10:32 PM
Lately, I’ve been bumbling through how-to videos of a wide variety of subjects: Minecraft, drawing, cooking, miniature painting, polymer clay sculpting. It occurred to me that I was probably going about things wrong. Art is a few things for me.
It’s a habit. A lost habit, but a habit. I think about art frequently. I want to create art. I miss creating art. If given a choice of how I would want to start each day, I would choose to ramble into a studio and begin making stuff. I’d break for meals and the bathroom. It would also be one of the last things that I did at the end of the day.
Art is a language. It is the meditation on ideas and thoughts. It’s a sheltered place where all the most complicated and subtle things can be explored and expressed in a form that is meaningful to the artist and for some of the viewers.
Art happens at the point where craft begins to be that voice for the artists. The artist has gained competency in a set of skills that makes expressing thoughts and feelings fluid.
All those videos are about craft. And learning craft is good. Learning craft builds the lexicon an artist will communicate with. It is a part of the confidence that an artist needs. It’s a comfort that brings the artist back to work. Being a master of a craft is a principle feature of an artist.
There are a lot of YouTube videos about mastering crafts. I can gain the skills I need to set me back on the path of being an artist again. The one nagging doubt I have is that I am trying to go down that path too late in my life. I’ll start down it. The process will add to my happiness. I want to see what is in this churning head of mine.
