What a Great Time to be Alive!

What a great time it is to be alive as an artist!

Don't you think so?

In the UK we live in a stable society where you can make your living at anything without fear or hindrance providing you have the skills or are willing to learn them. Women are no longer tied to the kitchen sink, barefoot and pregnant. We have a lot to be grateful for!

We live in a time of technological advances which translates itself into a wide range of art materials being available that are easy to use and relatively cheap. It's no longer charcoal from the fire and pigments you grind yourself, but tubes and pots of glorious colour that react to soaring inspiration. What would Rembrandt have made of acrylic paints? or a Sharpie pen for that matter?

The great thing about the internet age is that knowledge is freely available, from drawing classes in the old fashioned way to how to cast in bronze. Of course nothing beats an art school education with constant practice and production of work, but for those who don't go down that route YouTube is wonderful. I cannot count the  hours I have  spent in research! Of course there are many other sites. Just type in "how to draw" in a search bar and there it all blossoms. 505,000,000 results!, and that's in 0.9 of a second.

I am old enough to remember the days before the internet. Everything had to be done through the post, packets of photographs or slides and when you took a photo you didn't know how it would turn out until you'd paid good money for the printed image. Now it's quicker, cheaper and you have control, and can share your art with many people via the internet, from individuals to institutions.

And it's this ability to share that is the most magnificent thing. As an artist you can reach collectors or people just plain interested in art. From facebook to Artfinder, contacting galleries , getting funding can all be done from the comfort of your kitchen table. It is the gateway to proper interaction and sometimes a substitute. You have a ready made personal gallery in your website.  And yes, you can see every one else's work too!

Mary Kemp.
Hunstanton Beach.

Oh yes. It's a great time to be alive! Don't you think so?