Responses to art questions and comments

Two topics from Jason Horejs, of Xanadu Gallery, in his “RedDotBlog, particularly caught my attention. It stirred my own responses.

 “Is Creating Art Hard Work?”

Creating art, for me, is hard work. Sometimes the creative muses are warring with one another as to who’s going to get my attention. I am easily distracted and, these days, if my concentration is interrupted, I lose the desire for other works in progress.

Unfortunately, but really not unfortunate, I have inspirations in many directions. (Unfortunate because I always feel like that bumblebee flitting from one flower to the next. I jump from project to project often before I finish the current one.) On the other hand, it’s exciting to have so many interests.

I am pulled into four main creative endeavors: writing, poetry, photography, and pastel painting. (This is the short list in which my life has evolved around.) I can be busy working on one project when something interrupts and I’m off on another gambit. It can take me a long time to get back to my previous work. Then there are times if I let a piece go too long without attention, I can’t get back into it all. So many new things claiming my attention.

“The Discipline It Takes to Create Art.”

Can I say I fail at discipline? Maybe not. I am disciplined in some aspect, especially my editing for the newspaper. However, with my four main creative passions, it’s sometimes hard to choose one over another. Especially when the muses are all pulling me in different directions.

There’s a part of me that loves this. There’s something exciting about being compelled to create. It’s thrilling when a muse grabs me. There are even multiple avenues with each creative project. I can be writing on one topic, when something else gets my attention. Sometimes when I let the distraction have its way with me, I’ll lose the creative desire on the previous working.

Then there are those times when regular life gets in the way of creativity. Life has been getting to me the last couple years and sometimes I can’t get out of my own way. During those times, discipline to work flies out the window.

Then, too, living alone means all other life aspects is up to me to take care of, so I can’t devote the time I’d like to art.

Maybe it all should be: Creating is hard work because it takes discipline and there are many distractions.