creativelifeandtimes

Doodling in a Grid

Some ART Quotes I have collected:

"Vita brevis, ars longa" Life is short, art endures.
Hippoctates c. 460-400BC

"Creativity is allowing yourself mistakes.

Art is knowing which ones to keep."

Scott Adams

"Art is not a pleasure, a solace,
or an amusement;
art is great matter."
Tostoy
For an complex but intresting explanation of this quote see:
Tolstoy’s prophesy: “What Is Art?” today
by James Sloan Allen

"That which is static and repetitive is boring.
That which is dynamic and random is confusing.
In between lies art." John Locke (1632-1704)

"An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision."
James McNiel Whistler

"I try to apply colors like words that shape poems,

like notes that shape music." Joan Miro

"I found I could say things with color and shapes
I couldn't say any other way."
Georgia O'Keeffe

By Googling any of these quotes you can find a wealth of websites discussing ART. I find, sadly, that many artists and critics worship art! I prefer the Tolkien view of the artist as "subcreator"
and "Art is a half-effaced recollection of a higher state from which we have fallen since the time of Eden," Saint Hildegarde 1098-1179. I recognize that much in my life that I love and love to do is art not ART! I am content with that... most of the time.

I have had a running discussion with myself and occasionally with others. "Does life interfere with art or art with life?” Or, “Do the routines and trials of life enhance and feed your art or just keep you out of the studio?"

It is not only the tortured soul who can be creative or that only a life of ease is conducive to artistic endeavors. But, don't wait till all the circumstances are just right before being an artist. If I always waited till everything else was done I would never have sewn a quilt or painted or sketched!

There was a time when I was so involved in my glorious new life of motherhood that I felt no need to paint or draw. The loom was gathering stacks of stuff and dust in the spare room. Wife and motherhood was enough with a little hand pieced patchwork, knitting, and gardening as my creative outlet. As I write this I remember sewing curtains, baby quilts, dust-ruffle, and coordinating calico bunnies for the baby room and I had a small winter-spring garden that was quite spectacular. For several years I turned out mittens and hand knitted socks for little hands and feet.

But I wasn’t thinking ART. It was art. I was enhancing the lives of those around me and it was beautiful! In those days I was enjoying the process with an eye to finishing useful items. I think of the potter who would make a useful item. The lines and shape of the pot had an inherent beauty. Yet, even in ancient times of uncertain survival craftsmen often embellished their humble items.

This said, there are times when the burden of “should” make it hard to carve out time to
be creative! But better that than time and no ideas or motivation. I can be paralyzed temporarily by “what next” and “which first.” This is where I am now. I have lots of must do business in my life, unfinished projects, things to accomplish, deep cleaning, curriculum to be work on for next
year…