Since it's been a little while since I was on here (life really does get in the way sometimes!!), and I haven't done much in the way of artwork in the last month, I thought I would ramble about something other than what I've been working on!
I've always had this thought that being an artist in any one area or another isn't mutually exclusive. You quite often find that people who paint and draw, also dabble in playing music, or vice-versa. And that goes for any type of the arts; music, visual or performing arts, writers, textile artists or photographers, etc. And it made me think of the reputation of the artist who is a little (or a lot) nuts, or the poet who's so into his own writing that he's melancholy all the time. Why are these stereotypes out there? Then I started thinking about myself; I quite often have so much in my head that I just don't know where to begin. Or I start one project and can't get it out fast enough. Then I end up not finishing that project because I have moved on to something else. It's like there are a million different ideas in my own brain, and if I don't get them down on paper (or at least in part on paper) then it feels like my head might explode with the pressure.
It certainly makes you understand how artists become so engrossed in their own work that they exclude all other aspects of life.
If I am perfectly honest, I started thinking about this when I watched an episode of Desperate Housewives, a couple of weeks ago. (Yes, yes, it's trash I know, but I don't watch TOO many trashy shows, and everyone has to have a vice or two, right?!) Anyway, I was watching this episode where one of the main characters who has dabbled in art becomes an instant 'artist success story'. She paints some pictures to help alleviate her guilt over something her and some friends did, and her art teacher LOVES them and they are exhibited in a popular gallery to rave reviews. She is presented in the show for the most part as a little odd and eccentric - not quite normal. And she mentions to her art teacher that her paintings made her miserable. That she needed to get them out but she didn't want anyone to see them and therefore now that people had seen them and loved them she is miserable. He replies that this makes her a true artist. He says that a true artist needs to be miserable and exclude all other aspects of life in order to fully immerse themselves in their art.
This is what got me thinking about the stereotypes and wondering if that was actually true? I love my art, and I know I wouldn't be who I am without it. I love learning and I think that no matter where you are in life, you can ALWAYS learn something new. You should never get to the point where you think you know it all because how boring would life be if you knew everything and had nothing left to discover? But despite knowing that art is a part of my makeup, I also know that I couldn't exclude everything else in my life for it. I would become one of those 'crazy' artists who can't function in normal society. I need the reality of life to balance out the crazy, in effect.
But back to my original suggestion that one or other of the types of art isn't the be all and end all of who you are. I have this crazy idea that I need to write a book. I actually wrote one once, and I'd love to get it published at some point. Just a childrens book called Sally The Seahorse. It tells the story of a little seahorse who's a little different to the other seahorses and who just wants to have friends. I illustrated it as well, and I still love my little story. But lately I have had these random passages of text popping into my head, and I am feeling the beginnings of a story floating around in my brain. And maybe I will actually get around to writing something. Or maybe that drawing, or painting, or sculpture, or poem might take over first, hehehe.
In the end, I guess all the bits of creativity that are floating around in the tangled mess that sometimes is my brain, can only compliment each other. Writing a story, or a poem, might inspire an awesome painting...or that drawing that seemingly came out of nowhere might end up being a new bestseller!!
