By Ron Fortier

I wasn’t going to start this article with a quote. No time to look for a good one, I thought! The quote, however, found me. I was listening to a review about the Georgia O’Keefe & Henry Moore showat the MFA presently ongoing at this writing. The reviewer said that, “Georgia O’Keeffe said, to see takes time.” How perfect was this and, just in time!

The show closes on January 20^th. Yes, the best things just happen, and the simplest things are most often the least apparent. Yet, when they are noticed, they can provide the answers to questions that perhaps we didn’t know we should have asked. I was in the middle of a morning walk when I began to reflect on what I had accomplished to this point in my life as an artist. Hey, I’m in my seventh decade and thinking of the many things that I would still like to accomplish.

One of those goals is and has always been to be a successful painter. And by success, I’m not referring to just selling work or being supported through the sale of my paintings. It is rather, the personal satisfaction of having been sustained by the practice and act of painting itself. It’s about continuing to push myself to take risks. And now to the point of this article. It takes time! Time to discover something new. Time to create something that will remain of value to someone long after I’m gone.

While walking Snickers, our new puppy, I suddenly began to think of the many times in my life that I have craved for uninterrupted studio time. Of having been frustrated because of family and work obligations. Obligations that denied me the time I need. Time to accomplish the things that I wanted and still want to do as a painter and, the things that I just need to do because I am a painter.

Wait! Before you break out the tiny violins, yes, the misery boat I’m sailing in is full of others who are, well, in the same boat. Sure, there’s another way to look at how we use the time we do have. Oddly enough, we spend a lot of it planning for a better tomorrow. And while doing so, we ignore today. Taking the time to walk and think and examine my journey as a painter is always productive. However, any successful work I have created or any work I plan to create is still based on having or seizing the time I need and want!

The lack of time continues to be the biggest challenge. It always has been. Thankfully my frustration hasn’t been compounded by lack of inspiration or needing and affording canvases, paints, and brushes. The one single obstacle is and has always been having sufficient time.

You do have an artist in your life? Then the best gift you can give them is time to create their art. It may be difficult for you to give such a gift but it will allow your artist an opportunity for their quest to reach the next level. Yes, time can be bought with grants and residencies but they take time to complete and there’s no guarantee that the grant application will be accepted. Rene Ricard, who wrote about Jean-Michel Basquiat in his essay, the Radiant Child, said, “But how much time, when you really get going, can you spend crating, carrying on correspondences, hiring secretaries, negotiating your appearances… all the little labors … that keep you away from your work?”

The majority of artists struggle to find the time or make use of the little time they have. Managing a primary income work schedule while trying to carve out time for art is a frustrating, constant struggle fraught with guilt and an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy. Balancing priorities and obligations are a struggle. Working one or several jobs to pay the bills is draining and difficult.

As a painter, and speaking just for myself, having time or finding time is always a challenge. Now, before I continue, please know that I am not complaining. Preaching to the choir? Absolutely! And since this is the holiday season where more established and venerable religions celebrate the return of the light to a seasonally dark world and gift giving and receiving may be traditional, if you have an artist; visual, performing, or literary, the best gift you can give them is uninterrupted time. Studio time. Rehearsal time. Writing time. Any kind of creative time.

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