You’ve likely heard or seen the advertisements for Dos Equis beer, the ones with The Most Interesting Man in the World. As with most creative ads, they start out interesting and funny and then the advertiser beats them to death until they become ubiquitous and ultimately mundane. The ads are no different, ironically becoming less interesting with each airing, but as lame as they are becoming, one Dos Equis billboard got my attention today.
The billboard was simple, a beer bottle and a catch phrase, “Every now and then, bite of more than you can chew.” Being almost totally complacent, the ad didn’t strike me at first, but as I let it percolate in my brain, the idea began to resonate with me.
Each week, I attend a life drawing group just to keep the creative wheels greased during those times I’m not able to get into my studio to paint. It’s about 3 hours of drawing and by the end I’m usually pretty worn out. Toward the end, even though the model is posing longer I’m so tired, I usually end up focusing on a small portion rather than the entire figure, usually its the head and bust. In fact, the head and face is what I do the best because its what I do most and I usually end the night on it because I want to end on a high note.
In other words, i’m a pussy.
Why don’t I push myself to do hands and feet, the thing I hate to draw the most because I suck at it. I don’t push it, why? Who knows, but I got to cut that shit out, seriously. How will I become the world’s greatest artist of all time (please note tongue firmly planted in cheek) if I’m not willing to take any chances? Where’s the risk in doing the same thing every time just so I have a pretty picture at the end of the day?
So as goes with this blog, I’m annoucing another personal epiphany. I’m going to be making some changes in the way I do my work. First, I’m going to rework some of my art pieces to take them to what I think will be the next level. I began to wonder if maybe I’m pulling my punches a little with my art, so why not revisit some to see if maybe I can improve on what I’m doing. Maybe it won’t improve the piece. It might just screw the whole thing up, but I won’t know unless I try. The worst that can happen is I paint over the whole thing and start from scratch.
On top of that, instead of sticking with abstracts all the time, I think its about time I branch out a bit, start working some figurative or representational pieces into my collection. I may fail. These paintings may suck and might never see the light of day, but that’s no reason not to try. Choke or chew, either way, I’m opening wide for a bigger bite.
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That really struck me. I have been making the same kinds of decisions in the life drawing class I am taking also. I am bummed because I don’t have something “cool” or “good” but i am working on what I need to work on and that is what class is for right? Anyway, just wanted to share.