Worse Case Scenario, You Might Learn Something
SPEAKING
OF wasting your life doing things
because you’re too young, (No, you weren’t. I was. Stay with me now.) I
recently hired a young assistant/apprentice to help me do all the
time-consuming, super important, and useful tasks every artist should learn but
doesn’t want to do.
 |
| Bobbi Miller |
A significant factor showed her struggling with the
expected issues of being a 14-year-old. I strongly believed in her more than
she did herself, and I strongly believed that I didn’t want to organize all my
awful paper. Who has time for that? Not 14-year-olds, sure, but throw them a
few bucks, and they’ll slop something together. And that’s more than I’d do.
 |
| Diane Lyon |
We
trekked deep into the Grand Teton National Forest in attempts to develop a new
style of newsletter images. Chatting about her interests, we
brainstormed alternative entertainment over the stupid crap kids do.
“My problem is,” she told me as we shivered in the snow-blown
ridge during the first week of October (What is this Fall nonsense you speak
of?), “is that I keep changing my mind what I want to do.”
“Skills are transferable,” I told her. “And life is long.
So even if you decide for the next ten years to be a photographer and realize
it’s not for you, it’s not like you’ll regret knowing how to use a camera and
photoshop. Especially in this day and age. It’s possible you’ll spend all that
time trying new things, completely missing your calling, and waking up at 24
lost instead of on Forbes’ list, but I’d recommend talking to the adults in
your life and see how often that happens by waiting for certainty.”
It’s strangely a huge phobia for some. Wasting time!
Changing your mind! Starting too old! How will I ever be able to catch up?
In my experience, most things I’ve achieved didn’t come from
a direct path. Some talents I was “naturally good” at really came from other
(so-called abandoned) endeavors that I previously pursued.
 |
| Kathryn Sobieski |
 |
| Shannon Troxler |
Yet, I have a B.A. in theatre. I have already been
scouring the internet for real-life examples of poses I myself wanted to draw. I
already knew a list of positions I had been searching for, and due to the
powers of 20 years of being humiliated in front of classmates, I could do them.
I made less money my entire “acting career” than two sessions of art modeling.
People were amazed, no more than myself. They laughed at
my pouting and cringing, exclaiming praise at their seats. Which surprised me.
 |
| Elliot Goss |
The paintings
here are from the artists in my portrait class—many older, retired individuals
who finally had money and time to do that sort of thing. Usually by doing real
jobs their entire lives. One woman approached me afterward, learning I
also taught art, and immediately she brought up age, listing out
several artists who started at a late age. Maybe to reassure herself? I, too,
pulled out some authors who didn’t begin writing until after sixty, and she was
impressed I had already thought about this.
 |
| Shannon Troxler |
I said, “A lot of people tell me that they want to write
a book and they’re too old. I ask them, you planning on dying in the next two
years?”
Why do
we waste so much time being afraid of wasting our time?
I
couldn’t have walked in there and posed for those people if I invested everything
in being a writer, on being a teacher, on making money, on creating only what I
wanted, only what was in my wheelhouse. Being open to new experiences that
might not go anywhere is easier the more you do it, predominantly because
skills are transferable.
If your biggest
fear is changing your mind, you’re doing pretty good.
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