, don't listen to advice and live the journey. Eventually, we fall in love with the style of the moment, then we find another style of the moment. We are lucky, now, you have the choice to listen to this or NOT. Love the honesty.

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Roxanne Steed link
6/1/2016 01:33:11 pm

I thoroughly understand your dilemma Leslie, and I have been struggling with this for the last year. I think for me it comes at that point of asking, "Is this a business or a hobby?" (and for me it is business, but yes, it's quite personal/from the heart expression). So I've been an oil painter for a couple decades, and my style has evolved over time. But during the past 2 years, I've also started "watercolor journaling" for fun...and wondering if I could make a business out of this...and yes- "a dog trying to chase two rabbits catches none"....it takes such incredible effort, and I truly feel like I'm not as effective as I used to be just staying focused on one thing! Besides the time put toward creating work, there's the marketing, etc. business end of things...I wonder if I'm making myself crazy....There are parts to both mediums that I really do love, though I feel more competent at one than the other (oils). But juggling two, and keeping track of business efforts have been exhausting! And once I've committed to an outside project, I'm finding it's not as easy as "just letting go" I have to see it through to the end.

I do really admire your whole abstract line- and everything you've accomplished with that! It's been fun & exciting work to see it grow!! In the end though, I think we have to follow our hearts (or we'll have no more business!).

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