Neadeen Masters CDA - Country Carousel Art©
 

Here you will find several articles that I have written about our industry and about art.  These are only my opinions and not meant to do anything other that draw attention to issues that I consider serious enough to write about.  Please visit the links to the right if you would like to read them.

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Why Should We Join the 'National Society of Decorative Painters?

I was catching up on my snail mail today, and reading through some information I received, from the 'National Society of Decorative Painters' with my annual membership renewal. In the portfolio, was a sheet giving the membership demographics - was I surprised when I saw the actual membership numbers laid out on a map, and besides each Country's name!! I think for 2004, each and every one of us painters can help to do a little more. We have a responsibility here.
To be honest with you, I was more than a little surprised at the numbers, considering the size of the painting population as a whole, and the size of The United States, Canada and Australia to name just a few of the big ones.
You may have noticed, I have strong feelings about painting and ways to make our industry healthier for all, so it may continue for other generations. As a painting population, many of you long time members know how much we gain from the Society, in so many ways. To those of you who are not members yet, (and I say yet!) and who may be very new to painting, I will share a little story with you. I have no idea where I heard this, but I have repeated it to many painters in the past, so I will tell it to you now.

 

Fire full of Creativity

Think of 'OUR ''National Society of Decorative Painters' as a burning fire, full of hot coals, full of creativity, each coal glowing brightly, igniting others as they touch, each one making the fire bigger and stronger and more powerful! If a lump of coal rolls out of the fire and rolls away from the heat, it cools and slowly dies out. Eventually loosing all strength and power. If someone picks up that coal, and places it back into the fire, it ignites again and burns ever so bright and hot, contributing once again to the whole!
I think of our 'Society' as that fire, we members are the coals, and every painter benefits from the warmth, light and strength and creativity of our great organization. It is through the Society that we share education, fellowship and most important, gain a sense of belonging to a bigger, more complex artistic international community. This Society (SDP) is an all inclusive group, not reserved for a select few.
As we artists have such a strong desire to paint, and to continue to paint forever, I pose a challenge to each, to please encourage another nonmember to join. Let's make our fire burn brighter and stronger than ever in 2004!
I highly recommend to you new painters and to all painters to become a member of this fantastic community. The benefits are not just in the wonderful magazines that we receive during the year, full of free patterns, articles, great contacts, sources and products. It's not just in the most incredible annual conference, not just in the strong educational programs it promotes and develops; I could go on and on. The networking opportunities are so awesome for all and the friendships formed life long.

How have you been affected?
I think more than half the painters today have definitely been affected by SDP if not directly, but indirectly. I say to my students and to all I meet, I owe my painting career to SDP. It has been through the Certification Program that I became the painter I am today. I learned the technical side to painting and was given the direction to more advanced skills. All who paint with me benefit directly from all that I have learned, so they too have been touched by SDP and benefited greatly from what I gained.
Every Convention that is held today is a direct spin-off from the original SDP National Conventions, every painter who has ever attended these National Conventions in the past, and taken back to their classrooms at home, the information, contacts and new products they learned about, is indirectly exposing their students to SDP. By symbiosis alone, these students are now directly benefiting from what SDP offers and the cycle continues.

Where did you learn to Paint?
If you have learned painting from a teacher who has studied with CDA's, MDA's, or any of the other GREAT 'BIG BRUSHES' who all have cut their teeth on convention floors and classrooms, then you too have been touched by SDP. I think it only fitting that we give a 'little' back when we have been given so much by an organization that keeps the wheels turning for us all. The price of annual membership is no more than the price of a few books and patterns, and we certainly get our moneys worth in return.

Verbal Support and Recommendation
I do understand that not all can afford to join; there are budgets that don't allow for this extra cost. Yet these painters who know about the Society still have a responsibility to verbally support and acknowledge what the organization has done for decorative painting.

Every year I take new students with me to the National Convention, some return year after year, others every few years. My students read my enthusiasm for the Society and see what it has done for me and in return them. Our trek has become our annual 'Pilgrimage of Paint' It is a wonderful experience for me as their teacher to take new students with me and to get to experience 'Convention' through their fresh eyes every year! It's like being a kid on Christmas morning all over again! Remember the feeling as you stood at the doors of the Trade Floor for the very first time????
If one takes a moment to really spend some time poking around the SDP website, you will see the volumes of great stuff that is there for all to enjoy. You can only imagine the depth of information and help that is available to you as a member when you join.

No Pressure - Only Responsibility to give back - Maybe?
No one should feel pressure to do anything, but for those hundreds of us who have gained very 'viable successful careers' through the handwork of the SDP membership of past years, I feel it is very important to make new painters and artists aware of the benefits of joining such a body of peers and what is to be gained in the long run for all. Painters need to see the BIG PICTURE. Most importantly and especially, what is to be lost, should an organization such as this diminish in strength.

Let's face it, the three founding members of SDP and those who came after them are all primarily responsible for the level of attention, the development and the viability of our industry in the last 30 something years! Countless small and big businesses alike, have developed through this Decorative Painting Industry as we know it today, countless families have been fed, countless displays of Traditional Folk Art shared and saved, Heritage painting developed, saved and taught to future generations of artists, that may have been lost forever. Not to mention, many a house wife made credible, by a valued family income!

Most Important
Becoming a member of an association like SDP that has given so much to each of us decorative painters, has absolutely NOTHING to do with individual talent, BUT it does have everything to do with building a 'strong' forum for our Industry, and giving a very loud voice to the issues of the times. Setting higher standards for the continued improvement of our art form, it's acceptance and it's viability.
Dairy Farmers belong to the Dairy Farmers Associations, Interior Decorators belong to their own associations, every discipline 'belongs' to an organization that helps regulate and improve, making the standards better for it's Industry. What is so different about SDP?
Those who can afford to join, should be encouraged to, and those who cannot, will 'belong' to free internet lists and we SDP members will continue to share with them and countless others willingly. We can live in hope that by our example and wonderful experiences; we will encourage, educate and inspire others to follow us to what we have already discovered. 'Belonging to a fantabulous Organization of Incredibly Creative Folks!'

These are my personal opinions only, I do not speak for the Society. I feel very strongly about being a member of this incredible organization.

Neadeen Masters CDA - ©2004