What is an Artist?

What is an artist?  Is it some sort of special, divine, inborn talent that makes an artist?  Is it accolades and awards from people with a pile of degrees and a long resume?

I have begun to think that perhaps you become an artist when you declare yourself an artist; when you have something important to say with your art and you say it.  

You don't need the approval of an expert from an ivory tower to declare you an artist.  You don't need a special parchment with an even more special seal.  You don't even need for your nearest and dearest to approve of you and what you create.  (Sure, it would be nice, but it isn't essential).

Remember Van Gogh?  Remember Monet and his scrappy bands of Impressionist rejects with their Salon Des Refuses?  Think of Duchamp and his two million dollar urinal.  It was art because he said it was art.

Pick up a brush, a stylus, a handful of clay, and say what needs to be said.

You are an artist.

Another Brick in the Wall

You muzzled me, 
taking the key away.

I waited for my carrot. 
Sticks followed stones.

They poked me.  
They jeered 
but I believed.

If I was just good 
for long enough.

I stayed mute; 
my hands empty, 
eyes ahead.

I pretended not to see 
candy falling into the hands
of the rebels, the misfits, 
and the artists.

I applied for your approval,
selected my Waldo moment.
I stayed the course you set.
My rat for your cheese.
My obedience in triplicate.

You stamped me; 
rewards delayed.

I misunderstood 
what I was playing for.

The rule book is faulty.
Only the dead reap the prize.

Blue and White

Strangely, when I had the option of using the whole of the color palette and absolutely any subject matter under the sun, I felt completely and utterly blank.

Had my imagination and stock of cultural references deserted me for all time?

Then the prompt of using two very specific colors and everything clicked into place.

Always such a relief when creativity knocks gently and quietly on the door.

Erato, you are always welcome here!

Escape Never seemed more Urgent and less Likely

A few days ago, I was having an intriguing conversation with some friends about how we, as a species, often explain the unknown.

We blame aliens.

Crop circles?  Must be aliens.

Mysterious ruins?  Must be aliens.

Unexplained lights in the night sky?  Must be aliens.

Disturbing abductions?  Must be aliens.

Not so very long ago, a mere century or two, and we had a very different explanation for such phenomena.

Crop circles?  Mysterious ruins?  

Unexplained lights in the night sky?  

Disturbing abductions?

Must be fairies!

When I started this piece, I started with a fantastic sky.  I had been admiring some antique  fairy tale illustrations of  "East of the Sun, West of the Moon", but I had a vague plan about a charming young girl and her polar bear steed.  As per usual, my art went in a completely different direction.

What happens when Victorian nursery meets Space Invaders meets Fairyland?

Now, you know!

To be accurate, my alien invader is actually an extremely large flying jellyfish, but I have often thought that most science fiction is probably way off when it always portrays alien species as almost all humanoid in style.  

I think that the inexplicable and eerily elegant life under the sea seems a more likely visage for our future alien encounters.  

Of course, I have absolutely no background in science so don't start betting the corn fields on it....

The Bearded lady and her Hairless...um...Kitty

I am having too much fun with this new series!

When you start looking on your art as a task to finish, it's time to take a leap in a completely new direction.

I love my Tarot card series but I definitely needed a palate cleanser!

Allow me to introduce the Bearded Lady and her fellow Side Show Performer, the Three Eyed, Hairless, um....Kitty.

Steampunk Miriam

I think I warned you that I would be re-visiting Miriam Angel.  It's a process.

Something gets stuck in my mind and I have to work it out.  I have now created three Miriam Angel themed pieces, read numerous articles, and managed to find and read two books about Israel Lipski, the man convicted of murdering her.

My first instinct when I heard the details of the case was to be outraged about the scant attention paid to Miriam herself.  I've unearthed more details about her.  She was 22 and pregnant with her first child.  She was having a difficult time with it, but still managed to breakfast with her mother in law every day after her husband had gone off to work as a boot riveter.

She was asleep in her bed, clearly visible through a hall window when the killer / killers came in and the murder occurred.  

As I worked my way through the information I could find about the case, the focus was always on Israel Lipski.  I can absolutely see why.  Based on the evidence, I really don't understand why he was ever even bought to trial.  

I suppose it came down to a case of his word against those of his two employees who pointed the finger back at him.  He was at the scene, bearing similar burn wounds in his mouth and throat as those inflicted to Miriam Angel, but the police chose to believe that the wounds were self-inflicted out of guilt.

Despite his swift conviction, enough doubt remained that the local Jewish community managed to have the execution put on hold until another police inquiry could be conducted.  While the investigation was under way, however, strangely, Israel Lipski confessed to the crime.  

As to be expected, he was hung in due course, but the trial and conviction remain controversial. 

Admittedly, I took a bit of a surrealistic bent on the crime as I did in my other two pieces featuring Miriam Angel.  

For whatever reason, my interest lingers on all things Victorian London, at least, those concerned with crime.

I live in south Louisiana.  Much local art features swamp landscapes and sea creatures.  Mine does not.

Admittedly, I didn't grow up here, but I also didn't grow up in Whitechapel at the turn of last century.  I did grow up in a world in which Victorian London seemed to represent all things magical and beautiful.  Remember "Mary Poppins"?  "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"?  I grew up on such classics so I think maybe the contrast between the Disneyfied version of that reality and the gritty contrast of what that world was really like is what draws me in.

I am wrapping up my Jack the Ripper series, but just know I will be back with at least one more Miriam Angel piece.  I read the title "East End poisoner driven to murder by Angel Lust."

How delicious and dark is that?  What exactly does Angel Lust look like?

As soon as I figure it out, I will share it with you!

Masks

We all wear masks.

We want to fit in.

We want to be accepted.

What is the cost to our souls?

We shouldn't have to pretend.  We shouldn't have to hide our inner flame.

I may be a little different.  I may dance to the beat of my own private jazz band.

It doesn't mean I'm dangerous or a menace to society.

It just means I'm me.

Deal with it.

Victorian Octopus Couture - 3Muse Fashion Challenge

Fairy Flight - TAW Bird Challenge

":I'm taking a ride with my best friend

I hope he never lets me down again

He knows where he's taking me

Taking me where I want to be

I'm taking a ride with my best friend

We're flying high

We're watching the world pass us by

Never want to come down

Never want to put my feet back down on the ground"

-Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again

I thought it would be fun to add a little steampunk 

fairy flavor to the Take a Word Bird challenge!

Octo-balloon - 3Muses Transportation Challenge

I've been absent from the weekly blog challenge 

for several weeks but am glad to be back!

My balloon octopus came out a bit more 

like a strange space ship octopus, 

but it is serving as transportation

 for an unfortunate rococo lady.

Like the Tardis, the interior of the octopus 

seems to be a great deal larger than the outside.

In fact, it seems to be the portal 

to another completely different

world of ice!

Virgin State of Mind - Digitalmania challenge a la homage Catrin Welz-Stein

Our inspiration this week at Digitalmania was the wonderfully surreal work of Catrin Welz-Stein.

I've been enamored of the song "Virgin State of Mind" by K's Choice since I heard it featured on the episode of BTVS "Dopplegangland".

"There's a chair in my head on which I used to sit

Took a pencil and I wrote the following on it

Now there's a key where my wonderful mouth used to be

Dig it up, throw it at me..."

Green Promenade - TAW challenge

They do say that opposites attract, but sometimes such things go a little too far extreme!

Vintage Odd Couple - TAW challenge

Sometimes we love not wisely, but too well!

Fly Away - TAW Balloon Challenge

I feel like I've been gone forever.

I am happy to have a piece ready for Take a Word!

Balloon Walk - Digitalmania challenge

I LOVE Halloween - TAW Challenge

Our challenge this week from Take a Word blogspot was Halloween.

I started with a photo that I had taken of Lafayette Cemetery in New Orleans.

I made up this piece but the more I looked at it, the more it felt like two separate pieces.

It seemed as if the two halves don't really belong together or that 

the Victorian bat girl is too far from the Halloween tomb.  

She seems so beautifully framed in the middle of the 

walkway so I hated to try to scoot her closer.

So I decided to break the first artwork into two pieces.

I left the bat girl intact in her walkway, ready to fly up and create Halloween havoc.

I added some elements to my Halloween tomb.

I went back and forth with my tomb poem, finally deciding on a quote from 

Samuel Coleridge's Kubla Khan.  It seemed suitably romantic and eerie.

Paris Stroll - 3Muse Umbrella Challenge

Maybe my Victorian Kitty Girl isn't actually in Paris.

Maybe she is actually sashaying down the street in a photo I took in New Orleans.

Certainly, it all seems to have a Parisian feel.

The challenge this week at Three Muses was a Rain / Umbrella challenge.

My Victorian Kitty Girl might actually be carrying a parasol to keep the sun from bronzing her perfect lily white complexion, but in New Orleans, an afternoon storm is just a few hours or minutes away!

The Big Bad meets the Three - 3Muses Challenge

I admit that I am a little torn here.

On the one hand, I would really hate for anything

to happen to such adorable little girls.

On the other hand, it is three versus one.

I think our Big Bad might be

a little over-matched on this one.

(Also, wolves are endangered!)

Mr Lumberjack and his axe are NOT ok!

The Three Muses challenge this week was all about the power of Three.

As soon as I saw these little Victorian girls, I knew I had found my three.

The wolf is courtesy of the US Parks and Wildlife and the pretty treescape is a public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

The Sweetheart of Hellephant - Digitalmania challenge

Is it any surprise that Hellephant has such a lovely diva beauty

for a sweetheart?

Gentleman Hellephant - New Digitalmania Challenge

Sometimes, it's the pieces that look the simplest that take the longest.

My Gentleman Hellephant took me an ungodly number of hours 

to clean up and make beautiful and ready for flight.

Yes, I know, he has an elephant head with only one ear.  

Alas, Mr Hellephant misplaced his ear and has yet to find it.  

When he does, I will happily re-attach it for him!