Lately I find myself wondering exactly why I am keeping an art journal. I haven't really thought about it, asked myself what I want from it, or understood why I am doing it. I want to create, yes. But I think what I really want is to find my own voice as an "artist", my own meaning, my own deep processes, my own work.
Lately as I’ve been trying to find ideas to work on and develop, I realise that most of my ideas have come from looking at other artists’ work and from waiting to be inspired. I know that it is hard to find an original idea, and I’m not even sure that that is exactly the point, but an obvious sense of “imitation” is as far as it’s gone for me and it’s not enough. The deepest I felt I went in my art was when I was doing that zen leaf drawing. Everything else has felt like bouncing around on the surface of things, course work included.
On my course work I feel like I am working harder, but at someone else’s task, not my own. I want my art to come from me. But am I ready for that, do I even understand what that means? This goes for both my writing and my drawing. I feel like I need some direction and help. And since I have a phobia of adult education classes (how ironic), I started browsing on Amazon on artist sketchbooks and I came across a book entitled Fearless Creating by Eric Maisel. I'm hopeful that it can help me. Let’s wait and see. I wonder how other people do it, how do they find their own voice, their own work?
In the meantime, I guess all I can do is keep creating, keep asking myself these questions, keep looking at and learning from other people’s art.
My favourite work of everything I have done are my blind contour ink portraits, my Damascus picture, some of my shoe drawings, my zen leaf drawing. These feel most like “my” work. The things they have in common are strong line and/or bold colour and a distinct viewpoint that is perhaps what could be called style. But what does this mean, if anything, and where do I go from here?
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Changing the subject completely...did you know Alison Krauss and Robert Plant have done an album together? It's called Raising Sand, and it's beautiful.
And tomorrow night, I'm going to see Iron & Wine! Yay!!!!
