Last weekend I spent a whole day away from home (and baby) at an awesome art workshop. I took a class taught by the very talented Lynn Perrella at the wonderful, new, Artist's Nook, right here in my backyard (no, not literally in my backyard, but wouldn't that be cool?).
Anyway, she is a very down to earth and approachable teacher. I love that. She makes you feel comfortable and safe. Which is an important thing when you're venturing into new artistic territories. We made these huge pieces of artwork and then at the end she abra-cadabra-d them into books. It's incredible. Just by turning it into a book, this large, sometimes hard to digest piece of art becomes a small, manageable and enjoyable, tactile, finished product. I love it.
My finished piece, large.
I like it, but wait until you see it as a book:
book cover (and small feet, I couldn't resist)
next page
next page
and the next
and the last
So? Whatd'ya think?
Now back to the title of this post, do I dare?
Do I dare to write this down?
Do I dare to say this out loud?
Here goes.
I want to be an artist.
They're only six little words.
But to me, they scream out loud.
Saying those words is like saying 'I want to be Santa Claus'. Other people think, 'uh.. ok, then be an artist'. But how? How do you become an artist? Where do you start? There's no business plan when it comes to making art. Is there?
So, when she was asked 'How do you make a piece of art?', Lynn Perrella said, 'You make one mark and then that mark will tell you where to make the next one and so on'.
Maybe this post is my first mark.
xo
4 comments:
Mannequin sent me over and let me just tell you that I absolutely loved this post. I think you've definitely made your mark! :)
And heeerress mannequin!
Whitney doll YOU ARE an artist. You are much too humble. Though personally I have difficulty with people that self appoint themselves as artists, I firmly believe that everyone is an artist.
Some of us, (strike that "us" and make it "you") truly are gifted and truly deserve the recognition of being called an artist. You are one of those!
You see things others don't see and you are able to express that eloquently in many different mediums. You're an artist.
You know, I've been having a similar sentiment over here with my photography. It's a verbose and somewhat boring story, but after a hefty investment in video equipment, I decided it wasn't for me. There is no market for "fine art video", it's corporate "for-hire" work or nothing. So, I am in the process of selling all off that equipment and going back to photography full blast.
Along the way several people have given me a hard time about selling my video gear. It's hard for people to understand that, yes, while video is a huge high-tech booming industry, I'm leaving it and going back to boring ole still photography so I can frame pretty pictures. Video isn't where I wanted to go as an artist. I want to do photo for me, for the art, for the expression, and not have to answer to anyone about it. It's more fulfilling in that regard.
So, despite what more frugal minds may think, fine art is damn fun and you can actually be successful at it. I'd rather be shooting 5-days a week on my own than shooting 5,000 images of some stranger's wedding or doing design on some lame brochure for mega-corp. Take a chance, see where it takes you.
-J
wow.
thank you guys!
promise you'll all stay along for the ride?
xo
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