Welcome to Blog Carnival, where you, the reader, gets to
wander around inside the brains of an international collective of artists.
Please watch your step, its slippery in here.
Each month a random selection from over 300 artists around
the world give their perspective on a common theme related to living life as an
artist. If you have ever wondered what it is like to live life as an artist, or
been curious how the creative life compares in different parts of the
world…read on.
This month we’re talking about “Favorite things to do in the
studio”. We’ll assume for a moment that
sex and drugs is probably not what they had in mind when they brought this up. So,
moving on, what DO we really, really,
like to do in the studio?
Many people, particularly non-artists types (you know who
you are), look at the creative life and think of it as unfettered playtime. "You
sit around and make shit up"…and they are right…sometimes. Most of the time
however it is nothing like that at all. Its deadlines, and pressure to come up
with designs that meet specific, often multiple objectives related to concept,
style, production methodology and salability.
Surprise! Artists think about such things in addition to engaging in the
hard work of creating stuff that your kid could probably make better.
But all that silly romantic business stuff is likely not
what drew us all to being artists. We confess, it’s the fun of sitting around
and making shit up. You discover truth
in doing this. Truth about yourself, truth about your work, truth about the
world you and your work exist in. It is a magical process, and we don’t know of
a single artist who gets to engage in this activity of pure creation as much as
they would like.
Of course, we are talking about that aspect of creation that
is unfettered and independent from all worldly concerns. Which leads to a
related human experience of being completely absorbed and focused on a single
task. We don’t mean, “intently paying attention to what you are doing”, we mean
time stops and the external world fades completely away focus. The artist literally
gets lost in the work. THIS is what
artists really like to do in the studio. It is certainly what we like to do in
the studio, and it is a luxury when we can give ourselves permission to do
this. Did we mention that artists tend to be a very disciplined lot, despite
our disheveled public image.
Not coincidentally, psychologists have studied the common
traits of truly happy people. Ten things that happy people have in common is
the ability and practice of singular focus on a task to the exclusion of all
distractions whether they be internal or external. Does all this mean that
artists are happier? Who knows? Ask
one…or click on the links to see what other artists have to say.
