ART CLASS 001
THE EMOTIONAL ARTIST WITHIN

Artists, more than anyone it seems, are some of the most emotional people on the planet. Much like mothers we are entities who create things of beauty from, for the most part, the depths of our individualistic souls. We spend hours, if not days, conjuring up images that please either us or our audiences or both, and with each image we create we put more and more of ourselves out there for the world to see. We put our souls in each piece, and then subject them to the cruel scrutiny of the world at large.

Many handle it, for the most part, with gritted teeth and clenched fists. Some gracefully take the barbs with the praise. Some are crushed by the smallest of words and take their pictures home with them, likely to wind up in the fireplace before the day is over. On the other hand, sometimes we are so affected by outside elements that we either bury ourselves in our work or go home once again, making people wonder if we will ever return. We see this all the time on deviantART and have come to expect it on a regular, if somewhat unwelcome, basis. It is part of our existence on this site (just as I am sure it is on any other art site).

Recently I went through one bout of the last example, letting the pressures of my regular life get to me. I deleted my gallery and punished the ones who have deemed themselves my ‘fans’ with the disappearance of my body of work. Ultimately they get over such things because, well, it is not them and it is not their work. They have their own creations and galleries to nurture, and the problems of another artist are none of their concern. Sure some will show a keen interest, but they know there is nothing they can do to help the artist who just ‘up and left’. It is something we have to do on our own.

Sometimes we do. Sometimes we do not.

When we do we come back stronger than before. Our work has improved because, during that brief time of self-introspection we learn more about who we are and what we do. We create and we put our souls into the works we do. It is not ink or bytes or lead or paint, it is blood and sweat and tears and emotions. Every time that we put our hand around a pen, we put our hands on an instrument that is going to capture a piece of ourselves for all time on paper. We are going to place our fingers on a mouse to click a bit of our soul into the picture on screen.

We create not only to entertain the public at large, we create because that is what we were born to do. We create because we have the soul for it. Every character, every scene, every color and tone is a part of us. A part of our soul that we have chosen to share with the world because that is what we do. We put ourselves out there for the world to judge. Not for a pageant or a prize, but because we were born to do this. If people do it by choice, then they were not born this way, they merely picked up the skills along the way and chose it as a profession or a pastime. People like myself, we do it because it is in our blood, our DNA, our very being.

In a way I envy those who were not born this way as they can turn it on or off at the drop of a dime. I can’t. True artists cannot turn it off, ever. We can try, but we always come back for more. We come back because we were born to share with the world our visions, or dreams and our passions. Whether it is traditional work or PhotoShop or 3D or writing or poetry or any other form of artistic expression out there, we are born to do this. Maybe for ourselves or for the people, it really depends on the artist themselves, but we do it because we were born to do it.

Just as women are born to create life, artists are born to create visions. We may not go through the life-threatening motions of squeezing a baby out of an orifice the size of a dime, but we do push things out of our souls and out there for everyone to see. To judge us by our output, to suffer the slings and arrows of the public that can be so cruel at times, and so supportive at others.

When an artist doubts himself or herself, it comes with the territory. As I learned recently it does not matter if you are a beginner or someone that has made a career of it for most of his or her natural life, every artist at some point has an emotional breakdown. We doubt because it is expected of us on an almost genetic level. We worry because we are supposed to.

We are mothers, we are creators and we are an emotional lot. When one of us goes through this the best thing that we can do is offer a shoulder and an ear, but to just step back and let the artist’s turmoil boil over and see what the end result is. Maybe they will come back stronger, and maybe they will not come back at all. If they do then their work benefits or changes drastically. If not, then the world has lost yet another valuable talent and mind.

II say use that emotional artist within. You know they are there waiting to come out, you might as well use them while you can. Use that emotional power to create something. Let your frustrations out on paper or the screen or the clay. Let the rage and the sadness, the joy and the sorrow, out and use it as fuel for your next creation. I learned to do that many years ago, and the level of detail in my work can sometimes be used as a gauge of just where my head is at the time. The more detail the more stress. I use my art as an outlet; I let the emotional side in me come out on paper. Sure, I have let it go too far and it winds up with a deletion or worse, but for the most part I have utilized that side of my soul in my work.

You can too. You just have to find your own way of using it.