elements and seasons

Something i admire, from Iker Contazar

marc rothko

These are some of my personal assumptions about what makes humans worthy to be recognized as

ARTIST... it is a bit about what separates the true artist from the hobbyist, in my mind, i am not sure that I am a True Artist, but I have long wanted to be that, and called myself that after producing some good work
but now i wonder, was i really invested in it?  Would others really agree that i am an artist, I have hardly had money to produce...is talent enough? Am I talented enough, did i take on responsibility when i created art, did i just make some nice things to look at....?

The artist and hobbyist do differ i believe~ while they are similar in that both produce wonderful things, like the elements in life are connected to the seasons, they are two different phenomenon, and while some artist produce things not as widely appreciated as your pal the hobbyist next door, there is a different will in the two producers of art, one may be heavily pulled to create while the other wishes they had more time...one would risk family, life, and  limb while the other would merely like to produce more if he could afford it

part of the role of the good artist is to challenge the worn out assumptions of their fellow travelers through life
in this sense some people lives are the art they produce, they live to challenge the status quo, hoping to have an influence that causes a bit of evolution, a moment or two of revolution, or some event come to pass by their own hand (or mind) that will cause a new beginning in the way something is done, an improvement in the way a thing is done, which is in fact a sort of evolving

a bad artist can just sit doing coloring book style paintings all day long and marking them with titles and prices, while a more a tortured artist is the one who cares about the ways they might help man to evolve,
and that person who paints just for pleasure, and some extra cash is a person who has a painting hobby

to be an artist carries a sort of  "art executive" responsibility with it, to be a hobbyist is to enjoy arts or crafts for relaxation, or meditation, or just because... there is nothing wrong with the latter, so long as that person is not under some false understanding that they should be known as a true artist, because they produce something of value...maybe the difference lies in the question of what have they had to do with pattern or design? what has the person had to put into the production of the completed project, besides some heart and some physical activity? Has the person used the pattern of someone else or created a pattern from scratch?
have they spared no expense in acquiring the materials or made sure the finished product would last over lifetimes? Be applauded, noticed, recognized as great? Be appreciated as fine art?
By how many...a few? a few hundred? a few hundred thousand?  a million?

This ever changing world has made it more difficult to decide who is worthy of this title, hasn't it?

I personally cannot appreciate many artists who get great recognition, and that damn Rothko, i mean what is he thinking, but who am i to criticize, i suppose he is cutting edge(s),  please do pardon the pun? 
I am glad though that the gay audience has given him a chance, perhaps he deserves it, and i know that they understand how difficult it can be to be yourself, and how everyone deserves a chance in life... in a sometimes crazed  unaccepting world such as this...everyone needs acceptance, so i guess i am happy for him. happy AND Envious (note the capitol e, yes it's intentional)  i am envious of his hobby getting him bushel barrels full a dough...maybe some gays who love Rothko are going to think i am criticizing their ability to recognize good art, or that i am picking on them...please don't, maybe you all are tapped into something mesmerizing that i cannot see? I just can't see because i can't get past his (for me, lack of talent and) status in the art world, while i am just nothing...and I am so upset (okay pissed off) that I'm not being noticed, sometimes...well it is probably precisely that, oh and I  do feel that I am bisexual, at the very least, and probably, possibly so-called "worse" than that, but who knows, i laugh about my own wayward ways...
(if i had the time to figure out my sexuality id not be very invested in my art) so, just shut-it, girlfriend!

if every person who engages in an artistic hobby were to take on the moniker "artist", then they would take up the burden of that responsibility, a rather subliminal when unrecognized title, that carries some real heft...or weight with it... the weight of responsibility to produce things through artistic measures which leads one down a road of thought, or to induce some emotion in viewers, or allow one to come to some deeper understanding of the world, or a deeper or hidden understanding of themselves or of another (if only of the artist) or others, this is the artists responsibility, the hobbyist need not worry or fuss about the same

Why do people think artists suffer with melancholy? Why are a great many artists considered outsiders in some crowds? Why would anyone, who recognizes the artists place in society as a touchstone to others, scoff at the ways they are different?

perhaps i is because some people involved in art have a very disheveled appearance, they may not see the value of constantly shaving or keeping up with their hair...we wake up full of notions, artists may often wake to run to the pen, to grasp at the paintbrush, or to hurry to the next task at hand...when they are producing...
a sculptor may have dreamed the perfect thigh...no one knows what carries the artist off to their labors, but they themselves... they may not even be sure at times, yet, are so invested that one knows they ARE artists
and they know they must make haste to write down the song,  decode the dance,  unleash the muse...
they've dreamed an improvement in the painting, sleep may take hold of the minds eye, one must rush to record it before distracted... before it is lost...how important then is it that our teeth get brushed first...that
we answer the phone? people can wait half an hour, three hours...how important is it that one brush the hair first? or make a breakfast? artists are called starving not always because the cabinet is empty but for the fact that the art came first and they have quite forgotten to eat! ...sometimes all day long,  i believe that an artist likes to think that what they have produced in a creative burst of energy, just may be much more important than whether they have eaten yet or brushed their hair, these things should be understood, not laughed at

Anyone claiming to be an artist must have an idea about this, how the things of vanity fall away for the art piece, many have very little care about health, or food... forgetting to eat, or eating properly may fall to the wayside...it isn't that they don't love or appreciate a good meal...but they are oft preoccupied with light or dark on tone or hue or note or key, the things of the craft they indulge take up all their time.
These artists would rather produce something of intrinsic value to someone than to worry over how they look
of course it is no fun to cajole your artsy into a bath when they have forgotten even to bathe, but most of us will be sure that we won't offend our self or others by forgetting to bathe...and there is a lot to be learned and meditated upon in a hot bath...i have been known to spend hours in a bath in my youth, replacing the water cooling water by letting some out and adding more hot back in several times and watching my fingertips turn to prunes before finally deciding i really must get out

 When you know a budding artist, someones who seems to possibly have a world of imagination and spiritual power within, one should be buying anything from them,  (and not just for the investment) in knowing them early on, you may have an angle on the best work they will ever produce, no one know where an artist goes over time, one can elevate or disintegrate, one can pool their talents or watch them fade...and artist should never get involved very deeply with drugs or alcohol, is lessens the quick speed ability to pick up on the nuances of life you need to produce light

a writer produces light with words, a musician with tones, a painter with hue and shape...the dancer produces light with the human form, and so it goes...an actor with ideals, (not merely ideas, those are common), even an athlete could sometimes be considered one producing light for all the world to see, just consider the Olympians, how they manage the body is an art of sorts, taking in all the nutrients they need for peak performance, sharing what they have practiced over many many years of real work, having sacrificed...
ah SACRIFICE....(that could be the very biggest point to be made herein). the artist sacrifices things for
their art ~ they will give up opportunity to be a human guide through the labyrinth of whatever it is that you may wish to find, not really knowing but sensing what you may need to find, the artist is a sensual master of producing things that make people feel...they make people feel sadness, delight, fondness, fright, disgust, a myriad of emotions which help one process whatever it is needs processing

people would not flock to museums and pay an entry fee to see art, if they didn't long to be made to feel something through gazing upon art for hours at a time, people would not pay sometimes exorbitant fees to see plays, see the classics performed by masters,  arrive at rock concerts, prepared to be taken down the winding road of memory lane, or explore whatever places inside that the music would choose to take them,
a hobbyist a may be elevated to "artist" status by becoming a master at what they do, and often the hobby becomes an obsession and an artist is just born of the once average person

while most people who have little time to produce art, realize that they are hobbyist...and they have no problem with merely producing pretty things for family or friends to enjoy, or to make some extra money at a flea market  perhaps...some of these things they create are wonderful artistic things, for instance the most lovely strongest baskets in town...well they may be an incredibly talented hobbyist, but they may not wish to be called an artist, while if they have mastered the craft, making beginners look just plain silly by comparison, they may have graduated...i personally have seen lahala (coconut fiber) woven into the most beautiful, strong, long-lasting hats in Hawaii, as to feel that I might freely use the term masterpieces...not every hobby is merely a craft, some truly produces art whose techniques and patterns should be logged for future generations to come, that we may never lose the ways to produce such beauty~

to close i would like to say that I am still searching for the answer to the question of my being a true artist, I think that perhaps i am a hobbyist with real potential, and that i have not advanced for having been nearly poverty stricken for most of my life, well i have always had enough to live, but i would never sacrifice my comforts, nor the comfort of my family for my art, i would not give up the nice things i bought to make the home cozy, in order to create art, but that meant also, that i could not produce art that might give back in money which i might then have bought comforting things with...in hindsight i may have given up a bit more to arrive at artist status, but i know that i have a good bit of talent, and so...well...I'm not dead just Yet!