Blog Archives
Pearls from artists* # 722
Barbara attending Carnival in Oruro, Bolivia!
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on
One of the most insidious kinds of pressure to which an artist can succumb is the pressure to be accessible. Well-meaning advisors may tell you that x is acceptable, marketable, popular and wealthy. But if you alter your work to be more x-ish, people will spot it as inauthentic; it will not be heartfelt because it does not originate in your own being. By all means develop and revise your work to communicate more and more clearly; but if you alter one word in order to please some imagined market “out there,” the integrity and originality of everything you do is at risk. You get off the sure base of what you really know and are. Whereas if you create your own material in your own way, developing art work that is more and more authentically yours, people will spot it as genuine. In resisting the temptation to accessibility, you are creating a genuine space and living in it.
Stephen Nachmanovitch in Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art
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Q: Do you have a favorite art book, one you return to again and again? (Question from “Pastel, Passion, and Perseverance: An Interview with Barbara Rachko” in .ART Odyssey: Healing)
A: When she’s not in the studio, Barbara often begins her mornings with reading. Right now, she can’t get enough of Art From Your Core: A Holistic Guide to Visual Voice. “This is a fabulous book for visual artists. It’s become my current art bible. It reminds me why I decided to make art in the first place and what I need to do to continue to improve. It helps me reconnect with forgotten parts of myself and is a much-needed reminder of what l love most about being an artist.”
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Pearls from artists* # 720
“Gatecrasher” (in progress), soft pastel on sandpaper, 58” x 38”
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on
An artist without a vision is like an individual programmed just to live, breathe fresh air, eat, and then move on. It is that important vision that we see with our mind’s eye and believe in that society cannot live without. The artist with foresight is the one who is responsible for making it possible. Vision encourages us to pursue art and it gives us reasons to live a purposeful life. But without a conscious effort to maintain and focus our vision, some unimportant thing can sway us from our path and persuade the artist to become something else. And without technical skills to clarify what we think is purposeful and meaningful, the artist can be misunderstood.
Samuel Adoquei in Origin of Inspiration: Seven Short Essays for Creative People
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Pearls from artists* # 719
With “Magisterial,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 70” x 50” framed
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on
The secret of success is to find out what your talent is for and then seek to develop the technical abilities you will need to assist you in acquiring the necessary skills. It is here that the secret of success or the forming of great achievements lies for every noble artist, no matter what their medium is. Passion and inspiration will come automatically to assist your noble vision when you broaden your experience and knowledge to become an expert in your particular field, thus helping to improve the lives of mankind. Believing that what you are creating will bring advancement to man’s life will also follow as will hopefulness for the future. Those who benefit from your service, directly or indirectly, will reward you for that which your rare talent has produced and for improving their lives while contributing to the advancement of mankind.
Samuel Adoquei in Origin of Inspiration: Seven Short Essays for Creative People
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Pearls from artists* # 717
In the studio
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on
Go slowly. Success is a kind of energy field. You vibrate in it like a charged particle. There are new demands on your tine and talents, new interview requests and business questions, new possibilities and opportunities. In this context, when you have a free half-hour you may continue spinning like a top. Walk, breathe, stretch, meditate. Do the mundane: scrape a carrot, sweep the patio. Calm down.
Manage your money. You may or may not have paydays like this again. Study a book on money management. Learn your options. Think before you have a full-time personal trainer or buy Adar that corners too tightly at 100 miles an hour. Think before you find yourself in the position of needing to earn half a million a year in order to cover expenses and feed your vast retinue.
Protect your privacy. Begin to calculate how public and accessible you want to be. Learn how not to give yourself away. Be able to say “Thank you” and “I don’t have an answer for that question.” Have an interview persona and a public persona. At the same time be able to access your humanity.
Manage your anxiety. New stresses exist in your life. More is expected of you. The ante on each project rises. Success is not a magic pill that allays anxieties.
Expect setbacks. The next book you write after your bestseller may disappoint you, your publisher, or your readers. The movie you directed after your blockbuster May bomb. But even if your stock is lowered in the eyes of the world, it need not sink in your own eyes. Virtually no artist experiences one success after another. Determine to come back. If doors have closed to you, consult your business adviser. Plan and analyze ways to reopen them. Demonstrate your courage all over again.
Remain human. Guard your privacy and your person; decline to become a stereotype or a frozen icon. Be more than the bad-boy rock singer, the sex goddess, the reclusive dancer, the brilliant violin virtuoso. Remember that you have a heart and mind as well as a reputation.
Eric Maisel in A Life in the Arts: An Expanded Workbook Edition of Staying Sane in the Arts
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Q: You once faced a major creative block. How did you break through it? (Question from “Pastel, Passion, and Perseverance: An Interview with Barbara Rachko” in .ART Odyssey: Healing)
A: That was in 2007, after I finished my Domestic Threats series. The last painting in that series hardly interested me. I was wringing my hands, thinking, “I’m a full-time artist not making art —what do I do NOW?” It was frightening. At the time, I was also taking a jazz history class at Lincoln Center. One day the instructor spoke about Miles Davis.
He explained how Davis moved away from bebop —where musicians packed in as many notes as possible to show off—to cool jazz, where every note carried weight.
And something clicked. I realized I’d been working like bebop: showing off meticulous detail, every stitch of fabric, every grain in a wooden floor.
That revelation was my way forward. I stripped everything back. No more domestic backdrops. Just the figures, placed against solid black. Only what mattered. That was the beginning of my Black Paintings.
The block that had haunted me for months lifted in an instant, because I’d found a new way to speak. I realized the black background represented the dark place I had emerged from; the vibrant figures symbolized resilience and life.
It was like a lightbulb going off.
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(In celebration of the 14th anniversary of my blog today, I am republishing the very first post from July 15, 2012). Q: What does it take to be an artist, especially one living and working in New York?
A: The three Big P’s – Patience, Persistence, and Passion. Without all three you will not have the stamina to work tirelessly for very little external reward. You can expect help from no one.
There are so many obstacles to art-making and countless reasons to just give up. When you really think about it, it’s amazing that great art gets made at all. So why do we do it? Above all, it’s about making our time on earth matter, about devotion to our innate gifts and love of our hard-fought creative process.
And, my God, it even gets harder as we get older! So what do we do? We dig in that much deeper. It’s a most noble and sacred calling – you know when you have it – and that’s what separates those of us who are in it for the long haul from the wimps, fakers, and hangers-on. I say to my fellow artists who continue to work despite the endless challenges, we are all true heroes!
These words still ring true – even though they sound naive now – and it’s good, even for me, to occasionally be reminded.
Most importantly, THANK YOU to my 229,000+ subscribers for taking this journey with me. When I began this blog in 2012, I had no idea it would prove to be so popular… WOW!
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Pearls from artists* # 699
Panorama of Barbara’s Studio
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the advanced there are few. You are an artist and it’s too late to back out. You have no choice, now or in a year or two, but to take aim upon your life and discard all the debris that holds you back from doing what you know you have to do.
Letter from Ted Orland to Sally Mann in Art Work: On the Creative Life by Sally Mann
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Pearls from artists* # 698
With “Overlord,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 70” x 50”
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.
When you learn to trust your own voice, it is like stepping up to claim your rightful place in the universe. Remaining true to yourself as an artist is one of the most difficult things to do: temptations to compromise are everywhere. It is through standing in the fire that you build and maintain your core essence. You cease to be afraid of your largeness, your power. You begin to wield your audacity in service of a vision that is larger than yourself. In doing so, you empower others to do the same. Every day, that call to rise to your highest self comes for you, and you get to choose. You can step over the threshold to locate the voice that you know, deep in your gut, has been becoming you… for years, or even decades. ‘Here I am,’ it says. ‘You sought me out. You are finally ready. Let’s do this!’
– Kate Kretz in Art From Your Core: A Holistic Guide to Visual Voice
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Q: Please introduce yourself and tell us what makes your work unique. (Question from Bold Journey)
With a Giacometti at Fondation Maeght, St. Paul de Vence, France; Photo: Christine Marchal
A: I am a contemporary painter based in New York City, best known for large pastel-on-sandpaper paintings inspired by Bolivian Carnival masks and Latin American folk art. For more than 40 years, I have been committed to elevating pastel as a fine art medium.
My blog, Barbara Rachko’s Colored Dust, has 229,000 subscribers, and I’m the subject of the documentary Barbara Rachko: True Grit, available on YouTube. My e-book, From Pilot to Painter, tells my story of moving from Navy Commander, commercial pilot, and Boeing-727 Flight Engineer to professional artist.
My work has been developed into three major series—Domestic Threats, Black Paintings, and Bolivianos. In 2023, I was featured in a documentary that premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival, winning both the Audience Award and Best in Category.
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