Every year or so I experience a creative shift in life where I abandon an art medium or subject. It comes naturally and without want or effort - it just happens. (And looking at other artists' work, I know that I am not alone). For example, I remember long ago that I used to LOVE sewing. After that I fell in love with making dried flower arrangements. And after that came card making. But alas, ever since I started card making, my favorite medium to work with has steadily remained to be the same - PAPER.
But even working with paper, my creative topics have shifted. About 7 years ago, I used to love making cardboard Jack-in-the-boxes. I had grand plans to make Jack-in-the-boxes in every size and theme and even though they sold really well, I gradually got tired of making them. Then came paper-mache Hot Air Balloons. Sure enough, even after years of finally perfecting my paper-mache technique, the Hot Air Balloons were replaced. Now!, "making paper Art Dolls would surely be here to stay!" I said. It only makes sense! because it combines my love of paper and my love of dolls! But no, I recently realized that even my art dolls are becoming tiresome.
I wish that I could just find something that I like and stick with it!....But I guess that's part of growing up...I guess you can call it artistic growth...artistic maturity.
Either way, through all these years, I've really enjoyed making everything that I did. I've learned alot about paper and the different kinds and different materials used to make paper. The endless ways you can manipulate it into making almost anything you want! I guess my creative topics have changed because my knowledge has changed. This reminds me of a quote by oil painter Pal Strisik, "(Artists) mature in a slow and natural way. . . . It may take ten years to develop your skills. But nothing is lost, for you've still lived all those years. The (art) you do five years from now can only be done five years from now. You can't rush it, and it can't be done tomorrow."
So here's to a new year! Hello 2015! I welcome any new thing you have in store for my hands to create!
And so it goes. We love what we do no matter the medium. While we are challenged it is exciting, after it has lost the challenge we move on to find other challenges. Sometimes I envy those who find success doing the same thing over and over, they have found a style and when you come across their work it is immediately recognizable. Maybe we have just not found our forever niche. So Happy New year new medium to you.
ReplyDeleteCheers to continued growth.
It's that artistic creativity which is always exploring the next art phase that seems to come into being. Just like, every year, the color schemes change, and we have to keep up with the colors which are popular in whatever art endeavor we are attempting at the moment. I crocheted for many years, sold my finely crocheted doilies, and tablecloths, then it was on to soft-sculpture fabric cats (38 to be exact which I sold over a three year time frame), then in the fall of 2008 I discovered JoAnnA Pierotti's altered art dolls and joined her doll making site. Then, on to 'Cloth and Clay Doll' ning site, and then to Dixie Redmonds' MAIDA today where she taught her online students to recreate vintage Izannah Walker dolls. Lots of fun learning these new art forms. And it continues too. And I have loved every minute of it, and have loved the instructors and the students. The internet has been an amazing opportunity to expand our creative horizons. They say, most things, creative ideas and followings last about five years, then it's on to the next venture. I believe it! Someone always has some new twist on an old art form, and that is what keeps the ball rolling. Totally awesome!
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