Alyice on October 24th, 2008

Artists Create, They Don’t Talk

Room With A View
Image © Pablo Solomon 2008

How much time do you spend working on your art? Can you honestly say that you devote enough time to “just working on your art”? I was over at Layers Upon Layers this week when I ran across Pablo Solomon’s profile/interview and a statement he made struck a chord with me and has been haunting me all week.

He said, “Spend more time working with your art than talking with other artists.”

I’ve been a writer so long that the isolation can sometimes be unbearable. So when I decided to cut back on my writing and get back into creating with my hands again, I found myself spending nearly an hour or two a day searching for another artist to connect to, longing to find a forum that I could feel a part of, hoping a comment I left on a blog would resonate enough that the blogger and I would connect and become online art buddies, and counting down the days until we could move closer to the big city—where artists groups abound.

Looking back, I now realize that while I’ve met some great art buddies, I should have been spending more time on developing my talent as an artist and less time searching the ‘net or tweaking my resume site or fretting over what content should appear on my art blog or doing the countless other menial tasks that took time from actually creating art; especially since I still have another business to run and a family to care for—making my free time a precious commodity.

And while I can honestly say that I do spend some time every day playing with my art, I do not spend nearly enough time on my art—a half an hour to an hour is simply not enough time to master techniques or grow as an artist.

So I thank Pablo for being real and speaking to the unknowns of the world, reminding us that we cannot become skilled and successful artists if our art isn’t the best it can be and that it will only become its best when we spend our time creating.

If you haven’t seen Pablo’s art, I encourage you to check out his interview or visit his site. I’ve never been fond of nude art but there’s something respectful about the sculpture art Pablo creates. It is breathtakingly beautiful and definitely worthy of being in museums—right up there with Michelangelo.

Oh, and keep your eye out on this blog as Pablo has agreed to be a featured artist for an up-and-coming series on studios.

Keep Creating.