What Makes an Artist, An Artist?

So what is it that makes an artist, an artist? Is it technical skill with their medium of choice? Is it an original, thought-provoking idea? Is it popularity with the masses? Is it being innovative and doing things no one else has done before?

Hmmm, . . . well, for what it’s worth, here’s my two cents on this subject. Technical skill, while essential to any form of art, is not the only ingredient. If we never progress beyond copying someone else’s work, or slavishly copying photographs, we never put ourselves out there. If we’re always using someone else’s photos, we become not much more than a Xerox machine. Don’t get me wrong, I use photos for reference too, but usually they’re my own photos or at least I use them only for reference—not copying them. If you’ve created a piece that is a copy of someone else’s photo, in my estimation, the photographer is the artist.

I feel as if so many of us have gotten stuck. We sometimes call it artist’s block—what should I draw today? I can’t think of anything—hey, you got any ideas? Wow, take a look at that photo! Isn’t that amazing—I MUST draw or paint that! It’s difficult to know ourselves, but as artists, that’s what we’re called to do. It’s our job to put our hearts and souls down on the paper or canvas—our unique experience of the world.

What is YOUR experience in the Universe that we live in? That photo that you love is artwork that was successful—the photographer made you feel something. That photo triggered a response in you. That is art; that is what art is supposed to do! Analyze what it is in that photo that draws you in—what does it make you feel and why? Find what moves you and make your art uniquely yours. Be brave and share your own unique perspective with the world!

SNOW DAY!

So here's the view around here today! Beautiful, isn't it? I took the dog for a walk around the neighborhood with me and snapped a few photos. We have about 8-10 inches--it's hard to measure because it's drifted in many places. This, as you can see is a very wet snow. It was tough to walk in, reminded me of walking on sand at the beach; only without the bare toes to dig in with!

Art, Another Beginning

The great majority of men are bundles of beginnings. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

And so it goes, . . . beginning again. Sometimes the Universe has a way of intruding into our best laid plans. In the past year I have done a little more work, I have entered some pieces into local shows. I won a 2nd place for the vampire piece entitled, “The Watcher”. I had a colored pencil piece, “On the Haunted Trail” and a photo, “Afraid” accepted into a juried show. “Afraid” won 3rd place. So, even with some setbacks, I have also made some forward progress. Hopefully I am back now and will be keeping up with my blog and with readers as well.

I will get back to the piece in progress of my daughter’s family, but for now I am inspired by childhood. Remember getting a brand new box of crayons at the beginning of a new school year?

I love the smell of crayons, the look of them; shiny, brand new, untouched; just a bundle of infinite possibility sitting there, waiting, . . . this is where I will begin again, . . . at the beginning! I will try to show you the process and the progress as I go along.

For now, I leave you with another quote:
For a sailor to sail around the world, the thought is just, sometimes, too much. Thus, one simply goes from port to port in the same direction. (Hal Moore)