FACING LIFES CHALLENGES WITH COURAGE

One of the challenges of painting, whether painting a mural or working at your easel is overcoming unexpected design issues which often creep up on the artist unexpectedly. Having to courage to face the design problem is sometimes frustrating at worst and exhilarating at best. For me, I absolutely get a creative high from painting on the large scale. It is a big confidence boost for me when I pull off a successful mural job, especially when the client shows great satisfaction in the end result, then calls on me to paint another one for him a year or two later! Even for a very talented artist, if he or she is asked to paint a mural, yet they have never attempted such a large scale project, it can be very overwhelming to them.

For me, size is not an issue (unless of course the picture plane is smaller than 8 inches by 10 inches). I think that painting large is my best suit. I am a second generation artist. My father (Don Ricks) was very gifted. Before he became a full time artist, he operated a hand painted sign business for over 25 years. Growing up, my three brothers and I were often called upon to assist him with many sign projects. At one time, dad had a fleet of over 100 billboards to which he leased out sign advertising. These, we helped him paint and install. During this period, I was trained to paint the large typography, eventually with little or no assistance and sometimes dad would turn me loose on an occasional hand painted realistic looking graphic. This became excellent training for developing the skill of scaling up a design on a large surface. Learning the sign trade is not my only secret to my mural painting technique. Back in 1970, my father also started an annual plein air painting school. En plein air means to paint "out in the open air". This summer art retreat was nationally advertised and headquartered annually in southeastern Idaho every July for about 15 seasons. Dad hired some nationally renown art instructors to teach at this school. I was about ten years old back then and grew up with the workshop, assisting the at senior age art students with setting up their outdoor painting equipment. After everyone was set up and ready to paint, I would go off and paint as well. Forgive me for bragging a little, but I dare say that my father's art school (PAINTING VACATIONS) was often more solid art training than most accredited art colleges! There are almost next to nothing when it comes to accredited art colleges which teach how to actually make a living as a fine artist. Another name for dads art school could be HARD KNOCKS. Everything dad did stemmed from hard knocks. Not many people in this world today even know what it means to learn the hard knocks way any more. The hard knocks method was character building for me, besides the developing of well honed art skills. To sum it all up, my commercial sign and fine art training, along the with confidence gained and the character building, I attribute as the secret to my mural painting success.

I knew from the time I was about eight years old that I would make a living as an artist one day. In pubic school, I struggled socially and had some early learning delay issues. I didn't like public school, mostly because I was constantly teased and bullied. Despite my dislike of the school system, I did manage to get an associates degree and have had some college beyond that, but the truth is, a college degree is really no good in the fine art world. Talent, quality work and lots of sweat is the supreme factor, not whether or not you have a college degree.  As a matter of fact, I feel that most of our universities today don't really give you a real education anymore. I don't believe they really teach you how to thirst for learning.

When things would get tough at times as an artist, I would often go out and look for work in the 9 to 5 world to make ends meet. Holding down a 9-5 job for very long has always been a challenge for me. Besides the work not being what I truly loved (my love working as a self employed fine artist), I would often be let go and told that I didn't work out or was not catching on quick enough. I would leave feeling very insulted. It wasn't until the fall of 2008, that I discovered the real reason behind my difficulty in keeping gainful employment and the reason behind my difficult early public school years. I went in for a brain scan, an MRI, and learned that a major portion of my brain was missing, yet the brain's neurology had naturally rewired itself, allowing me to function on a fairly normal level. When I saw the x-rays of my MRI scan, I jokingly said to the radiologist, "I'm an 'artistic savant!' LESS is MORE, so I don't need that part of my brain!" Since that time, I have had some very good therapy which has been very beneficial, helping me come a long way socially and with developing basic reasoning skills. Despite being diagnosed with Agenesis of the Corpus Calosum (ACC), or in other words, that's the part of my brain which is completely missing, you give me a paint brush and I thrive! I have always excelled in the arts. I now believe that God created my brain the way he did to help me as an artist. I know without any hesitation or embarrassment that being a fine artist is truly my calling.

We can each learn many hard things when life throws a curve ball at us. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to face it with courage!