Ebb and Flow
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Meaning my motivation, and inspiration, I think.
Actually, what I'm really excited about right now is that unfinished painting right there. It's going to eventually be hanging somewhere really cool, which I will refrain from telling you about until it's officially hanging there. But, trust me. It's cool.
I've been experimenting in dialogue lately. I've been practicing the art of talking about my art. It's difficult for me to explain my motivations and inspirations, especially when you see someone's eyes glaze over at the words "zen," "science," or "spirituality." More than that, I'm not sure that's even what I mean to say.
What I mean to say is that I love to color. I like to sit on the ground with my colors and make a picture look pretty (or cool or weird or dark or whatever it is that I'm interested in making.) I like to play with the texture and the shadows and the light, and see how it looks. I like to mix colors together, and mix stuff into the colors (like sand) and see how it changes the overall piece. To me, all my paintings are part of a neverending coloring book that I'm always adding new pages to. I don't have a coloring book that contains the images I want to color, so I have to make them myself. What comes out is a reflection of "zen," and "science," and "spirituality," but that's just because that's what my brain is filled with, after 29 years of interest in those things.
The point is to color.
The point is to wake up in my jammies and sit on the floor with my dog and dream of pretty pictures and make them a reality while the birds sing outside and the sun pours through the windows inside.
I'm not sure how I would phrase that to someone in the art business that expects me to sound intelligent. Maybe I don't have to, maybe it's not expected of me at all. Maybe people who love art understand "coloring on the ground like a 5 year old" more than any snooty, self-important, self-analytical, "intelligent" artist statement nonsense that I could ever come up with anyway.
Maybe I just hate talking about myself. I much prefer to express my life with actions and art. Actions are real. Talking is noise.
Actually, what I'm really excited about right now is that unfinished painting right there. It's going to eventually be hanging somewhere really cool, which I will refrain from telling you about until it's officially hanging there. But, trust me. It's cool.
I've been experimenting in dialogue lately. I've been practicing the art of talking about my art. It's difficult for me to explain my motivations and inspirations, especially when you see someone's eyes glaze over at the words "zen," "science," or "spirituality." More than that, I'm not sure that's even what I mean to say.
What I mean to say is that I love to color. I like to sit on the ground with my colors and make a picture look pretty (or cool or weird or dark or whatever it is that I'm interested in making.) I like to play with the texture and the shadows and the light, and see how it looks. I like to mix colors together, and mix stuff into the colors (like sand) and see how it changes the overall piece. To me, all my paintings are part of a neverending coloring book that I'm always adding new pages to. I don't have a coloring book that contains the images I want to color, so I have to make them myself. What comes out is a reflection of "zen," and "science," and "spirituality," but that's just because that's what my brain is filled with, after 29 years of interest in those things.
The point is to color.
The point is to wake up in my jammies and sit on the floor with my dog and dream of pretty pictures and make them a reality while the birds sing outside and the sun pours through the windows inside.
I'm not sure how I would phrase that to someone in the art business that expects me to sound intelligent. Maybe I don't have to, maybe it's not expected of me at all. Maybe people who love art understand "coloring on the ground like a 5 year old" more than any snooty, self-important, self-analytical, "intelligent" artist statement nonsense that I could ever come up with anyway.
Maybe I just hate talking about myself. I much prefer to express my life with actions and art. Actions are real. Talking is noise.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 3:56 PM.
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3/11/09, 5:47 PM
I agree.. hear, hear!!!
I think you will find what you "need" to say the more you practice.
I also think that what makes art and artists is what inspires them, and an appreciation and wonder and ability to find inspiration in the youthful act of just "colouring" is part of what makes you the artist that you are, which will be different from the artist anyone else can be.
Expressing that individuality is important, and quite honestly, no matter how you talk about it, I can't imagine you coming off as less than intelligent and sparkling, because you fill with life the more you talk about the things you love. :) And people notice, and I think it rubs off on them....