Fire Star Press: artists

Friday, March 6, 2020

Finding the Joy

I am not an artist. When I was young, I had a set of acrylic paints and brushes. I remember sitting outside and painting nature scenes. Was I any good? Not really. Could I have been? I don't know. My parents insisted I take an art class. I begged them not to make me go. I was painfully shy and the very idea struck terror into my heart. However, I went and it was even worse than I imagined. There were several of the "mean girls" from my grade in the class and the instructor's teaching style was not one that meshed with the way I learn. Taking the paint brush away from me and doing something for me taught me nothing except that I wasn't good enough. Being so shy and insecure, I already knew that. In my mother's later years she said that forcing me to go to that class was one of her biggest regrets because I never painted again and she was correct. I didn't. However, not painting wasn't a conscious choice I made in order to be vindictive for being forced to attend class against my will. It was simply a case of the experience destroyed any joy I found in painting.

It has only been within the last five years or so that I have once again found happiness in painting. There are a number of art studios that have sprung up across the country offering instructor led classes to the masses. (Many of these classes also allow the imbibing of alcoholic beverages during class.) The purpose of these studios is not to teach students how to be the next Picasso but instead to let them see that, with a just a little instruction, we can each be more creative than we may think possible. "Oh, I could never do that" becomes "Look what I did!"

My daughter-in-law is blessed with artistic talent. Somehow, I let her talk me into taking a "fundamentals of painting" class with her. Much to my surprise I enjoyed it. I also appreciated the fact that the instructor never took my brush away from me to "fix" my work or told me that I was doing thing "wrong." He simply made suggestions as to how to improve next time. True, several of the paintings I completed in that class will never see the light of day (especially the first one) but there are a couple I am extremely proud of, such as this one:

Some of my favorite classes are those offered by Truth Be Told Art. Most Truth Be Told paintings begin with a stencil to outline the image being painted and the font used for the text. But the actual color choices and painting, shading, etc. are up to the participant. I usually attend these classes with friends and it's always fun to see how different our paintings are from everyone else's. This is the Truth Be Told painting that hangs in my dining area:

So, what is the purpose of this post? It's to encourage you to not worry so much about trying to be perfect; after all, perfection is a myth. It's okay to just create and find joy in the process. So, go out and do something that makes you happy and don't worry about what anyone else thinks!

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Monday, March 2, 2020

Creativity by Michael E. Gonzales

I attended a very interesting lecture this evening, the topic was “Where” is creativity, now what is creativity?

The lecturer began by pointing to a painting and asking, “How many of you have looked at a work of art and said, “How creative.”

He then pointed out the obvious flaw in that statement, the inanimate object (be it a painting, a bronze or a book) cannot be creative, it is the artist who is creative.

This struck me because I had several of my friends say to me, “Your book is do creative!” And the little voice inside my head cried out, “I created the story, the story did not create me!” (Fodder for a whole new blog!)

He went on to discuss how all creativity starts in the mind.

He defined creativity thusly: the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas.

I keyed in on the term, “new ideas.”

The first ax ever invented, basically a sharpened stone, some millions of years ago, was a new idea, but what about the second? When someone came up with the idea of attaching the stone to a wooden handle, was that a new idea or a logical extension to a new idea?

Books are not new by any means, but if a story is published that has not been told before, is that a new idea?

The idea of the stone ax, millions of years ago was the creation of an idea, formed in the mind and translated into an actual tool.

The invention of something that had never existed into a real implement.

What about the first cave painting? The difference here is that the animals painted already existed. So, nothing new there, what was new was the ability of that early artist to render what he saw into art.

A great deal of work and invention was invested just to decorate the inside of a dark cave. They had to invent paint, a method to apply that paint. They had to illuminate the cave in a way that would not darken the ceiling, which they also painted, with soot. They invented scaffolding to reach those high ceilings. These he termed technology.

But is not technology an act of the creative mind?

Einstein’s many discoveries, particularly relativity, was a scientific first. He “Discovered” this through the use of mental images, then to support his conclusions he learned to be a mathematician. His discovery, I contend, was thus an act of creativity, and not relativity itself for it already existed, he just brought it to the world’s attention.

The science already existed when Steve Jobs made his breakthroughs, would anyone not call him creative?

I believe that all living human beings are capable of creative thought. A great many who are not actually creative only lack the skill sets.

Perhaps there is another Einstein out there, who, through his weak math and science knowledge is to timid to step forward.

Another Ayn Rand may be living next door to you, but because she lacks education in proper writing, the correct use of the English language and has not been motivated her talents, her stories, her voice go unheard.

Creativity has been the one thing that has allowed our species to survive.