Hunches are built upon years of experiences, accrued wisdom and constant observations. In my art life, I’ve had hunches and didn’t know why. Given time, it all comes back about this gut feeling from things I learned and knew and let slide into the subconscious. That inner mind so often comes to our rescue. It’s part of our enriching artistic wisdom. What I’m talking about is the golden moment when a hunch might lead to something much more. That’s when we can listen to what’s in us and our art.

LADY: I never mention to women how they should pose for my portrayals. Women are the masters as to how they want to sit, stand or rest—always natural and compelling. Here this lady stood before me as she was noticing a sculpture that was placed beside her. Her very presence was classic. Vertical dark hair contrasting with the light, angled shawl and sketched-in dress. The dynamic tipping of her head, her determined hands. I was enraptured with her expression in this moment. The background adds to the design. This art piece is overall warm with touches of blue. Every time I visit with this pastel, I relive that dramatic moment.

 

Creating Each Moment
We all continually create. Notice yourself in the next few minutes. You are creating a moment that will never be exactly duplicated. This happens when you converse, write or even move around a shopping center. It is part of our makeup and why I insist that you are truly one-of-a-kind. If you love art and build your artistic skills, it is uniquely you coming onto that paper, canvas or piece of clay. Don’t force a difference; you don’t actually know your difference, but it will happen. Seeing ourselves objectively is quite complicated. Bottom line: Even if we’re not always being ourselves, we’re actually still being ourselves. You are creating each moment. It’s up to you how much you push it in your own positive, individual way.

Artistic Value
There’s nothing more artistically valuable than what you see in front of you: a chair, a building, a face, whatever. That image comes in through your eyes; it goes through all that funny stuff in your mind and down to your hand. It emerges as your own unique interpretation. With all those subjective things going on within you, you begin with the truth.

Learning Our Own Way
I’ve experienced plenty of hard blows and setbacks. It took me a bit of time to learn from and deal with hardships. Yet, I totally knew they wouldn’t put a stop to my day to day plans and my absolute pursuit of happiness. 

I listed my own rules because normal everyday guidelines didn’t apply to me. I decided what is right and what is not allowed, also knowing that some rules would change according to circumstances and whims.

I pass this on to you. Understanding what you’re after and where you’re going, your route will make sense. For instance, when I was at my starting point after art college, I knew I had to make money. So I laid out a plan as to where and how to sell my art. I started doing portrait sketches going door to door, also going to fairgrounds and taverns. Can’t get a clearer plan than that, and it worked well enough for me to buy food, art supplies and pay the rent. It taught me first-hand that if we want something enough, we’re able to get it. No excuses. And I was doing what I wanted: making art.

Life has a certain length of time. How that time is spent is up to us. That’s why I think there should be some relevance to strong, determined  moments in our lifetime pursuit. Something we eventually discover. And sooner is better than later.

HARLEY: Beginning with wild strokes showing the pastel paper, I’m on my way. As always, I lay in the background and foreground together. The first lines and shapes are important as they carefully begin what happens next, and the third image has the full shapes and values. Also you see the soft, hard and lost edges. The final image is where I carefully work the details, but at the same time retain the passion in this portrait. Here we have good natured Harley. Me by me.

 

We Are Our Own Influence
I was influenced in a major way by a number of artists. Part of my learning was looking towards the geniuses. Yes, 

I wanted to paint like Rembrandt, Repin and Sargent and went through periods where they were major influences. They had powerful, distinctive techniques as opposed to a non-existent “Harley Brown” style.

Over the years, as I was developing, I felt a real joy in what was beginning to come from me as I slowly passed away from who I was emulating. Thus evolved the real Harley Brown. A gradual, almost imperceptible progression, like winter turning to spring and eventually a glowing summer. This is what happens when we artistically continue the course towards being ourselves.

Becoming Ourselves
And yes, we eventually become “ourselves,” which includes discarding what’s not personally needed. The idea is to build upon what makes us more lifted. Let’s keep it simple: My basic method has been to continue drawing from within like there’s no tomorrow. And tomorrow? We’ll see what happens then.

All of us artists are unique, quite different from one another. And as we sit in our solitary studio, hoping to create something worthy, we have an invisible, emotional bond with each other. Our dreams and hopes live through art. There’s a mighty empathy between us that few outside our circles can understand.

“KIONA” DREAM CATCHER: This is a pastel drawn from a photograph, as you might think, but at the same time it doesn’t look photographic or labored. In fact it looks like it was done from life. The more I’ve created art through the years, the more my works look like a true “combination” of myself and my subject. Such would be a pianist playing a Beethoven sonata—musician and composer joined together.

 

Art For Our Sake
Indeed, “Art For Art’s Sake” is great on posters and at art parties. Art for money is equally great (ask any career artist). In the years of finally being with major art groups since the ’70s, I’ve had the complete satisfaction of being inspired and getting paid. Every dealer I’ve had gets gold stars. The art world that I’ve known is close and totally reliable. Even to the point of feeling like family. I have over half a century in the very thick of the art community, and I’ve not got one even minor complaint.

Never for a moment have I been jealous of people with money. While I was selling my art door to door in upper neighborhoods, I saw plenty of wealth. What it meant to me was not, “I want some of that.” It was. “I’m hoping they’ll want some of my art!” 

I do art for the deep inner thrill it gives me. That’s been the overriding, power-driven factor through the years. And again, I’m also very glad to make some money on the job.

Such a Thing as Perfection?
Representational art is where the artist has to develop a touch that’s almost equivalent to brain surgery, but not quite. The brain surgeon makes each stroke exact. In art we’re allowed a few of those strokes, but too many corrections can rob the painting of it’s unique personal freshness. We artists joyfully acquire hard earned skills to get things right from the beginning. Yes, and allowing for those extra nudges.

Lucky Us
One of the advantages of artists is that we are able to accomplish what we do without being in front of an audience. We work at our art, fix problems and mucky areas on the canvas, and we don’t have to worry about immediate “audience approval.” —