Rick Janson Art Studio

My focus has always been on our (human) interaction with the world, and lately, I see stories emerging with each painting. I’m coming to see that the landscape is not just out there, that we are very much part of that landscape. Even the one I just started today… which is actually about cows. Albeit French cows.

I started this BLOG mid-July to have a presence on the web. It seemed every application for a competition or show required one. But I didn’t just want to put up something static where viewers come and never return. I wanted it to be more dynamic than that.

I also wanted to use it as an opportunity to put in words the journey, path (whatever new age word you want to use here) that I’m now on. When I graduated from art school in 1987 I didn’t know how to make a living as an artist. I ended up getting a job, then another, and another. Thirty-eight years later I still don’t know how artists do it. It turns out that in Canada, only a little over six per cent of artists actually make a living from their work. Six per cent! I’ve figured out how to make my ends meet, and its not from art, although some weeks you just wish it would kick in a little bit into the kitty. Materials, gallery fees, art memberships, framing, studio maintenance… it all adds up.

I have to say I’m rubbish at inventing anything from scratch. The time I spent working for various media has oriented me towards documenting what I see and finding ways of sharing it. Many artists are in that camp. We just figure if something interests us, it is bound to interest others too, especially if we observe it well or find a new angle on it that others hadn’t given much thought to.

Over the next number of weeks it is time to have some new experiences to convert to future canvases. That means travelling, in this case, to Scotland and (hopefully) Northern England. Friends have urged us to add other nearby destinations to that list, but, um, one at a time. See above about making ends meet.

I don’t even own a laptop to take with me, and trying to do a BLOG from a phone or a tablet seems a little too onerous, so I’m taking a short break, dear readers. When I come back, there will be plenty of fresh stories from our travels and new canvases to post and lots of general chatter about visual art. Hopefully there will be further news on where you can see my work in person assuming I can run the gauntlet of the art world gatekeepers.

If you are a regular reader (and there are not a lot of you), I would suggest subscribing if you haven’t already. That way, when I do get back and start to share again, you’ll get notification. Beats coming back to the same old site. “Oh, Rick’s still away.” “He’s still gone?” “When is he getting back?” “Sheesh, nothing new yet.” You get the idea.

And if you do like it, please share. Building an audience is not easy.

Meanwhile, for those who are relatively new, I thought I would share some information regarding how the BLOG has gone so far. Its my two and a half month report. Almost a quarter in business speak. The average viewer of my BLOG sticks around to look at 2.18 posts, so I couldn’t be totally boring you. This post is the 48th since I started mid-July. I posted a little less in September, but that was always the plan. Start with guns blazing, then stream off to a regular flow.

Overwhelmingly my viewers are from Canada, the US second, and surprisingly, Ireland third. I don’t know anybody in Ireland, at least I don’t think I do. I think we will have to eventually add it to our travels. Readers from the UK are next, and then the Nordic countries — there are a notable presence of readers from Sweden and Norway. Given I do a lot of paintings of France (I love France) its not suprising that I’m getting a presence there too.

Most of my referrals still come from Facebook (I wish people would move on to happier and more responsible social media), then the WordPress Reader, then Blue Sky Social, which is disappointing. Do progressive people not like art? Or maybe they just don’t like my art? Or maybe they are all consumed by stories about Trump. I don’t know. I offer a zone that is thankfully Trump-free, except for this bit.

What are your favorite posts? According to WordPress, here’s the top five with links to each:

1. An Elusive Portrait
2. Madly Off In All Directions
3. Here We Are At Last (An Introduction)
4. Recycling 2
5. Dispersing Of A Second Life

Here are five others that I think warrant some merit. Unloved, but maybe they should be:

1. A Change In Meeting (The Lisbon Funicular Tragedy)
2. The Process of Painting (How I make my paintings)
3. Brilliance Or Bad Vision (How changing eyesight impacts on an artists’ vision)
4. If The Model Is Willing (My Self-Portrait Project)
5. Little Stories (Finding narratives in painting)

And if you are more of picture person than a picture and words person (which means you probably haven’t got this far) you can just browse my more recent work (2024-25) by clicking here. I always update there first.

You can also follow me on Blue Sky Social, where I will likely be posting from abroad if you still want to stay in touch. My handle is @rickjanson.bsky.social

I’ll give the BLOG a good ol’ think when I’m away too. I have some ideas that are already percolating. And if you have any ideas too, send them to me. My contact info is somewhere on this page depending on how you view this — laptop, desktop, phone, tablet…

See you soon!