Creating art is a passion. It tells a story, our story. When we tell our story we infuse our spirit into the work. It reeks of our essence. It gives others a sneak peak into your soul. But does how you feel while creating the work impact how the person seeing the work experience it?
If you’re having fun and enjoying the creation process, does that translate to the person viewing the work? Can those who experience our work know how we were feeling? Is our work so transparent that others know what was going on when the work was created?
I was thinking about this during a Japanese calligraphy class I took this past weekend. It was a small class, just four people. One of the participants was very chatty to the point of annoyance. I just let it roll of my back and zoned in on my own work, but the woman next to me was deeply annoyed by this participants over exuberance. Did this irritation show up in her brush strokes? It was apparent that she wasn’t experiencing a lot of joy during the class. It became even more evident when she left before the class was finished.
What comes off the page, out of the canvas, through the instrument when you are creating? Is it okay if you’re audience senses the vibrations emanating from the piece and incorporate that into their experience of the work? This is different than creating a work of art to represent a physical, emotional, or spiritual state; it’s the subconscious process peaking through that may be a mystery to you.
If you were to take a step back after creating a work of art, aside from the “meaning” of the piece, what else do you sense? Are you able to identify a brush stroke, a change in language, denser stitching as a result of how you were feeling in the moment? How do you feel about the level of vulnerability?
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Time to Live Creatively 