A poem : Why?

[erik_satie_rolls]

While many can (and do) find pleasure in viewing art, I feel that the artist, creating out of an inner passion borne of pain, yearning, hope, and fear, gets more out of the creation than anyone could ever receive in the having. When art touches someone else, that is a beautiful thing. But first it must come from the touch of our soul.

Perhaps this helps explain why more art is made than sold.

What this is leading to is support for the many who are struggling to make art (and confusing that with 'making it as an artist') and wonder sometimes, 'why?'

When I was three, my art was for me.
When I was ten, for the praise I could win.

At age twelve, I used art to raise hell.
At nineteen, for a girl, eighteen.

At twenty three, I would set the world free
At twenty five, I taught art to survive.

At thirty one it was no more fun
By thirty eight, I thought, too late

At forty two, a I began anew
At forty five, I make art, I'm alive

As time flies away I make art today
When my life is gone, the art will live on.

erik satie rollerblading

[white-anubis]

So true. We always end up right where we started, don't we?

[erik_satie_rolls]

Yes I spent all my life trying to be an adult and now am finally back to being a child. And if kids knew that someday they would eventually become children again, they might stay married so they could have a lifelong friend to play with in their old age.

[O'Connor]

Nice little poem. Just an hour ago I posted a thread "Sunday painters/Armchair artists" , which says that my creative art is for me.
Some of what you talk about, "teaching to survive", for instance, makes me glad I didn't become a "commercial success" in any artistic endeavors. While I'm sure there are many "living the dream" and enjoying being an artist, if it became a "job" I fear I would loathe it.
I'm glad to hear you've rediscovered the child part. That's one of the most important lessons I've ever learned. Children truly embrace Horace's quote "Carpe diem quom minimum credulo postero". (Seize the day, etc.) Kids live each day for the excitement and wonder of it all. If we could all do that, we'd be a happier race.
Three rousing cheers for the marriage part. So sad that more people don't realize the value of mating for life.
Once the heydays are past, it will no longer matter about how much money you made, how attractive (physically/aesthetically) we may be to one another, or who got the most toys.
Some of us will have a true friend, a compadre to the end.

[Bendaini]

Thats why, at 26, I am yet to completely grow up. I pray I never will loose that sence of wonder of everything...

[CarlyHardy]

When I was about 10, I tried drawing our pet dog....and my family laughed at the attempt, so I figured I wasn't able to draw. It wasn't until I was 27 that a friend coerced me into taking a workshop in oil painting that she was teaching! Yikes...and I'd never even held a brush in my life much less knew what to do with it...lol! But I took the workshop because of her generosity and constant pestering! When my first attempt looked like a bunch of daffodils in a glass vase, I was absolutely floored! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would be able to paint (after all I knew I couldn't draw!).

That was my introduction to painting, and from the very beginning I realized that it was one of the most fun things I'd ever done. In some ways, art does keep you young, exploring the possibilities, we see the world anew every day.

The older I get, the more I enjoy playing!
carly

[O'Connor]

Here! Here! Carly, for art keeping us young.
At this point, I feel the enjoyment of art is more in the making than the finished product!
As when we were children, just shmooshing fingerpaints around, or playing in the mud!

[JoyJoyJoy]

Thank you, Eric....

I enjoyed seeing my life in a poem

Nance, at age 49

[Paintbrush74]

Originally posted by CHClements
When I was about 10, I tried drawing our pet dog....and my family laughed at the attempt, so I figured I wasn't able to draw. It wasn't until I was 27 that a friend coerced me into taking a workshop in oil painting that she was teaching! Yikes...and I'd never even held a brush in my life much less knew what to do with it...lol! (...)

Wow! That is so much like my experience. When I was a child (I may have been 10, not sure), a trusted adult looked at something I had drawn and told me jokingly that my talent was not in art. I believed it and for years, I didn't draw, because I "couldn't."

As an adult, I started doing a little drawing, and at 27, I bought an oil starter kit. I got frustrated because the ultramarine blue got all over my fingers. I suppose I was going to try to stay neat and paint in oils at the same time.

[Cinderella]

Dear Eric,
This is the second post I have read that you have written. I really enjoy your words.

I also identify with those who have been discouraged at a young age.

I have a dearly loved relative who means the world to me. Unfortunately, he was very honest. Too honest. To the point that I became so discouraged I wrote off ever exploring my interest in art. (like spending money at the art store and using the materials!)

So, that is why, as amatuer as I am, this web site is so exciting to me because I feel it's OK to be where I am at. Thanks a whole lot everyone!!!

Blessings from Southern Cal.....Cinderella

[flower]

Hi erik

What a beautiful, simple poem with lots of wisdom.

We were never really enouraged on the art side of our schooling, so i never really got to enjoy it, then, about a year and a half ago i went into a clinic with depression and one of the therapies was painting, i thought oh no what am i going to do now, in the beginning i just used acryl and my fingers, but eventually started trying out other mediums, something woke up inside me thats not gone away, i love painting now, and i´ve sold some of my paintings, which i never thought i could ever do, someone likes what i do, i was 51 when i started, the world of nature has opened up to me, the beauty of our earth, people, children, and the friendship here on WC with so many wonderful people

[O'Connor]

Patricia:

What a beautiful little post. It's so brief, yet says so much.
That one little paragraph has really boosted my spirits today.
That's a long way from entering the depression clinic!

Thanks!

Regards,