Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Good Questions!

My friend Joey from the fabulous GoodMorningGloucester blog asks:

Is it the process of creating that gives you pleasure and satisfaction and leaves you craving more? That insatiable desire to continue to produce something that has meaning to you and if it has meaning to others all the better?

Yes and no.
I produce art out of a nagging, an inner tug that sets me pacing. Sometimes there is a vague inner image, usually there is just this tug, a restless state of something's desire to be brought into creation. I am just the humbled, trained vessel that the art comes through.

When I am working, there are the materials, the process, and an inner 'this, this, this...not this, not this, not this.' I work until there is no more 'not this' and there is only the silence of 'THIS'. Then I stop and move on.

I have been painting for over 42 years. A lot of my art comes out of the discipline of an 'art habit'. I rarely have 'great ideas' for art, but frequently I find that just by practicing my craft, getting out of the way so the art can come through, will result in a successful work of art.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It is my belief that we create because creating is a natural human imperative and when we stop doing it our souls start to wither. Whether it is creating delicious meals for a family or knitting a pretty scarf for friend, or writing a blog or photographing a sunset.... whatever. i think there is inherent in human nature the desire to create just as the Creator (however you define him/her/it) created us.

The playwrite Otto Rank wrote: "I must give birth everyday or perish." I understand that because if I get too busy in my life to work on my writing or designing or knitting or whatever, I feel restless and incomplete. It is my belief that creativity is a natural human urge and when we are not engaged in some sort of creative process we suffer.