Submissions From clicks.robertgenn.com

 "In my love affair with technology, I had mistaken my camera for a life." (Robert Genn)

 "It's always a good idea to check the lightfastness printed on each tube of pigment." (Robert Genn)

 "Much has been written about the creativity-stimulating rituals of writers because, well, they wrote about it." (Robert Genn)

 "Not that artists need to inflict every bit of accumulated visual info into their work, but they miss out on one of our top privileges: the art of really seeing." (Robert Genn)

 "During your day, your brain normally moves among four brainwave patterns." (Robert Genn)

 "Cory has achieved remarkable success and popularity without benefit of dealers or galleries. " (Robert Genn)

 "Great stuff is ready to grab out there, floating in the ether. " (Robert Genn)

 "When story gets into a work of art, the work is enriched." (Robert Genn)

 "While many opinions abound, paintings should be priced by size." (Robert Genn)

 "Demoing seems a straightforward business, but it's loaded with problems." (Robert Genn)

 "The IKEA effect is a cognitive bias where time and effort enhance affection for the work." (Robert Genn)

 "When you think about the Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Artists, you might conclude we're a tribe of our own, and a mighty wide-ranging one at that." (Robert Genn)

 "Authenticity in painting often means specificity." (Robert Genn)

 "In my thinking, getting paid is of less concern than knowing what kind of film your work is going into and in what context the work will be shown." (Robert Genn)

 "Are skill, technique, and connoisseurship truly on the endangered list?" (Robert Genn)

 "Fact is, the quality of the work often depends on what dealers, galleries and curators see as the total package." (Robert Genn)

 "Fact is, many artists leave an appalling mess--a disservice both to their art and their family." (Robert Genn)

 "In visual art, the curve helps manage the movements of viewers' eyes by keeping them within the picture." (Robert Genn)

 " In other words, active and perhaps successful artists are masters of their own dopamine." (Robert Genn)

 "Whatever you do, don't let your system run you." (Robert Genn)

 "Artists are pretty well masters of their own rise or demise." (Robert Genn)

 "Novelty is vital to the stimulation of life. " (Robert Genn)

 "This time of year my emails show an increase in "Dear Santa"-type letters." (Robert Genn)

 "Our accumulated culture and the breadth of our character determine the tools we use. " (Robert Genn)

 "The only bad studio is the unused one." (Robert Genn)

 "In the ebb and flow of floral popularity, Van's work stood out for freshness and sensitivity." (Robert Genn)

 "Artists go to their studios for a variety of reasons." (Robert Genn)

 "For many among us, every studio hour is happy hour. " (Robert Genn)

 "There's a great story in David Bayles and Ted Orland's Art and Fear." (Robert Genn)

 "For all of us, self-briefing before going out or starting a project sharpens artistic wit. " (Robert Genn)

 "A chronic lack of "intention" is ravaging studios." (Robert Genn)

 "Purging must come from within, from your own calculated powers of discrimination, which should have nothing to do with what "others might see value in one day."" (Robert Genn)

 "Words--spoken or written--have a way of making rigid that which needs to be exploratory and free." (Robert Genn)

 "We live our short spans in the vortex of a miracle, and while we may not be the center of that vortex, it is magic to be anywhere in there." (Robert Genn)

 "I always thought signing was an artist's honour and guarantee of authenticity. " (Robert Genn)

 "Some observers claim that over the last hundred years fine art standards have diminished." (Robert Genn)

 "You need to think of something just a bit magical." (Robert Genn)

 ""Significant" and "important" art is magnified by the art of gibberish. " (Robert Genn)

 "Ten years ago his main wholesale business was with galleries; these days his art-framing sales were to designers, artists, customers of artists, and art dealers, in that order." (Robert Genn)

 "To be truly productive, creative folks need to withdraw to privacy and self-sufficiency. " (Robert Genn)

 "As a frequent juror, I can assure you that letters cut no ice with me. Art is greater than letters." (Robert Genn)

 "Have you ever noticed that paintings of nudes come and go in popularity?" (Robert Genn)

 "Too much inspiration, like too much absinthe, can boggle and confuse." (Robert Genn)

 "How many times have we watched our first courageous strokes deteriorate into a cluttered mess that looks like the work of fussy ne'er-do-wells." (Robert Genn)

 "Contesting artists need to realize that their work might be studied and picked apart." (Robert Genn)

 "Oversize brushes can give you a leg up in the blending department." (Robert Genn)

 "My best advice is to teach yourself to work pretty well anywhere." (Robert Genn)

 "All of us have the opportunity to leave our world with some sort of monument." (Robert Genn)

 "Some painters nail the exact colour they need on the first go. I'm not one of them." (Robert Genn)

 "Speedy painters tend to do fresher work than pokey ones." (Robert Genn)

 "I find the painting-fishing combo to be particularly fine." (Robert Genn)

 "What I want to talk about here are artists who hoard their own artwork. " (Robert Genn)

 " I like the idea of maintaining integrity and showing the whole range of what I chose." (Robert Genn)

 "Disruption, it would appear, is one of the natural keys to invention and success." (Robert Genn)

 "I guess the main argument against keeping track is the possibility it may turn perfectly lovely chaos into bookkeeping." (Robert Genn)

 "When people collect art, they also collect the maker." (Robert Genn)

 "You might pause to consider how blessed are we who daily stand or sit before the easel." (Robert Genn)

 "My advice to most artists is "unobtrusive but clear." " (Robert Genn)

 "To get an idea of potential compositions within paintings, try moving frames of various sizes around in the offending work. " (Robert Genn)

 "The consistency of your retail prices is a sacred covenant made with all your collectors." (Robert Genn)

 "Your Inferior Shadow is a whizbang at throwing obstacles in your way. " (Robert Genn)

 "To mosey in foreign lands, with no particular itinerary, is my idea of artist's heaven. " (Robert Genn)

 "It's safe to say that art thrives best in prosperity on home shores. " (Robert Genn)

 "The idea that suffering can be channelled to make us stronger runs through the history of philosophies and religions. " (Robert Genn)

 "Curiously, when following other tip-givers who also go from club to club, I often find the eager tip-takers have taken down some wonderfully contradictory tips. " (Robert Genn)

 "I discovered "visual innocence" to be a learnable art." (Robert Genn)

 "The day before I'd finished a painting--even signed it before I went to bed. Big mistake. " (Robert Genn)

 "Preparatory sketches help you understand what you are trying to do while helping you to feel less precious about your work. " (Robert Genn)

 "True, when an artist reaches a critical volume of work, a sort of jaded blindness can easily set in. " (Robert Genn)

 "Silence focuses your eyes on your process. " (Robert Genn)

 "Recent studies are showing a sea change in earning power and discretionary spending. " (Robert Genn)

 "Apart from what some people say, the art business is a people business." (Robert Genn)

 "The act of drawing may feel like bending a coat hanger around something." (Robert Genn)

 "So who are we going to blame for our disappointments and our failures? " (Robert Genn)

 "Last night, while on jury duty, my fellow juror and I agreed the most common fault seen among entries was in composition." (Robert Genn)

 "A "second breath" is a restart of a work after getting a second opinion from yourself." (Robert Genn)

 "Dealer padding has gone on since cave art." (Robert Genn)

 "Skills worth learning take time and patience." (Robert Genn)

 "Blessed are those to whom a sense of joy comes naturally." (Robert Genn)

 "Where do you first touch your canvas?" (Robert Genn)

 " Shooting from the hip, I'd say if you want to make sales in New Mexico, you have to have really top quality art." (Robert Genn)

 "Consignment is by far the best system." (Robert Genn)

 "The studio is an extension of the sandbox and the kindergarten playroom. " (Robert Genn)

 "While it's all about surrendering to the work itself, it's also the quality of the dialogue in front of it." (Robert Genn)

 "Fact is, artists are in the Claus game all year 'round." (Robert Genn)

 "Fact is, artists who keep track of time may be whistling Dixie." (Robert Genn)

 "So far the ARR kite is not flying in Canada. The chances of it flying in the USA right now are thinner than last century's rice paper. " (Robert Genn)

 "As you do your work, you discover what you love to do." (Robert Genn)

 "You're right, super-realism is back in style." (Robert Genn)

 " The best approach is to achieve a balance--work independently and play with others." (Robert Genn)

 "Creative people understand this temporary blossoming and learn to take advantage of it." (Robert Genn)

 "Quality develops when the artist and the critic are honed into a functioning co-op within the same skull." (Robert Genn)

 "Knowing all is not straight and true gives power to the idea that imagination rules." (Robert Genn)

 "Sorry, but like Picasso, Fragonard and Michelangelo, public validation by greens is important." (Robert Genn)

 "When you put in significant time in the work area, work automatically emerges." (Robert Genn)

 "Artists pay $30,000 per year to have their work priced and distributed. " (Robert Genn)

 "Fact is, there's a rising class of home-workers and plein-air painters whose aims are the old fashioned ideas of quality and life-enhancement. " (Robert Genn)

 "One of the motives behind the current "Occupy Wall Street" phenomenon is the encouragement of co-ops." (Robert Genn)

 "Beautiful online connectivity is just beginning. " (Robert Genn)

 "I like to show up to work in my studio. " (Robert Genn)

 "Which is better--feeling good or getting good?" (Robert Genn)

 "It's good to understand that effective large paintings are often merely small paintings enlarged. " (Robert Genn)

 "To this day I seldom draw. I go right to the other stuff. " (Robert Genn)

 "Fluidity is the presence of long, languorous strokes, elegance, panache, dash and curves." (Robert Genn)

 "It's all about the renewal and rebirth of life through creativity." (Robert Genn)

 "It takes both sides of your brain to find the blind spots. " (Robert Genn)

 "If eyes are the windows of the soul, they may also give clues to the creative process. " (Robert Genn)

 "The path is also the road, stream, river, etc. Few of us have a straight one that leads directly to a big something." (Robert Genn)

 "It's a given that an independent life gives courage to the next generation. " (Robert Genn)

 "Overwork, overstate and over-busy are three of the top boo-boos." (Robert Genn)

 "The best workshops are conducted by practicing pros who feel the need to share." (Robert Genn)

 "It seems folks get creatively engaged when they have a sense of playful progress." (Robert Genn)

 "There is a Brotherhood and Sisterhood of painters. Dead and alive, absent and present, we travel together and keep each other company." (Robert Genn)

 "It might be that gratefulness is the very basis of an evolved creative life and a life well lived. " (Robert Genn)

 "You need to learn to do the job yourself and you need to know, as the original creator, you can do the job just as well as anyone. " (Robert Genn)

 "Consequently, most artists left our workshop without a prize, and Sara and I are starting to worry about it. " (Robert Genn)

 "These days I think artists need to dream bigger dreams. " (Robert Genn)

 "A crisis of confidence happens more often in art school than when folks work on their own." (Robert Genn)

 "Resumes are for people who need to read resumes." (Robert Genn)

 "But I can't tell you how golden it is to get a dozen or so paintings off to another city and then forget about them. " (Robert Genn)

 "People who write about art are often those who are merely confused by it. " (Robert Genn)

 " You can pretty well always find a reason not to work. " (Robert Genn)

 "Holding a fishing rod to advantage is like holding a brush." (Robert Genn)

 "While the act of painting may not perk up your depleted serotonin, it may release something I'm calling "muselocin." This is the nice stuff you feel when you're finding your muse. " (Robert Genn)

 "Fact is, many artists expend a lot of energy trying to be the flavour of the month." (Robert Genn)

 "I'm sticking by my prediction that women are going to be the top refined artists by the end of this century. " (Robert Genn)

 "Yesterday, Linda Lee Nelson of St. Paul, Minnesota, asked some practical questions. Thanks for these, Linda. " (Robert Genn)

 "Our main job in life is to try to find out what we're good for." (Robert Genn)

 "The job of instructor, in my view, is to help people realize themselves at whatever level they are at, and to further engage them in the basic academic exercises that are so wanting in contemporary art education. " (Robert Genn)

 " Joe is basically a nice guy. I have the feeling that if he could paint pictures, he'd do them all by himself. " (Robert Genn)

 "This simple experiment brings us to one of the hinges of creative growth. Recipes are found, not given." (Robert Genn)

 "It may just be that workshops are the main source of traditional art education." (Robert Genn)

 " Dogs are angels sent from heaven to make us into better people." (Robert Genn)

 "Our minds are capable of far more multi-tasking and multi-tracking than we think. " (Robert Genn)

 "The reason you compulsively accept the paths of others is you don't have confidence in your own path." (Robert Genn)

 "People who move around, even nervously, and stand rather than sit, also reap creative benefits." (Robert Genn)

 "Last Saturday night, Carol gave me a great big birthday party. Among the fourteen friends who spoke was my daughter Sara." (Robert Genn)

 " "Triggers" are those elements in art that cause people to stop and look." (Robert Genn)

 " While creativity depends on curiosity and discovery, the expression of art also benefits from some form of mild distraction. " (Robert Genn)

 "Fact is, great art comes from both the schooled and the unschooled. " (Robert Genn)

 "You just need to think of art-making as a form of tribute. " (Robert Genn)

 "Simply put and perhaps surprisingly, less commitment widens opportunity." (Robert Genn)

 "Many fine arts graduates have little or no idea of time-honoured academic procedures or processes. " (Robert Genn)

 "Practically all the "great ones" have mentioned the value of play. " (Robert Genn)

 "Thinking ahead is good; getting started is better. " (Robert Genn)

 "Often, it's difficult to understand that dealers are not necessarily looking for depth or creativity. They're looking for marketability." (Robert Genn)

 "Artists need to offer only their best work and to be consistent. " (Robert Genn)

 "Bringing artists and public together is a main function of shows." (Robert Genn)

 "But what I'm talking about here is the "basket list"--often made on the run in a little notebook. It's a list of things we need to try in our work. " (Robert Genn)

 "While strong biases can make for compelling art, we have to keep in mind that some artists want to change. " (Robert Genn)

 "It's human nature to pay attention to what we do well and avoid what we don't." (Robert Genn)

 "Yep, I'm talking about painting as a spiritual event. The act has something to do with making a physical tribute--a sort of a visual prayer--honouring the gifts that surround us and the life we've been given. " (Robert Genn)

 "You have to steel yourself up and get yourself busy. It's the work itself that rocks the mountain." (Robert Genn)

 "Artists need to realize that dealers are often coming from a different place than artists. While you and I know that cross-training and diversity are desirable, even necessary for creative growth, a dealer looks at an artist's work with other things in mind. Product consistency is one of them. " (Robert Genn)

 "My sublimely gifted person shows a steady, workmanlike curiosity for the uncovering of his or her self-anointed processes. " (Robert Genn)

 "So, yes, I'm saying to my conservative painter friends--be funny. Maybe a few good laughs is what's needed right now. " (Robert Genn)

 "Since the advent of the Internet, savvy customers soon find an artist's standard prices and scout the best prices across an artist's stable of dealers." (Robert Genn)

 "Looking into various brains, including the brains of people who look at art, he's come to the conclusion that things are better when they are less visible. He calls it "The Peekaboo Principle."" (Robert Genn)

 "Painter wannabees need all the help they can get. Composition, colour mixing, and the professional touch, to name just a few, can be troublesome minefields. The better mentors give options. Choose your mentors carefully." (Robert Genn)

 "If everything in a picture were exactly as in nature, there would be little to engage anyone, much less give them something to talk about. Art fascinates for reasons the artist and the viewer cannot always define." (Robert Genn)

 "But in my vast and virtual part-time mentoring practice...I also see highly optimistic, ambitious women who value education and are willing to put in time and treasure to achieve their goals." (Robert Genn)

 "It's not just that we are given our day--it's what we do with it. " (Robert Genn)

 "Artists just need to know that wherever they choose to hang out, they need to have a level playing field. " (Robert Genn)

 "We have a responsibility not just to those who have gone before, but to those who will carry on after us. Do not drop your brush. " (Robert Genn)

 "To get the dopamine flowing, you need a relationship with your work that is beyond obligation, expectations of perfection or cash flow. Profound creativity and steady work habits need a state of genuine desire." (Robert Genn)

 "Clients can make unusual demands. While many client complaints are legitimate, they often have something to do with the retaking of power. " (Robert Genn)

 "The great artists, illustrators or not, leave a trail of their own personality." (Robert Genn)

 "James Siena said, "Your success will come out of the work you do, not who you know, what parties you go to, or what you wear."" (Robert Genn)

 "The studio is a place of dreams, and dreams, though always vulnerable, are good for us." (Robert Genn)

 "When we are gracious and open to the miracles of the universe, the dynamics of human intercourse and the service of our art, " (Robert Genn)

 "The golden rule is not to send substandard work out in the first place. Shows, dealer pressure and too many galleries can degrade your quality. To keep your standards high you need to learn to be an ever-vigilant, ever-dedicated student of your own product. Your destiny depends on it. " (Robert Genn)

 "Paintings have stories. Paintings carry karma. Paintings can brighten the spaces between brothers. Paintings given away and perhaps just starting their rounds already have more going for them than a lot of those that have merely been sold. " (Robert Genn)

 "There's a popular idea that some folks are blessed with talent and others not. The latter envy the former right up until they see all the hard work, sacrifice and focus. The best antidote is to really get to know the apparently talented ones, including their faults and weaknesses. " (Robert Genn)

 "Standing or sitting, the back needs to be in extension, not compression. Place the work above the eye-line and stretch toward it. Try not to bend over things. " (Robert Genn)

 "Fact is, artists who get into their processes and don't have their heads turned by minor approvals are the ones who get onto the carousel." (Robert Genn)

 "While any sort of intensity and learning is great, an artist also needs a private vacuum in which to gather thoughts and re-unite with personal processes." (Robert Genn)