Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “How much of human life is lost in waiting.” Losing both my parents recently and going through a few other life changes has caused me to reflect on that statement often. I wonder how many times I’ve waited to do things I want to do—things I’ve thought about for a long time, considered the variables involved but still haven’t acted. Extenuating circumstances might be at play, but more often just my own fear of failure may be causing me to hesitate to act on my dreams or desires. This is certainly true of my art.

Recently at a dinner party, someone asked me if I was a “risk taker.” On the face of it, the answer seems so easy. I am an artist for heaven’s sake! That’s a pretty big risk! A blank canvas, block of clay or stone, or sheet of blank paper is a success or disaster just waiting to happen. How many of us hold back, stare at what could be, but stop short of tackling a work we would like to take on?

Over the past 26 years, the Portrait Society of America has offered a multitude of educational opportunities to conference attendees by artists who graciously donate their time and resources. The faculty artists shown are (clockwise, from left): Shane Wolf, Kevin Chambers, Rose Frantzen, Robert Liberace, Oliver Sin and Mary Whyte.

 

In a broader sense, the answer is of course yes, I am a risk taker, but I always try to be an educated risk taker.

Time and time again when I push myself out of my comfort zone, when I press myself to tackle something I’ve been wrestling with for a while, I find I grow for the better as an artist and as a person. After time of conscientious preparation, I’m certain that we simply must pull the trigger, often even before we feel ready. 

I play golf with an older friend, a champion golfer in his youth. He encourages me to practice and prepare, but on the course, he wants me to simply play golf. If he sees me overthinking a shot, he says, “Go ahead and hit it. It’s got to land somewhere.” These are good words to live by: prepare, but go ahead, hit the ball, then figure out from there what to do next. You will find you may face questions you had otherwise never thought about, and you will grow by leaps and bounds finding the answers. 

We’ve got to be actively making an effort to take on challenges in order to grow, and we can only grow by actively attempting the thing we want to do. Maybe you have a project you’ve had in your mind for years but you’ve overwhelmed yourself with doubt, listing reasons why you don’t think it will work, why you don’t feel quite up to the task, or why you’re just simply afraid of failure. It seems more and more clear to me that if we wait for just the right moment, that moment often never comes. Take the plunge! As President Theodore Roosevelt famously said, “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” 

At the Portrait Society of America, we encourage our members to push themselves out of their comfort zones to achieve success, to “put yourself out there” as the saying goes, tackling difficult subjects, compositions and mediums. Enter competitions, commit to exhibitions, and take workshops and classes that you may have not carved out time for in the past. 

Each year we gather professional artists from around the world as faculty for our annual conference. In person, these artists share their working practices, methods and ideas about all they are achieving with their art. Demonstrations, lectures and hands-on classes educate and inspire our members. Meeting with new and familiar friends and colleagues creates connections and relationships that give you motivation and support. Most importantly, you will meet and hear from artists who are tackling big dreams and big challenges, and we all learn so much from their experiences and personal journeys. 

Keep up the hard work, and don’t wait until tomorrow for what you can do today!

Sincerely,
Michael Shane Neal
Chairman