Today is my father's birthday - he is now 87 years young. I say it that way because he is still active and independent, and can still work circles around men much younger than he is. You could say he is a success at Life, to have lived and thrived for this many years, with no major health issues.

He is still able to go curling when he wants to. He plays Bridge several times each week. He and my stepmother entertain friends regularly. They do their own errands and enjoy a visit to the local casino once in awhile, just for a bit of fun. He has enjoyed making his own wine for many years. He still does his own maintenance work every summer down at the shore, filling his days with mowing and raking, building and repairing, enjoying every minute of every day.

“What is his secret?” you might well ask. I have a few ideas about why he is still such a going concern at an age when many others are relegated to rocking chairs in nursing homes, unable to look after themselves, and just wasting away.

First of all, he grew up in a time when hard physical work was the norm, rather than the exception. As a teenager and young man he spent long sweaty summer days working on the hay-press which his father moved around the community, pressing hay into bales for many of the farmers in the area. He worked hard. He grew strong and capable. His family were also carpenters, a trade he practiced and excelled at for most of his life, and which he still likes to tinker with to this day.

He grew up eating real food from the family farm, in the country, where the air was fresh and clean. Pre-packaged meals were non-existant, and 'eating out' meant going to visit a relative or friend for a Sunday dinner once in awhile. Candy was a 'once-in-awhile' treat. And the proverbial glass was always 'half full', rather than half-empty.

So, hard work, real wholesome good-quality food, building things from basic materials, an optimistic attitude. You could sum up my father with those words. That, you might say, is the recipe for being successful at Life.

He has his own version of course - he says he is “still trying to decide what he wants to be when he grows up”. Which means he is still open to new ideas, new information, new experiences, something new to learn. I've adopted that attitude for my own mantra ... I like to tell my grandkids (and anyone else who will hear me) that a day without learning something new is a wasted day.

To be successful at Art, which is sometimes said to imitate Life, (and sometimes the other way around) you could apply a similar formula ... work hard, use good-quality materials, keep an open mind, and always strive to learn something new, in order to build finished paintings from empty canvasses or sheets of paper.

WORK HARD:

It goes with out saying that Art is not an 'automatic process', it takes considerable time and effort (aka: work) to become good at what we do. Years and years, in many cases, of experimenting and testing and trying different approaches, different mediums, different subject matter and styles, until we hit on the combination which feels most 'natural' to our own individual way of communicating our ideas.

“Anything worth doing is worth doing well” is a time-honoured mantra which rings true in the art world as with any other endeavour. If you want to be 'an artist' you have to put in the time and effort to master your medium, to become familiar with your own 'voice', to take an idea from a rough sketch to a finished painting. Elbow-grease is a necessary part of success.

USE GOOD-QUALITY MATERIALS:

If you build a house with old warped lumber, or young green lumber, you can't expect it to remain standing and be in good repair as the years pass. The old warped lumber will continue to warp, the young green lumber will dry out and shrink. Build an identical house with properly seasoned high-quality straight boards, however, and your masterpiece will still be standing tall and strong for your grandchildren or great-grandchildren to enjoy.

For artists, this equates to purchasing only high-quality 'artist grade' materials for your paintings. Consider the work of Emily Carr, for example. Because of economic restraints she was unable to afford good materials, and often painted on pieces of paper which were mounted on cardboard. Although her painting skills were masterful, unfortunately many of her works are in very poor condition now, because of the lower-grade materials she used.

left: ABOVE THE GRAVEL PIT - Emily Carr  -  oil on canvas

right:  LANDSCAPE - Emily Carr  -  oil on paper

In these 2 examples, you can easily see how her works on canvas have held up far better than her works on paper. The colours in the canvas painting are still bright and true, while those in the paper painting are faded and subdued. The acid in the paper and cardboard backing affect the colours over time, and could eventually destroy the paper itself.

KEEP AN OPEN MIND ... STRIVE TO LEARN SOMETHING NEW:

Even when you think you have learned all there is to know about your own unique process, something happens which reminds you that there is always something more to learn. Something more to try, something new to experience. When the process starts to feel too 'familiar', it's time to go back to basics and see if there's a different route which needs to be explored.

Following these guidelines could help to keep an artist 'young' - just like my dad.

Cheers

Sharon