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Where do I get my inspiration?
This is a question that I am often asked and one that almost always leaves me speechless. The truth is, the reason I create art is not through inspiration but art is my destiny and purpose in life. Yes I know this sounds pompous and perhaps even canonical but to me this is crystal clear. It is hard for me to believe in luck or coincidence when so many things lead me directly toward art.
Growing up I spent a lot of time watching TV in the room adjacent to my Dad’s studio, I was by no means my father’s apprentice, in fact I often mocked some of the art he was doing. Yet the potent smell of printing ink and all those painful trips to art museums were influencing me in ways far beyond my understanding. My adolescence had me doing everything but what my parents did, so I played a lot of sports and participated in activities that I thought to be far removed from art. The immediate years after college had me seeking the almighty dollar – I did not want to be a “starving artist” I wanted money and while I had no idea what I wanted as a career the idea of an artist was far removed from my thought process. I took a job selling art materials thinking that to be business and retail not “creating art”. For the most part I enjoyed my job, but I still wanted more – After some personal trials I found that during my evenings I had more time on my hands, but I still do not think it a coincidence or dumb luck that I picked up a paint brush one night.
I read a quote recently stating “luck is the point where preparation and opportunity meet.” I believe this to be true, but for me it is a little different – remember for 40 years I had no desires or dreams to be an artist. There is no greater feeling in the world to realize a purpose you have in this life.
Shown - Tobacco Field at Old Milburnie Road - 10x30" Acrylic on Canvas
Micah, I have read, with interest, your recent musing on art and such. It reminded me of something I read a long time ago...A Quote by Thomas Wolfe on art, being, reward, spirit, magic, creating, vision, life, and eternity:
ReplyDelete"At that instant he saw, in one blaze of light, an image of unutterable conviction, the reason why the artist works and lives and has his being--the reward he seeks--the only reward he really cares about, without which there is nothing. It is to snare the spirits of mankind in nets of magic, to make his life prevail through his creation, to wreak the vision of his life, the rude and painful substance of his own experience, into the congruence of blazing and enchanted images that are themselves the core of life, the essential pattern whence all other things proceed, the kernel of eternity."
Thomas Wolfe
Source: Of Time and the River
I have thought, for a long time, one must find his own reward. The reward, I think, is in the work.
I really like your art. Turid and I have enjoyed getting to know you and Eileen. Best wishes to you both. Tom