I just read an article about Jeff Bezos, who made a comment to the effect that "Success depends on creating more than you consume." That seems to me to be a pretty good way of thinking, though I imagine there are some folks out there who have issues with J.B.'s level of "success", but that's another story.
Certainly in the realm of Art, creation of something from virtually nothing is what we do. We "consume" the cost of a canvas, paint and a few other materials and create (hopefully) something that adds value to the sum total of the effort put into the project. (Not ignoring you sculptors or wood carvers out there. You get the drift.). In that sense, we are taking some raw materials and making something worthwhile out of them, which, if we're lucky, will tempt someone to appreciate that added value and purchase our work. The creative process of taking a blank sheet of paper or canvas and transforming it into art is not always easy to describe. I often hear things like "you're very talented" or "I could never do anything like that". What most people don't realise is the amount of blood, sweat and tears that goes into creating a good painting or drawing. How many of us have gotten several hours or days into a project only to basically tear it up and start all over again. The effort that it takes to come up with a good solid composition, just the right perspective (especially with aircraft in flight) and just the right colours for the markings. Of course when speaking of Aviation Art in particular, there are hordes of critics ready to pounce if a roundel is slightly off, or squadron markings not quite in the right place. The volume of research it takes to come up with the goods is in itself quite time consuming and sometimes frustrating. I still have stacks of articles and photos of aircraft left over from magazines that stretch back over 40 years. Of course the internet has speeded up the process of researching, but as I'm sure you've found, just figuring out the right question to enter into the search engine can be rather frustrating at times.
I'm currently working on a project which will relate to the speed record attempt by Group Captain Teddy Donaldson on 7 September 1946, when he established a new official world record of 615.78 mph (991.00 km/h; 535.10 kn) in a Gloster Meteor F.4 over Littlehampton. The aircraft is at the Tangmere Military Aviation museum, where I’m a volunteer, so no problem with accurate markings etc., but I've been asked to have the aircraft in front of the T2 Hangars at Tangmere, with ground crew working on it in preparation for the record attempt. Finding the design of those hangars is easy enough, but determining exactly what colour they were and their condition in 1946 is proving problematic. So far, hours have been spent just trying to solve this one problem. There are countless Black and White photos, and plenty of colour pics of T2 hangars at other bases, but they don't necessarily reflect the ones in place at Tangmere at the time. Were they in standard RAF Colours? Were they already beginning to show signs of rust and deterioration? Here's a look at a concept sketch in Gouache which contains the elements of the finished work, but only in the roughest form. How many of you would recognise the fact that the Meteor in this preliminary example is an F3, whereas the Record was set in an F4? What is the giveaway?
I guess what I'm getting at here is that quite a few people are not aware of the amount of work that goes into producing a painting or drawing. (Or any other form of art) Those of us who devote our time to aviation art must spend a lot of time and effort in getting it "just right" or our audience (and potential buyers) will not hesitate to point out the obvious flaws in our depiction. Aircraft in particular can be quite tricky as various models can have very small differences which will always be "caught out" if the artist has not been careful. Inflight events such as dogfights have to be imagined, but it takes quite a bit of imagination to come up with a credible scene. The effort to effectively depict an aerial battle can be quite considerable if the details are to pass the test set by our audience and critics. All of these things combine to help us create more than we consume, even though the effort itself sometimes does not garner the appreciation it deserves.
As far as art events online go, Stella Grace Lyons has yet more lectures and talks coming up. You can find the schedule here: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=Stella%20Grace%20Lyons%20-%20Art%20History%20Lectures%20and%20Tours
Don't forget the Guild of Aviation Artists Annual (virtual) exhibition coming up on the 19th of July. Details here: https://www.gava.org.uk/annual-summer-exhibition
I'm off on a trip for the day job this coming week, so no chance to work in the studio, more’s the pity.
Take care and keep creating.