Saturday, December 28, 2013

Being Original or Being Authentic?

In art we place great value on being original. The first to an idea or concept. Its like an Eureka race against the whole world of other artists. However being Authentic is where all the value really lies. By now ALL things under the sun have at least been toyed with. New ideas are really built on the blocks of old ones. Life is expansion. To be original or to be Authentic that is the question. Where does the happiness lie? If you spend your days driven to be be the newest most original artists on the block you may actually be driving yourself away from your Authentic Happiness. Being true to who you are and what really lives in your heart will lead to true bliss. Being unique for the sake of being unique may lead to you down a road of many uncomfortable and difficult experiences. Often what we think of as being Unique Like Lady Gaga is in fact Authentic creativity mixed with expansion on what has come before.  It time to see being original as not being first but being the most true to the creative spirit. Ideas do not spawn out of a black whole of nothing they are created by connected experiences and revisiting them in a way that’s true to the purpose of the creator. Big C to little c.


                                                      Art is A process NOT a Product


The value we get from art is not having something to hang on a wall and brag about to our friends….though that is lovely. Its worth is in the discoveries of self while creating something out of nothing. The life skills we achieve from painting can only be attained by the act of painting. Judging your artistic experience as meaningful by the result is missing the point of why we paint all together. In art we can shed the Shackles of GOOD and BAD. With practice just BEING takes center stage. Freedom by Coming to terms with being our own inspiration. Quietly finding the inner voice that  is pure and true to the core of who we are. The emotional growth spawned from being creative never looses its efficacy. It is at potent at 50 as age five.  There is always room to grow, adapt, and change! You will always have more to give each painting you create. Art is NEVER ending Growth. HARTISTS embracing this infinite potential inside and out. You are not grown, you are not done, you are and ever will be in Process.