Hello friends,
I get asked a strange question all the time. People ask me: “What kind of artist are you?” That question makes me either giggle or grumpy and I’ve been wondering - how should I answer it?
How would you answer it?
I know people just are wondering what medium I specialize in or what I am good at. So usually, I giggle and say, “I am the artsy kind of artist!”
But sometimes the question is twinged with judgement and I get grumpy. The question itself makes me feel claustrophobic. It limits my creativity to just one medium and I have to pick only one kind of art to make.
The creative child in me gives that whole idea a big, huge bronx cheer!
I love to experiment and play and make weird combinations. I create lots of kinds of work and even push the boundaries of “art” Ultimately, the question does not fit me. You see, in the past month I created:
Four oil paintings of canned corn and flowers
Three essays - one on my sister and two about creativity
22 pen and ink and acrylic drawing/paintings (see below)
Two weird dinners with wood ear mushrooms and peanut butter
43 pages of notes about improving Slow River Studio
16 gelli plate prints
5 sketchathon submissions and 14 sketchbook pages
Looking at that list, I see hours of experimentation and creativity!
And then I think, hmmm… I would probably get better at oil painting if I was a responsible adult and focused on just oil painting for 30 days. That’s what responsible adults do. Right? They focus. They practice. They select a major. They make a commitments.
But creativity can take many forms!
We can develop our technical skills by painting every day or increase our creativity through daily experimentation. Both are valid ways to be artistic. I just think I am the exploring kind of artist. I like trying new things, testing assumptions, and making weird pasta dishes. I enjoy being creative!
What kind of artist are you right now?
At Slow River, we certainly teach technical skills. If you want to finally master a flat wash, we can help! If you want to become more creative by mixing acrylic paints with collage or ink into your paints, we can help with that too! Creativity takes many forms at Slow River Studio!
