First Post

I politely welcome you to skip all the words below and take a look my recent painting, if you like it then perhaps if you have time you can come back and read my post. 

I am currently halfway through my journey from Ames Iowa to Cincinnati Ohio. Given a few hours of silence, my thoughts have become more introspective than I typically allow them to be. It occurred to me that art itself is not the thing I love. I do enjoy creating art, I enjoy appreciating the art of others as well. However, I believe the real reason I create art is for it to touch the life of someone else. I acknowledge this is cheesy, but let me explain what I mean because I am only just now learning this. 

When I finish an art piece I have no real sense of accomplishment. I see it and am content with it, (or it would be in the garbage) but I do not feel that I have created anything yet. When someone sees it and appreciates it or contacts me about it, then I begin to feel like I have created something. Finally, when a piece is purchased and finds a home, the thought art created by my hand hanging in someone’s home being appreciated, that is when I love my art. It is not until then that I would even describe my relationship with art as something I even “love” to do. 

Upon this realization, I now realize that if I want to get a sense of self fulfillment out of art I need it to speak to people. In order for this to happen, people need to know why I do what I do. From now on I intend to keep a regular blog. I want to go back through some of my pieces and think about what they meant to me. More importantly, going forward, I want art to be more than mindless doodles but to put my heart into it. This is as much for my own progress as an artist as it is for the readers appreciation. 

To anyone who has read to this point, I am extremely grateful. I am not particularly eloquent nor have I ever had any sort of special affinity with writing. I am doubtlessly making countless linguistic errors and I hope you can continue to suffer through with me and see what I have to share. 

Joel 

Here is a watercolor I completed a couple days ago. Enjoy