Why make art?

May 14, 2025May 14, 2025 Diana Bennett | Artist | Interior Designer | Cook#art, #dailyart, #facebook, #whataboutart, #whatdoyoulove, #whypaint, art, i love art, photography, Twitter, where do you paint, why do you paintLeave a comment

When asked: “Why do you make art” what do you say? I think all artists wrestle with the why of it? I, myself know I have to do it to be happy. Working on a painting or a pen and ink drawing in my studio makes me happy.

The making of art is a tradition that has spanned the entirety of human history. I’m always interested to know what is art’s purpose, if it has one! When asked, what do artist’s say about their compulsion to create? Camille Henrot said: “I don’t think art has any inherent duty; its not “good” for anything innately.” What best describes an artist? Is too much expected of art? She went on to say: “Art is good for representing and defending a space for complexity, nuance and exception. I love this explanation.

Rose B Simpson stated: ” So much art caters to the intellect, tickles the wit and hold the key to an inside joke.” The cost of art is know what you paid to go to art school, and what you owe. What we need to remember is that art ventures in the magical, driven by a deep desire to know something beside disconnection as to become fluent in the poetry of the supernatural. Art is about findg our way home to our humanity. As we take many wrong turns each one is a teacher.

What I often wonder, is the question of why people question why we have to make art. Why is art a part of our soul? Why do we wake up thinking about what we can create next? Is it because we are creative souls, or are we artists just a little crazy! I don’t have an answer to this yet.

I know I love to paint and draw. I love the companionship of artistic people. I painted this years ago, and it sold right away. It is 2′ x 4′ and happily installed in a happy client’s home. Think about why you enjoy art, be it contemporary or old world, flowers or landscape or a million other venues. I hope you are enjoying it in your life!

Berryessa Gap Vineyards

April 9, 2025 Diana Bennett | Artist | Interior Designer | Cook#BerryessaGap, #PleinAir, #Winters, art, Art Fair, Art Stroll, artist, Berryessa Gap, creative energy, facebook, photography, Twitter, vineyards, WintersLeave a comment

Today I finished this 40 inch by 30 inch painting from a photo of the Berryessa Gap Vineyards. There is a wine stroll coming up in Winters on May 3rd and I was asked to have a booth. I will participating in the Plein Air get-together from May 1st to May 3rd. The third day I will be painting from my booth, probably from a photo I will have taken earlier.

When I was working on this, as it came to being close to being finished I felt it lacked the spark it needed. I decided to look online for ideas and was sadly disappointed. I could find no painting that really sang out to me. There were several YouTubes, but none of the finished work was inspiring. With that I realized that anyone can post a YouTube and it does not have to be that good to retain a pertinent number of followers.

Are there that many people that need help like that? I did not gain anything new from the ones I quickly viewed. Maybe I need to be more “gutsy” and do my own videos. I have looked online for recipes for several years and am amazed the long detailed “how to’s” that accompany most of the recipes. I skip to the recipe, read the ingredients and from that determine if it is worth cooking.

The problem with most videos, YouTubes and demos is that each shows one style or technique and in most cases it is no where near what you want to accomplish. It was pretty disappointing. I find the same with so many of the art how-to art books. I think why would you buy a book if you don’t like the art of the artist.

I’ve written a book on hand drafting that is still used in many schools throughout the world. Maybe it is time to do the same with an art book!

Spring Flowers: Painting Inspirations and Tips

March 28, 2025May 7, 2025 Diana Bennett | Artist | Interior Designer | Cook#buymyart, #grapes, #grapevines, #landscape, #lavender painting, #life, #selling art, #vineyards, #wine, art, Diana Bennett Artist, join me in the grapevines, lavender, love of flowers, Spring, Tuberose, vineyards, what is your favorite flower, What sells, why I love flowersLeave a comment

It’s spring, so I always think of flowers blooming and birds singing. I painted this lavender field in honor of spring. l would love to know what you think of the colors. Flowers make me happy, as they are beautiful and smell wonderful. There are a few stinky ones that should be avoided like a skunk. There are so many to enjoy, it is hard to pick a favorite. I love Tuberoses for their scent and Passion Vines for their amazing design. I am inspired this spring to put together a journal of all the flowers just in our yard. As I start the project, I’ll share the progress on my blog.

As the grapevines start blooming with grapes, they too are a beauty to behold. I hope to capture many images of vineyards to paint this year. When you first view the vines, they seem monotone, but looking more intensely they are profusely filled with a great variety of colors. Bringing in the surrounding scenery has more life to a painting. This one is 16 x 40, as I had a frame that size and am wanting to use what I have in my studio before buying more.

Moving to Vacaville from the PNW it is surprising how few paintings I sell, as I used to sell several every month. What do you think about putting up a sign in front of the house on Saturday Farmers Market, as many people walk by on their way there.

Another Monarch Today

February 5, 2025 Diana Bennett | Artist | Interior Designer | CookLeave a comment

Since the last butterfly was fun, I decided to do another. This one is 8 x 8 inches and a little fun!

Last week I met up with a group of artists that do a variety of different things. We were inside, so no Urban Sketching. There was a lovely photograph right in front of me, so I decided to decided to use it for my sketching. I didn’t take a photo of the field of Sunflowers, so only have what I quickly drew while chatting with others in the group.

People often ask you: “Why do you paint”, or “Why do you want to make money selling your art”.

I paint because it makes me happy and brings joy to my life. It brings more joy when someone appreciates what I do, and even more when they like it enough to purchase it. I never understood why someone would ask an artist why they want to sell their work. Painting is an expensive hobby. It’s like owning a plane or a speedboat, but the supplies are not inexpensive.

People willingly (sort of) pay their doctor, lawyer and CPA, but come short on spending money on something they look at every day and should bring them joy. In my case I do have a Ph.D, but not in art. I have a Doctorate in Business Marketing, my MA in Art and my BA in Art. That’s a lot of education to be offering my services for free. Do you want your Latte with a free cookie? That’s rather like me giving my art away with a frame for free. How much did it cost to bake that cookie? What time and what ingredients are involved? Ah, how much was that frame and how long did it take me to paint that piece. People ask me that, and I laughingly say it has taken years and years! Years of practice and success and years of failure are all part of a successful painting or piece of art. It didn’t happen spontaneously. It took years of studying. Malcolm Gladwell in his well-know books, says it takes 10,000 hours to good at anything.

Practice, practice and more practice. Everything I paint is a new experience and many ways a new beginning.

How do you decide what to paint?

March 11, 2024March 12, 2024 Diana Bennett | Artist | Interior Designer | Cookart, artist, creative energy, facebook, friends or art, making art, selling art, what to paint, who decides what you paint, you don't get both1 Comment

I’ve been painting for about forty years. I first got a degree in art, doing acrylic abstracts. I was working in oil till a sorority sister sat on my palette right before one of our big dances, and I had to give her my dress, as hers was ruined, and mine was her replacement. Luckily we were the same size.

As I’ve had more time to spend painting and have tried many different types of art, it is interesting to watch reponses on social media of what people like and what they think I should do. If you follow my blog, then you know I did a few drawings of roosters when I was on a cruise. I gave them to one of the men that worked on the ship, as he had a farm at home with chickens. One of my friends thought that I should focus on only chickens. I like chickens, and had some of my own for a time. I do not want to draw them all the time. If you read one of my last blogs, you will see what happened to the chickens. It was really pretty wonderful.

Another friend of mine likes my mini-abstracts and tells me I should only do those! I did them as a prelude to a series of the same in a much larger format. That person told me that my larger pieces do not have the same impact as the smaller pieces? I actually like the larger ones better, and wonder how you can make that judgement from online photos?

Still another friend loves my impressionistic work, and thinks I should focus on that. So who do you listen to, or do you listen to anyone at all. Other friends have asked me to do portraits, and I have done many of those.

No one asks me what I enjoy the most. Maybe they should ask: “What sells the most?” I’ve had someone ask me “Why do I want to sell my art?” I wanted to say something not so nice, but just said that the art supplies were expensive. It was a complete lie! Artists want to be known for what they do and how they do it, and making a little money would not be bad either?

I guess the big question is: Why do people think they should tell you what to do? Or in other words, why do people want to control someone else’s life?

My conclusion is that you should draw or paint whatever you enjoy. If it sells, then great. But if it does not sell, then at least you have enjoyed doing it. I actually donate a lot of my art to local organizations.

Mini Abstracts

January 31, 2024January 26, 2024 Diana Bennett | Artist | Interior Designer | Cook#artcomesinall sizes, #artforsale, #artist, #beige, #blue, #collectfora collage, #funlittleminis, #gray, #green, #miniabstract, #oilpaonting, #pink, #purple, #red, #Turquoise, #yellow, $oilpaintingLeave a comment

Working on same larger abstracts, I thought all of a sudden it might be fun to paint quite small paintings. I took the three larger pieces I had painted and translated them into a smaller version. It was great fun!

Only the texture in this painting gives away the difference in size between the two. The first one is 6″ x 6″ and the one right above is 24″ x 30″. It is fun to see the differences. The little minis take a lot less time and are very relaxing.

Another example of bigger and much smaller.

There is a much bigger difference between these two! I wonder if you like the smaller or the larger? The ones below are all minis that I plan to grow into larger works with time permitting. I would love to have a pop-up show somewhere nearby to share them with a wider audience.

It’s fun to be a little wild

January 26, 2024 Diana Bennett | Artist | Interior Designer | Cook#abstractart, #abstractpainting, #artoftheday, #blue, #canvas, #contemporaryart, #contemporarypainting, #fineart, #happyart, #intersections, #modernpainting, #oilpainting, #painter, #painting, #purple, #red, #wallart, #wildfunartLeave a comment

One of my friends suggested the name “Intersections” for this loud and colorful piece. It is 36″ X 48″ of lively and happy art. I started this a year ago, and never felt it was finished. Last week I spent most of a day or two making changes and adding details. I am pleased now with the result. Sometimes I think you just have to be in the right frame of mind to finish an abstract painting.

Landscapes, figures , still lifes and etcetera are not easy, but you are looking at what you are attempting to transfer to canvas and make it your statement. In an abstract you and your mind are on your own. I often listen to music or to a book on audio while I paint, so I put myself out of my every day life. It is so important to learn to take time to yourself.

Life is confusing (sometimes)

July 15, 2022 Diana Bennett | Artist | Interior Designer | Cookart, charcuterie, confusing my calendar, confusing your calendar, Diana Bennett, everyday life, smaller paintings versus large, too hot to paint, too much on my plate, which paintings sell better, wine, wine glassesLeave a comment

I signed up for my first ever Art Sale called the Crush, as it is held at a local winery. I paid for my space and went to put it on my calendar realizing I was out of town that week, at another “art first”! I signed up for a Plein Air Open Paint Out in Mendocino the same week. I already paid for that, and the week of lodging and am very excited about entering a contest, but disappointed I won’t be able to do both.

Trying to stay on top of everything you sign up for and want to do can be exhausting. Next week I am taking a figure drawing class in Sacramento, then meeting a high school classmate for lunch. It is a casual class.

In the interim, I decided to paint a couple of wine pieces. This one is 9x 12 inches and was fun to paint. I will start showing in Village 360 in Suisun Valley starting the 23rd. This piece is available for $450.00.

The other piece I am working on is 30″ x 40″, featuring grapevines and mountains and big sky. I worked on it all day, and forgot how long it takes to do big impressionistic painting. I am trying to expand my horizons on what I paint.

So many artists paint one thing, and I think it is important to experiment to see where you excel. I have been painting for a long time, with more in the last view years and love to try different things. At this point in my life, I like to go big or stay small, with nothing in-between. Just a random decision I made lately.

Redoing a Painting

June 30, 2022 Diana Bennett | Artist | Interior Designer | Cookart, artist, creative energy, Diana Bennett, facebook, Fishing boat, just goes to show sometimes you fail, Newport, Oregon, photography, Success or failure, Sunset in the west, this one should sink, too much color is not always good, trying something new, Twitter, WashingtonLeave a comment

When we were staying in Newport and having dinner, this fishing boat passed by the window. I liked the composition, but not the colors. I thought about it for a while and decided I would try to add a sunset behind the bridge. I painted this about a year ago, and still thought it looked a little dull.

This is the original attempt and it seems lack-lustre.

So I gave it a little more life today, and now I think it is dancing almost too much and I really am not wild about the colors. The fishing boat is too centered in the painting and I think it is “dump worthy”. this just goes to show that you are not always successful with your painting. But if you do not try new things, then you do not grow. As I look at the composition, it is not my best.

What shall I paint tomorrow?

First Local Fair

June 18, 2022 Diana Bennett | Artist | Interior Designer | Cookart, artist, artwork, Craft fairs, creative energy, Vacaville, what people buy, what’s for sale, where not to sell art, where to sell artLeave a comment

Today is the first time l’ve joined a Craft Fair in Vacaville and realize people don’t buy fine art or even cards at an event like this. I am amazed what people do buy, mostly things i would not think to buy. They buy Sensy from the booth on one side, walk by and say “pretty” then buy a net wreath or fake flower arrangement at the next booth.

Okay, I take that back, I just sold five cards It will be interesting to see if I even cover my entry fee! I know intellectually you have to get your art out somehow, but not sure this is the venue. The lady selling cat toys gets a lot more interest than my art!

If nothing else, it is interesting to see this cross-section of Vacaville! And an interesting experiment that I will most likely not repeat! Its for a good cause, but hard in a new town to figure out where to sell your art?

diana bennett | artist | interior designer | cook

Art . Interior Design & Wonderful Food

Abstract oil painting