Well I've been thinking while finishing off the apple project. I really can't call myself an artist as I don't have the angst and self doubt and continual searching and striving; and I certainly couldn't live in a garret for my art! And I'm not single minded enough as I love playing with all different things to make up a piece of work. I don't mind using angelina or tyvek if these products will produce the effect I want. But apparantly this isn't being a true artist! So I'll pass on that one and revert to what I do best. Which is being a machine embroiderer! This is such a wide umbrella that it covers all that I do and enjoy from applique to free machining! I have a natural aptitude for colour and I'm not going to hide my light under a bushel but will admit it freely. Having ideas has never been a problem though getting them into a solid format does sometimes hang fire as I am a born again procrastinator. So I'm never going to be famous or rich or thin! But I am going to have fun and continue with the way of creating that I enjoy! I'm not going to beat myself up about it. And I'm going to continue teaching as I love passing on what I know and seeing the light bulb go on in a students head! Not teaching City and Guilds any more has given me more time for me but I still do the same number of classes, just not with so much paper work! That's the killer! And I have always been choosy about which commissions I'll do as I know my limitations as to time and inclination. I want everything done yesterday! So when I'm bemoaning my fate at any time remind me of this post and tell me to get my a*** in gear! Now I'm off to do my 'normal' job! This I look upon as my thinking time and it keeps my feet on the ground!
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Whaaaaa?....where did all this come from? Who the heck says you have to have angst and self-doubt to be a "real" artist? Plenty of artists throughout history have been raving egomaniacs y'know...not a speck of self-doubt in them anywhere, not even the "normal", sometimes healthy kind. ;-)
ReplyDeleteNow lets see if Blogger feels like letting me post this...took me six tries to post a comment to your audio post. They kept telling me the "document contains no data". Okaaaaayyy....
Whoa, halt, stop.Who said you had to suffer to be an artist? My transitions post wasn't about angst just an inner voice whispering try something new...not some deep depression. In fact, excitement at taking time for myself to play.
ReplyDeleteAnd, there is no doubt that you are an artist from the work you do...however, labels aren't necessary but my label is quiltmaker...it's what I do so why not callit that.
BTW, loved hearing you on the audio blog. It's like you just called to say "hello."
I read an interview with Paul McCartney. He said John Lennon wrote the edgier, darker songs because he had had a rather tragic childhood and carried a certain amount of darkness inside him. Paul said he was incapable of that kind of angst--his life had been happy and full of love. Some of us are John-like, angst-filled artists and some of us are Paul-like, joyful artists. You are a joyful artist. I think I am too--no tortured messages or dark brooding themes. But artists, nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteAnd just because melted tyvek and angelina don't work in my art doesn't mean I don't find them lovely in someone else's. I am always quite blown away by heavily embellished work and yet when I try, it becomes something too foreign and false in my hands. We have to be true to our own voices, as much as we may admire someone elses.
I was going to chip in but I see there are 3 more eloquently put comments already! Have to agree though. I didn't know how emotive this word 'artist' was until I joined the quilting chat groups. I felt it described me as creating is really all I can do but then I got scared! Now it's just a word, let them argue over the definition, only we know who and what we are inside.
ReplyDelete(Felicity from BQL)