Comments on: I’m practicing saying, “I am an artist.”

By: Ray Granade

Ray Granade — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:45:15 +0000

Hi Misty,
The last paragraph of your post, in my eyes, not only sums up (elegantly) the thoughts you’ve expressed, but sounds so familiar to me. My wife Kim and I have many friends who are artists, and these thoughts and feelings seem to be going on in most of them; especially the ones whe are artists at heart, instead of people who just have art-related passtimes. I wonder if Kim and I will ever think of ourselves as artists (I do glassblowing and lampworking, Kim does pottery). But for us and for the time being, I guess, we’re just happy to see what we can create next. All in all, it does, in fact, seem like you’re more of an artist than you’ve been giving yourself credit for.

By: Missy K

Missy K — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:00:14 +0000

mustardtreearts.com. You can view the art from the last 4 years.

By: Misty

Misty — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:44:24 +0000

Mumsy: Thanks, Mom!

Missy K: I’d be interested in finding out more for next year. Let me know if there’s a website or something.

By: Missy K

Missy K — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:42:14 +0000

Fellowship holds an art festival every year. It’s going on now. It has a different theme each year. This year it’s “Jesus, the Light.” There’s a community category, professional & scholar categories. This year, they added an inmate category for our prison ministry. I always think of you when I see all the amazing work there. You should find out about it and enter something next year. Artists enter from different parts of the country.

By: Mumsy

Mumsy — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:32:52 +0000

Artist? Yes, you always have been, since you could hold a crayon. And I have the art to prove it!

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:06:27 +0000

My question is why do you feel you need to focus on one “thing”? Being an artist is finding beauty in ANYTHING and interpreting it through YOUR artistic filter. To me, “style” IS faddish. You could, one day, see a tree and turn it into art deco. The next day you could see a skyscraper and it becomes a watercolor wellspring! I have always considered myself eclectic and have found likes and dislikes in all manner of art. I would say don’t worry too much about finding your niche compared to other artists because perception and interpretation is all relative! Everything I have seen of yours has been creative and interesting, differences and all!

By: Lynnea

Lynnea — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:27:54 +0000

I don’t really feel it is art, but I don’t like step by step scrapbooking kits, etc. I like to combine my own things, etc. I mess with it until it looks right to me. It’s my own “style” I guess. It had evolved a lot over the years.

I struggled grading when I taught Elementary Art. Can you really grade art? I remember loving pieces I did in school and being crushed when they didn’t get an A. I developed a pretty liberal grading policy for grading Art.

By: Misty

Misty — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:03:35 +0000

Danielle: I feel the same as your friend when others say they like my work. Part of it, I think, is that friends and family are supposed to like your work so on some level that praise doesn’t count. But then, I also never want to go up against people who I feel are actual artists because I don’t feel I have the artistic chops to talk shop with them. So I feel stuck when I’m having any sort of discussion about my work.

Duchess: I would imagine that these feelings ARE really a part of the creative process. When I was doing a great deal of writing in college, I felt then exactly the same way about writing as I do now about the visual art that I produce. I don’t mind at all the striving to be better, I enjoy the process, but I do wish there were a clearer measurement for me personally that I felt I could actually see that progress. For some reason lately, that measurement has felt like being able to say, “I’m an artist.” with no back-peddling during the conversation. “I’m an artist…but I only make notebooks.”

By: duchess

duchess — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:32:30 +0000

I am not sure if I am reaching too much here, but it strikes me that you are describing how I feel about writing, as well. There is definitely a co-relation between what’s fashionable and what gets churned out, but I guess it’s not as pronounced in a more visual medium. It’s definitely difficult to focus attention when there’s so many interesting trends, works, and ideas. Like you, I find myself distracted (Nano contributes to it significantly) with other ideas. I need to sit down and focus, but ooh! shiny! and whoosh! where did the time go?

Because of that I feel shy when I say I am a writer. I feel like I am still working towards that goal – but not there yet. So perhaps this desire to find our style, voice, and niche is something that’s part of the creative process to begin with?

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:30:47 +0000

I hear the same thing from many of the comic artists whose work I enjoy. They don’t even like the style they had a few years ago because their style keeps evolving. I think in general the artist his/her toughest critic because they see where they are & want to be farther along. One of the most fluid artists I know thinks her work is crap – even though it sells & even though people tell her repeatedly how much they enjoy it.

I personally don’t EVER say I like something if I don’t. I often will tell someone something ABOUT it I like, but if I say I like it (or in many a case I love it), I’m not lying.

Do what you enjoy. Don’t try to be someone else. Keep trying until you find the right way to express yourself