Good morning,
I have been thoroughly enjoying the morning, reading through all the very talented artist's blogs I have been finding. So many talented people out there in the blogsphere! I need to get a more professional looking page if I want to attract folks to come and read my drivel... Life has been good so far this year, taking a much needed break from classes for the holidays. But it is back to the grindstone once again come February, and I suppose in a way I am ready to try again.
I've been looking at a couple of new techniques to try, some special paper clay thanks to the Ultimate Paper Mache site. It sounds like a sculpture medium I could really sink my teeth into. This isn't drawing, I know, but scrawling on paper has been less than satisfying lately. I have been working on portraits that don't look like who I am drawing! It sure would be a blessing to know just why they fail, too! I am totally at a loss, except to say that measurements are probably the biggest culprit. I need to bury my hands into 3D, and more tactile materials for a bit.
4 comments:
You do your best work in clay. I don't visit your gallery often enough....I personally like your stuff. I can see the struggle, but I also see that you have won the struggle. (And no, I am not "just saying that" to be polite). I personally believe that it is the struggle which defines art.
However, if it makes you feel any better, a very good blogger friend of mine is a professional artist on the West Coast. He makes sculptures out of steel. Mostly fish. Big fish...fish 5 feet or more across. His technique is to cut them out, do some surface finishing, weld them together at the edges and then blow compressed air into them until they puff out. Although they look very innovative and people rave about them, (they decorate shopping malls and such) they "look" bloody awful to my eye.
His eye too. When I somehow got the courage to mention that they look "sort of rough", he told me that was the way he works. His phrase was telling..."when I get good enough at a technique to where it looks good, I get bored, and move on". If it came from anybody else, I would have just snorted and hit "next blog" . However, because I have so much respect for him, I thought long and hard about that statement.
One can not pigeon hole the mind of an artist. However, really good artists tend to be cut from that bolt of cloth....they like innnovative, new techniqes, they like to grow in skill and vision. They, like you, grow frustrated at the medium and try different techniques and styles from time to time.
My friend felt that art was not about making stuff that looked good. He felt that art was about growing inside, and expressing that growth in whatever medium was suitable at that time. It was about communicating his feelings and thoughts. He is the first to admit that the trivial thoughts are easiest and often the most fun, (the joy of swimming with the fish in the ocean) the really deep ones like tragedy, loss, and recovery will never result in "pretty" artwork.
This lead me to consider the difference between an artist and an artisan. An artisan is not an innovator, an artisan will take the same ingredients and work up the most perfect loaf of bread. Make the straightest brick wall. Fold the perfect steel sword. Take great pains to make a piece of armour exactly like the one in the museum. The artist is cutting edge, and expresses feelings. I have seen brick walls made by artists...they they undulate, use different materials to catch and reflect light depending on the time of day.
I have decided that I am an artisan. I don't have the emotional control to be an artist.
You do.
oh it's so nice to drop back in here and catch up with you... it's been one thing after another since this new year began and i'm so hoping that February brings calmer seas...
i was thinking a lot about the struggle of artists today... particularly because being up almost all night last night and being totally frustrated led to something that went quite beyond frustration... it all became a mighty battle with my thoughts... which i guess is what i love so much about art... it teaches me things about the inner journey far more than it does about anything else... i may never be "good enough" at art in my own eyes, but the lessons it teaches me about life are far more valuable to me than any talent i may be lacking... there will always be no shortage of people with far more talent than i have in anything i might endeavor to do in life, so it seems important to keep things in perspective...
i find it hard to believe there is much to criticize about your drawings... more than likely you are your harshest critic... :)
happy belated new year... xo
I only just now realized what makes the fish move.....over there on the right.....
How cute is that!!!!
Hey, I like your blog .. I think it does a great job attracting people and I am now following you :]
I think it is great that you have gone back to college, what are you studying?
Could you please return the favor and follow me back as they are a rare species around my blog :(
Haha Cheers! Dan.
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