Irwin Greenberg – The Painter’s Primer… 3/5

43.   When you’re in trouble, study the lives of those who’ve done great things.
44.   “Poor me” is no help at all.
45.   Look for what you can learn from the great painters, not what’s wrong with them.
46.   Look. Really look.
47.   Overcome errors in observing by exaggerating the opposite.
48.   Critics are painters who flunked out.
49.   Stay away from put-down artists.
50.   If you’re at a loss for what to do next, do a self-portrait.
51.   Never say “I can’t.” It closes the door to potential development.
52.   Be ingenious. Howard Pyle got his start in illustration by illustrating his own stories.
53.   All doors open to a hard push.
54.   If art is hard, it’s because you’re struggling to go beyond what you know you can do.
55.   Draw everywhere and all the time. An artist is a sketchbook with a person attached.
56.   There is art in any endeavor done well.
57.   If you’ve been able to put a personal response into your work, others will feel it and they will be your audience.
58.   Money is O.K., but it isn’t what life is about.
59.   Spend less than you earn.
60.   Be modest; be self-critical, but aim for the highest.
61.   Don’t hoard your knowledge, share it.
62.   Try things against your grain to find out just what your grain really is.
63.   Inspiration doesn’t come when you are idle. It comes when you have steeped yourself in work.
64.   Habit is more powerful than will. If you get in the habit of painting every day, nothing will keep you from painting.
65.   There are three ways to learn art: Study life, people and nature. Study the great painters. Paint.
66.   Remember, Rembrandt wasn’t perfect. He had to fight mediocrity.