Batter Up!

My dad was a career baseball player, and I am grateful for many of the life lessons he taught me. Some of those lessons enhance my pursuit of art. He was an original, authentic, and funny guy who understood the importance of thinking for yourself but not taking yourself too seriously.  I think that’s a good way to approach art, and life itself for that matter.  Dad loved his family and shared with his children the wisdom of his guru, Yankee Manager Yogi Berra, who said “baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.”  I’ve noticed that creating art is like that too. 

     Another Yogi Berra quote I take to heart is “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.”  Each painting I make needs some preliminary thought about where I expect it to go.  For instance, when I start a landscape, it really pays to make a sketch first.  This lets me compose the big shapes, plan my values, and serves as the roadmap for my final painting.   Making the sketch is kind of like getting ready to bat, thinking through how and when to hit the ball so it goes on the proper trajectory. The more the batter knows the more accurate the hit.

    The same holds true for viewing art.  There are certain kinds of art that I prefer but I don’t expect everyone to agree with me.  And I realize that the more I learn, the more I can appreciate all kinds of art.  Some people believe that only a certain kind of art is worth celebrating and won’t listen to another point of view.  Dad would say that such limits are not necessary, and everyone should just be quiet and look.  Or as Yogi Berra put it “It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.”

     So join me in celebrating fathers everywhere, and enjoy time with your own father if you can. Fathers often win their wisdom the hard way, and we can learn from their experiences. As Yogi Berra said, “You can see a lot just by watching.”

    Come visit me to talk baseball, fathers and art, at Mainframe, 900 Keo, Studio #273.  I will be open at least three times in the next few weeks:

Juneteenth Kickoff – June 9, 5-8pm

Art Week – June 19, 5:30-7:30pm.

Open House – Friday, July 7, 2023, 5-8pm.  

And of course you can always find me and see more of my work online at MickeyCarlsonFineArt.com