what you need to know

Nothing. You need to know  nothing to do art. No method or technique or style or anything  else is required to do art. Art is big. It is too big to push into little boxes. I think it would be great to have a group of never did any art in their life people do some art. Art will find you. You don’t find it. You cannot tame it. If fact once you have tamed it becomes rote. I cannot tell you how many times I have forgotten this. This knowledge is almost like a vapor. Here to see and then gone as quick as it came. Selling paintings sort of gets in the way of doing art because when you sell something then you try and do it again. But you can’t. It won’t feel the same. Can you tame a wild lion?  and if you manage to somewhat make him less wild , haven’t you killed him. No art is free. all you can do is make art everyday and wait for the wild animal to show up. When it does you have enriched the world with something only you could have done because you were where it was.

 

What you need

You need to show up. Nobody does art unless they need to. You can’t not do it. It makes you do it. It is not like you choose to do it. If my assertion that you don’t need to know anything to do art then it might follow that everyone would do it because how fun is that. You get to fool around all day.

but not everyone does want to do it. That is because it is not easy. It is hard to show up everyday and work and face it. At least it is hard for me and I cannot not do it. So it must be hard for everyone to slog it out. You can’t make it turn out great so you have to keep showing up and paint or write lots of bad things before the good one comes out.

You need discipline , courage, stamina, determination when it is easier to just do something else. anything else.

Art is not easy, art is a miracle when is appears. Art is euphoric when you get to be the one it comes through and it can be like agony when it does not show up.

I like to think about Edison, trying over and over and over times 1000 times to get the light to work. What kept him going?? Why did it take so long?? What tremendous courage to keep going.

error: Please do not copy.