Art and Creativity: Making Peace With Certain Limitations on Our Creativity

avatar

Coming to terms with the full potential — or limitations thereon — of our artistic dreams and aspirations can be a difficult and often painful process.

RD0167-Cherries.jpg

In the course of owning two galleries — for a total of 16 years, all told — and also being an aspiring artist of sorts for the last 13, I have watched many let go of one-time dreams of becoming a "successful" artist (usually meaning working on art full-time and actually making a living from it) and settling into acceptance of simply being a "happy hobbyist" who otherwise works full-time as a programmer, accountant or retail sales clerk.

It can be a very painful process for some, and they may even turn their backs on all things creative in anger and frustration, feeling disillusioned that they just "didn't make it."

RD0174-BW-Daisies.jpg

I find myself personally close to such a point, recognizing that several peers of mine who started pretty much the same thing as I at the same time as I have fared much better than I and have reached that full-time art and creativity lifestyle.

I remain far from that point...

So we end up asking ourselves what they do that we don't do... and asking ourselves if we have truly exhausted all possible avenues in our attempt to reach our goals. Did we try hard enough? Were we patient enough?

RD0181-BW-SedonaSky.jpg

That's where the waters start getting a little muddy. I recognize that I am not an outgoing go-getter who's eternally social, and I also haven't had the time to give to creativity because of the pervasive need to "make a living," that always seems to haunt me.

And — to be a bit snide about it — I am also a slightly geeky 60-year old, not a highly attractive and charming female in my late 30s or early 40s. In these days of eternal social media, that can sometimes be more important than the art, itself.

In 2015, I made a commitment to "taking my art seriously" and to "give it five years." Soon, I will have given it seven, and I have still not gotten anywhere close to where I hoped I would be.

RD0217-Mustard-FlowerBW.jpg

But this post is not really about my art, it's about the broader challenge many artists and creatives face when they reach a point of deciding just how much of a time, effort and heart commitment they are willing to continue to put into their work.

In other words, how do we make peace with changing our paradigm and "making peace" with being a "weekend artist?"

For many, it's fairly easy because they never had aspirations to more than being a "weekend artist." For many others... there is the leaving behind a part of ourselves; a dream we once had that we might have tried to make a reality, but the "reality of the world" has shown us that it simply isn't going to happen.

RD0226-Grass.jpg

I love the creative process, and I am not about to stop doing what I am doing!

However, I am ready to let go of the sense of eternally "swimming upstream" and instead make peace with my life as "a book editor who's also a part-time artist."

Life is just too short to be bitter about things that didn't turn out the way we'd hoped!

Thanks for reading!

20211013
H0023/0260
All images are our own, unless otherwise attributed



0
0
0.000
3 comments
avatar

Your post has been curated by us! Received 20.00% upvote from @opb. Do consider delegate to us to help support our project.

Do join our discord channel to give us feedback, https://discord.gg/bwb2ENt

* This bot is upvoting based on the criteria : 1. Not plagiarised, 2. Persistent previous quality posts, 3. Active engagement with other users
Do upvote this commment if you 💚 our service :)
0
0
0.000
avatar

I have seen what you say about sometimes it's who is doing the art and not the art itself. Unfortunately, that happens in all walks of life I'm thinking, so it makes sense that it would happen in the art world as well.

I love making art. I loved making art as a child too, my very favorite thing to do, but sadly, I never entertained the thought that maybe I could make it my life. I don't know why. I did the normal, average things, falling in love, getting married, working jobs that gave me a paycheck, but which mostly did not feed me creatively.

From time to time I would try different things and I suppose my family and friends viewed me as creative and with quite an imagination. Still.... it didn't dawn on me that I should put it all down and just make art.

Crazy right ?

Around 2012 I began slowly becoming the weekend artist, well, not every weekend even, when I decided that since I could not afford the things I saw that I loved to decorate my home, that I would just create everything I put on my walls.... and so it began. I actually painted a few things, abstract, that I actually liked!!! LOL.... and many pieces I did not. Some of the wonky ones I still kept because they were icons of my journey.

Although up to a few years ago, I would tell you that I had no real regrets in my life, none big enough to drag around with me at least, but in the last few years, I do wish in my daydreams from time to time that I had taken a different path and had focused on art instead of all the other things I did. By now, I should have been pretty good ! LOL !

Oh well.... !

0
0
0.000
avatar

Congratulations @reddragonfly! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You distributed more than 16000 upvotes.
Your next target is to reach 17000 upvotes.

You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

0
0
0.000