How and why did you choose to be an artist?

I think art chose me. From the time I was little, I was a creative. My Mom was and still is an artist. I grew up surrounded by paintings & art supplies. She always had a studio set up someplace in the house. In our first house it was in the middle of the kitchen. My Dad started building a log house on our property when I was 5 years old. When I was about 12 years old we moved into that log house.. There was a room set up as my Mom’s studio in the new house.

Whether it was painting, sewing or crafting, she was always creating something, which meant, so were her kids! When it’s normal to grow up with things in the house, whether it be paintings, music, food, animals etc, it almost becomes part of your DNA. Your natural surroundings.

When adults say they don’t have a passion for anything, or they don’t know what they’re good at, take a look back at what life was like when you were a kid. What got you fired up and excited as a kid? Were you always pulling out the pots and pans and getting in your Mom’s space when she was baking or cooking and always wanted to help? Were you picking up the guitar, or getting really creative with your clothes as a teenager? Were you super into movies? Steve Speilberg began his career when he was just a young kid. He used to make movies with the family camcorder.

There was probably something that got you excited when you were a kid and maybe you’ve forgotten how much you love science experiments or owning a pet? Maybe you had a lemonade stand at the end of your drive way and there’s an entrepreneur inside of you somewhere that needs to be re-awakened! Or you used to write pages and pages of stories or journals and poetry and you just haven’t found the time lately to write.

Those things we did as kids, when we had all the time in the world, can get lost in the business of being responsible adults. That’s normal. But if you are searching super hard for what your passion may be, you probably don’t have to try so hard. What did you enjoy as a kid? You will probably enjoy them now as an adult. Even if it seems silly to do now as a grown up, that doesn’t matter! Does it bring you joy just thinking about it? Then I think you found it!

Maybe you used to collect things. Heart shaped rocks, or sea shells. Someone told me their kid likes to collect sticks! They kid of rolled their eyes and shrugged their shoulders about it, but I bet you that kid has a plan. Maybe they’re going to make something cool with the sticks, like a homemade clock. Who knows! It DOESN’T matter! If collecting a bunch of sticks makes you happy, then DO IT!

Maybe you used to build things. Legos, sandcastles…whatever. And you chose accounting and are unhappy. Maybe you need a serious career change! haha! Or maybe you just need to carve out space to literally build lego sometimes. Doing things that make you happy are essential to live a happy life. We all don’t need to re structure our whole lives to choose to do some things that make us happy, but this blog is to just get you thinking again about what brings you joy.

Maybe you loved to colour, or do do puzzles. Time spent doing things like this isn’t a waste i it brings you joy , excitement or even relaxation. We need to allow ourselves time for that kind of thing.

A few years ago we went to Costa Rica for a 3 week holiday. I met a lady running a taco stand right on the beach and leaned that she used to live in Canada and worked many years at a job she hated and after visiting Costa Rica, she realized she just wanted to cook for people on the beach. So she runs her own business now in paradise. This is an extreme move, but it was inspiring to hear her story. Doing things you love is so important. Even if it’s every once in awhile. Even if you have a few minutes a day. You don’t need 8 hours a day and a full art studio to enjoy painting. For most of my life, up until about a year ago, my art work space was set up in my home. Just in a room designated to paint in. It started in my childhood home in the kitchen with my Mom, then a spot in her art studio, then my bedroom when I was a teenager, then a small room in our first house, then the whole lower level of our second house, and now a full blown art studio/gallery addition we just completed in June of 2023.

So I guess when it all boils down to it, I chose art because it makes me feel good and over time, I found a way to make a career out of it. But that all came later. Maybe that’s another blog post because it’s another story. I chose art because I love to create. That has always been number one.

xox,

G

Giselle, why don’t you sell prints?

Over the years people have expressed how expensive original art is. They say things like, “I could just go to Ikea or Homesense and fill my walls for much less. Yes, you certainly can do that but here are some reasons to invest in original art…

1. I made the decision early on in my career that I wanted my art to hold it’s value and increase in value as time went on. Years ago, I used to have each new painting printed onto a greeting card. I was eventually selling them wholesale to card shops all over central Alberta. I would spend my days back and forth from the printer and folding & packaging cards and driving to and from the card shops fulfilling order. All of my time was spent working on the card sales. Eventually I had to decide, do I want a card business or do I want to be an artist and paint? That was an easy question to answer. I wanted more time at the easel, so I stopped calling the card shops to fill orders and got back to painting.

2. A lot of artists make prints of their work and that is one way to earn a living. I sort of gave it a go with selling my cards. But once I made the decision to streamline how I was spending my time, I feel most fulfilled creating new paintings. I’ve noticed that the momentum can be lost in creating new art all the time when you have hundreds of prints to sell when you are doing an art show. I am forced to create new art all the time. The pressure is on to have new original works for sale each time I do an art show. It continually pushes me to come up with new fresh work all the time and keeps my creativity at work. Exercising the creative muscle all the time breeds more ideas.

3. I feel like if I had hundreds of prints of one painting, it waters down the value of the original painting. My customers like knowing they have the one and only painting. There are no reproductions of the painting they spent a few thousand dollars on.

4. So yes, original art is expensive and it should be. It is one-of-a-kind. When you think how much you sent on your TV, living room furniture, a dining room table or your bedroom set, consider it as a timeless piece of furniture that will be passed down from generation to generation.

5. It is just my opinion, but prints are basically an expensive poster. They can still cost quite a bit. So when people ask me if they can buy prints from me, I ask what their budget is and even set up a layaway plan to chip away monthly at their favrte painting and invest in an original instead.

6. I can’t tell you how many homes I have hung an original painting in and helping them remove the print they have on their wall. They often say, “We are going to take that one down. It’s JUST A PRINT.” Nobody says, “It’s just an original.” When people have an original, they like to tell me about who the artist is and how much they spent on it. They are proud of they collection and look at it as an investment.

7. No print can replace an original painting. You lose the personal touch of the actual paint the artist used to create that painting. You lose the energy that was put into the painting with prints. Original art has the energy, the materials and the vibe and that’s what you are paying for.

8. Original art is an investment. It should increase in value over the years. Prints don’t increase in value and they often end up in a garage sale or a thrift store. The artist you purchased from 10 years ago should have increased their prices from 10 years ago as well.

9. Another reason I don’t print my art on merchandise like clothing, mugs, iPad cases etc, is yes, I could work really hard at selling those things for $25-50 but I am too busy at work in studio creating original paintings, coming up with new ideas and working hard at making art that can sell for several thousand dollars. Creating art that holds value is important to me. Art that will hang on someone’s wall for many years and then get passed on to their children and their children’s children.

   I hope you enjoyed reading why I don’t sell prints. Staying focused on what I feel most fulfilled doing has helped my career in so many ways. Regardless of how much money could be made doing other things, what I love most about what I do is creating fresh new art all the time and I will continue to do that as long as I can and as long as I am able.

   Thanks for reading!

   xox, G

Why am I stuck?

A lot of people tell me they are stuck creatively. They are stuck for so many reasons. The creative process is different for everyone but here are some questions I’ve been asked about creating & some tips that may help you about “stuck-ed-ness”…

Q: I am stuck. How/where do I start?

A: The hardest part is starting. Do you have everything you need to get started? Do you have paints, canvas, brushes? Do you have a good laptop to write, a favourite pen and pad of paper to write on? Do you have space to dance it out? A nook to write? This is not just just for artists. It’s for any creative process. If you have the right tools you need to create, and a designated area to do the thing, it is easier to get started. If your space is always warm and ready, you are more likely to start because you have removed that one starting barrier. Analyze your creative set up. Is your creative space always ready to do? Or do you have to set it up every time you feel inspired? It helps to have the paints all laid out, an easel set up, brushes ready, lots of canvas to choose from. Do you only have one large canvas that has been siting on your easel for weeks or months because you are afraid it has to be perfect? Do you feel you have to choose the perfect subject and you have to get it right? Why not buy 10 different sized canvases and set a goal to paint those 10 canvases in one month? Buy a few different brush sizes, and a few different kinds of paints, put it in your calendar for a block of time you have slotted to create and then get to it!

Q: I am stuck. I paint over my paintings all the time. Is that a good idea?

A: I understand the thought behind painting over things. I’ve done it a lot. However, I think it’s best to just paint another painting rather than painting over something because then you can look back and see your progress. Paint something, then paint another and then another. Work it out by painting more paintings. This goes for writers block too. Write something, then write some more. Don’t crush the paper and start over. You could “start over” 100 times. Why not just just write and write and write until you can’t write anymore. Write if it’s good, write if it’s bad. Just write something. And before you know it you have some good tidbits you can highlight that you will keep.

Q: I am stuck. How do I find my style? I spend lots of time looking online at what others are doing for inspiration and there’s so much out there. I don’t know where to begin?

A: The problem is in the question. Look around for a few ideas, but spending lots of time looking at other artists work only clogs the brain. You get bogged down with thousands of other artists paintings in your head, no wonder you are stuck and don’t know how to find your style. Finding your style and your own true uniqueness in your art only comes out of spending hours painting. You have to put in the time to work it out and it doesn’t come fast or easily. The same goes for songwriting. If you are listening to music all day long everyday, you literally have thousands of other peoples songs in your head so how do you expect to come up wth something original if your brain is full of other artists songs? I write songs when I am out on a walk, driving in silence, or even with the radio turned way down that I can only hear bits and pieces of the music. Be inspired by the bits and pieces and then play. Play with melodies, play with colours, play with brushstrokes, play with movement. It is in the playfulness that you find original ideas. Almost like being a kid again not caring what anyone might think.

Q: I am stuck. I can’t seem to find a whole day to create?

A: My thing is that I don’t wait until I have an entire day to paint. If I wait for that, I will never get any painting done. Life is busy. Paint if you only have 2 hours, or even 30 minutes or 10 minutes. If you truly want to create, you will find the time. We find the time for easier things like watching tv, or reading or going for coffee with a friend or for whatever. Creating is different. It’s a discipline. We want to wait until we feel like it, but if we did everything in our lives until we felt like it, dinners wouldn’t get made, walks wouldn’t be walked and laundry wouldn’t get washed. Create with intention. Create with a goal. “I will paint one thing today”, or “I will paint one thing this week”.

Q: I am stuck. What if I don’t do a good job?

A: Don’t create with the intention of “this is going to be amazing.” Create simply for the love of it. The “amazing” will come with practice and putting hours in. You may have to paint 100 paintings until you get one exceptional one and that’s how it should be. That’s what makes certain pieces special. They can’t all be masterpieces, otherwise, there are no masterpieces at all. And when we are thinking “Will other people like it? or “Will it sell”, it is a barrier. Learn to release and let go and find your joy in your creative process. Create fo YOU and not for anyone else. The Creator gave you the desire to create in the first place and the desire was put there just for YOU and ONLY YOU. Every single human on the planet has an inner creative and only that person can let it come out of them in their own unique way. Creating isn’t about anyone else but YOU.

I hope you find these questions and answers helpful. If you have a question you would like me to answer, send me a message and maybe I will write a blog post about it!

Cheers,

G

Why the yellow? Why the pink?

People ask me this question every day.

Why do you bother painting the whole canvas one colour If you’re going to cover the whole thing up anyways?

There are many reasons to start with a base layer.

• It gets rid of the big white space in front of you.

• It is a nice warm-up for your arms and your hands before you get started on the subject of the  painting.

• It creates a beautiful under layer , which sets the tone for your entire painting, which then gives your entire painting unity.

• Because I paint wet and wet, And I don’t wait for that layer to dry, my knife and brushes drag that under layer into the next layer, giving tones of purple or yellow into the next layer of paint. It is a nice way to tone in your paint that might not be there if you did not paint, wet wet.

• Even if you were painting the next layer, after that first layer dries, you are creating a base to build your painting off of which gives it an under glow.

People can tell me a lot of reasons why this is a bad idea and they question why I would bother to do this under layer when you don’t actually see it in the final painting.

The truth is you do see it in the final painting. If you look close enough, and see the art in person.  you can see that I have left a whole bunch of sections untouched by the second layer revealing that first underpainting colour.

Giselle Denis painting the yellow base layer.

You can ask anyone why they would do this first step and anything they are doing. Just because you cannot see the evidence at first of that first step, that doesn’t mean it’s not important.

Take for example, preheating your oven in cooking. That is an important step that should not be overlooked. Because we all know that heat and temperature are an important element in cooking. There are as important as the ingredients.

Or you can look at it from another angle and take a doctor for example. A doctor sits down with you and consults and ask you lots of questions in order to find out what the problem is. The doctor takes the time with the step to get to know his patient and figure out what the problem is. The step is essential in the patient’s care. This comes before prescribing any drugs, or resetting a broken arm. That first step might seem like a waste of time to some people, but his years of experience in asking the right questions makes him a great doctor.

It’s the same with painting. You are sitting down with that painting. You are getting to know it by spending time with it brushing your Paint across The canvas. Contemplating what you’re going to do next. Just sitting with the canvas thinking about what you’re going to do is just as important as painting the subject.

You can also look at it from a builders perspective. Just because you don’t see all of the wiring and framing behind the wall doesn’t mean that it’s not important. The homeowner comes in and sees the final home with the beautiful walls painted white. If they complained about the work they had to pay for that is behind the wall that they don’t see and tell the builder it’s not important because I don’t see it ,that doesn’t make any sense . Of course, the wiring and the plumbing and the framing behind the wall is ultra important for the house to have its full functionality. Those are the things that make the house work and the builder knows how important they are and he makes sure there is integrity behind those walls.

Just because it’s artwork, people feel like they can say whatever they want about each step as if they know from their own knowledge , Of why certain steps may not seem important to them.

Sure you can certainly build a painting without putting down that first underlayer. But it is the artist’s experience and years of practice to know that that first layer can add so much more visual interest to a painting. It is the ritual of layering paint that helps the artist discover little secrets along the way of what makes the painting interesting. To the naked eye, you might not be able to understand all of the layers, but you know that you love the painting. It is all those extra little details that the artist knows to do that makes a painting, beautiful and unique.

Giselle Denis painting a pink base layer.

So essentially, each step that the artist chooses to take, is important in their painting process. Whether it has an undertone, underpainting, or not, each step is important and makes that painting unique to that artists process.

Next time you’re looking at artwork, study it, look at a little bit longer, and noticed the little things that the artist did. There is a reason for every decision they made in creating that piece of artwork.

Perfectionism is a hindrance to creating art

Perfectionism is a hindrance in creating art. Just make something and finish something. Don’t obsess over making a masterpiece. Just make more art. You can produce many things that are imperfect and have thousands of creations. Or you can spend your whole lifetime working on a masterpiece and have only one thing to show for it or even one that may never be created at all. Maybe , even, all of the imperfections truly do create masterpieces in their own right. 

People assume I’m a perfectionist because I’m an artist. i’m a perfectionist because I’m an artist. But the opposite is true. I am very messy. I work hard on cleaning up my messes. But when I’m in my creative zone, I am very messy. Whether it is cooking, choosing outfits, and, of course, painting, it gets very messy. And I don’t think anything has to be perfect. Sure I want the food to taste good and I want my outfit to look nice and I want my painting to be great, but I don’t obsess over details. I don’t follow recipes very well.

I never seem to have all of the ingredients on hand that I need to make the meal so I substitute things all the time. My family laughs at me because I wasn’t organized enough to make sure I got to the grocery store to buy all the ingredients I needed to make the recipe. But I am too spontaneous to worry about stuff like that. I just trust that things will work out. Even if my substitutions in a meal are ridiculous. I realize very quickly that not all flours are created equal. So the biscuits were a little harder than I wanted them to be. So what? They were OK and my family was fed so the job is done. Ha ha.!

My outfits can be a little Zen. I love to match and mix colours that may not necessarily be worn together. but the end of my outfit makes me happy. That’s all that matters. My hair is wavy and pretty out of control. But I’ve learned to live with the messy look. Yes, I do my hair, but my hair is my hair and I like it on the messier side I call it my beach Wave look or fresh from the studio look . I don’t always leave the house looking in the mirror at what I’m wearing or how my face looks or my hair.

I’ve been known to have a dab of paint on my forehead or in my hair that I didn’t notice before walking into the grocery store. But, people remember me, I was a little weird. And my husband says you’re an artist, so you can get away with a lot of things.

I am married to someone who is more of a perfectionist. And that is good. Because we balance 

each other out. If I was married to someone like myself, I would drive myself crazy. If I wanted to marry myself, I would’ve stayed single my entire life. But we found each other and we are pretty much complete opposites. But we like a lot of the same things so it works.

So back to art and perfectionism. I don’t really struggle with obsessing over a single painting for months at a time. I love the feeling of accomplishing a work in a shorter amount of time. I became quicker at painting when my son was little. When he was a baby and still taking naps, they say that you should nap when your baby does, but I felt the urgency to create when he was sleeping. Yes, I was exhausted. And yes, I was probably grumpy a lot, but I loved the feeling I had that I accomplished something that day as a young mom. I was adding to my collection slowly, especially when my son was young. But it also helped me with discipline in that, even though I was tired, I could push through and create art. It was very fulfilling.

So my UNdesire to be perfect, has given me the freedom to be quite prolific, and produce hundreds and thousands of paintings over the last 20 years. As I said earlier, you can obsess over a single piece for a long period of time and have one piece of art to show for it. Or, you could paint something as best you can, and then move on and paint another and another and another. In my Opinion, painting, more paintings, makes you a better painter. Not obsessing over one single painting for months or even years.

Painting more paintings also allows you to see your progression. You can see how you’ve improved. And if every single painting you painted was a masterpiece, then are any of them really that special? Sure, I paint to accomplish a great painting at the end of the painting session, but I never start out thinking that I’m going to create a masterpiece. One out of every one  or two or 300 paintings is exceptional. And I like it that way. If a few stand out over the course of my career, then I am satisfied. I feel the greatest satisfaction out of seeing the amount of paintings I’ve created over a lifetime, and also the satisfaction of seeing that many being sold. And out of my studio And in someone’s home to enjoy . After all, all of these paintings that I make are not just for me. They are meant to go out into the world. So I’m going to use my life to create every day. I’m going to use it to build, create and scatter. I will scatter them like seeds. Hoping they will continue to grow long after they’ve been planted.

Create art for the enjoyment of it. Remove the perfection element,  and then you have a free artist.