Blackbird Moon Art

Lately I have been hearing, reading, and finding lots of others opinions about what I will refer to as "what an artist is" and "the rules to being an artist". Here are a few of my responses and opinions to the things that are bugging me.

1. "Artists who make or sell crafts cheapen their 'real' art" - hmmmm.... guess I am just "cheap" then. I create both arts and crafts and sometimes there is a fine line between the two and sometimes there is not. In my opinion crafters are just another kind of artist. I paint, sculpt, collage, make dolls, make-over dolls, crochet, do all kinds of needlework, sew, make mobiles and wind chimes, bead, create altered art, and anything else I decide I want to try.

2. "Painters should choose one medium and one style and stick to it" - well, again, guess I haven't followed the "shoulds". I paint in watercolors, acrylics, oils, pastels, colored pencils, oil pastels, ink, and mixed media. I also work in realism, impressionism, abstract and anything else I feel like doing. My interests are varied so I have a hard time sticking to one subject too and paint people, animals, landscapes, still life, fantasy subjects and "who knows what that is" stuff. lol I find a lot of joy in switching it all up.

3. "Real artists have a college degree" - I really don't agree with this one at all. There are many wonderful artists who are completely self taught (I personally have a degree in Fine Art by the way, in case you were wondering). A lot of innovative and original work comes from artists who never received any formal training at all.

4. "Painters must learn to draw well before they try painting" - I disagree with this one too. I started painting as a child but I never really liked drawing that much. I draw now, but even so my sketches have very few "lines" and some of them only make sense to me. And I rarely draw on my painting surface with pencils before painting. Occasionally I do, but mostly I don't. I "draw" with the paint, the method depending on what I am using to paint with. Sometimes I don't start with a "drawing" (even with paint) at all. Oh the shock of it. lol I carry watercolors and oil pastels with my sketchbook more often than pencils or pens. And a camera. Cameras can capture instantly what might be lost before I can finish a sketch. I paint from life as much as possible but thats just not always possible. Another little oddity of mine I guess is that if I use my photos for reference, which I do often, I print them in black and white. I rarely, rarely, rarely paint using a color photo for reference. I would be interested in knowing how many other artists paint from black & white photos as reference.

I am sure there are plenty of artists who disagree with me on these subjects. What can I say? I am an opinionated taurus. lol