Day 5: Art and time

“It’s not how much time you put into your art, but rather how much art you put into your time.” It’s hard to write about this one, but I really do understand what it means. My interpretation of what it means is, it’s not amount of time you spend on your art that creates the value, it’s the amount of art that you put into what you are trying to create.

In painting, I feel that you aren’t really creating anything if you are spending too much time on it. You aren’t really progressing. If you put more art, more value, more texture, just simple elements and principles into your art, it will make all the difference in the final product. Now not only in painting can you achieve this; dancing, editing as well as filming, writing, designing and even cooking. If you put forth more effort in a small amount of time, you can create something worth more to yourself and to the rest of the world.

When I am focused or totally invested into what I am painting, time seems to stop. The rest of the world stops and nothing else matters. Time is never my enemy but rather my own mind. I always try to incorporate something more, something deeper than just what’s shown on the outside. I remember working on my final concentration project for AP studio Art, not having much time and almost giving up. The clock was ticking in my head and I had one night to complete it. I spent half of my night stressed, not knowing what I was going to do. I began with one small central idea and built upon it. I added lots of elements to my painting as well as mixing up my media a lot more, and I found a true voice in my art work. Walking the next day after not sleeping I handed in one of my greatest pieces of that year, and finally finding my true voice in my art work. From then on all the other small pieces of art I’ve done have one central idea and value to both the viewer and I.