What makes an artist

For this quote I'm indebted to my friend in Adelaide, Graham, who emailed it to me recently.  The author is David Rakoff who died in August 2012 aged just 47, and if this is typical of his output then I intend to read some of his books and essays in the near future.  I have deleted one passage as it's a bit ribald and this blog is, after all, meant to be for general viewing.

"...hanging out does not make one an artist.  A second hand wardrobe does not make one an artist.  Neither do a hair-trigger temper, melancholic nature, propensity for tears, hating your parents, nor even HIV.  They can help, but just as being gay does not make you witty, the only thing that makes one an artist is making art.  And that requires the precise opposite of hanging out, a deeply lonely and unglamorous task of tolerating oneself long enough to push something out."

I might add a comment of my own, that is;  there is a desire amongst us to tell a story.   I often think of the aboriginal cave painters and what might have inspired them to produce their images.  It can only be a desire to tell a story.  And if they had a story to tell thousands of years ago, then so do we.  I think it's important to give ourselves the opportunity to tell our story, if only to ourselves; whether it's through painting, sculpture, ceramics, writing, photography, playing a musical instrument...whatever.  Something we can do that defines us as unique individuals with our own characteristics we've had since day one.

Painting and Photoshop

If you have been looking at my paintings you would have noticed I have made reference to using Photoshop occasionally to assist me in the compositions.  Not any more.  Some years ago I got really involved in the wonderful imaging world of Photoshop - scanning images, digitally cutting and pasting one image into another, altering the light settings to turn day into night etc.  I would proudly print out my composition for a new project and then a thought would come into my head;
     "damn, now I have to paint this."
This attitude was dangerous as far as I was concerned, because the act of painting is what it's all about, not coming up with clever compositions.  Not that I regret using Photoshop, far from it, it's just that I got carried away with the technology and forgot that I am first and foremost - a painter. 

I often think of the Heidelberg School artist David Davies who was active in the late 19th century.  

David Davies   Moonrise   1894

If I had been sitting next to Davies and taken a photograph of this scene and shown it to some friends, they would think that I was in need of assistance.  But Davies knew it was the act of applying the paint to a surface that counted.  He used thick impasto to get the effect he was looking for.  The physical act of painting has to be an enjoyable experience, otherwise there is no point in doing it and this is what I'm focussed on now.