Local and Global; My Art World Commentary

hi there...

you may have noticed artsails1 has pretty much been off the blog radar since mid April. You could call it being in major super learning mode...through self educating and much time, research and effort on the web the past few months, I have learned a lot. I created an art website for another artist, I developed a blog for another company and have done art on white boards in video games and have a video game art presence. So...here I am a little less burned out after a vacation in NYC. The world is filled with so many creative people!

The newspapers have let departments go and long time staff writers, no longer enjoy a steady paycheck with a (formerly) major employer. A print magazine with features of local artists was developed a couple years ago and I agreed to an ongoing paid writing assignment online. The print media is about to become extinct...as far as the arts scene goes. As many retailers and businesses struggled to keep their doors open; the bottom literally fell out of print advertising. The world no longer reads the daily paper or even the weekly....people are doing everything online not just news and research but even event planning, socializing, making friends and many are reconnecting with people from their past as well as creating a future with a vast array of contacts from all over the world.

When I started my blog...it wasn't a new thing for the world but many of my friends had no idea what a blog was or why I would write one when I already had a website for over 10 years. Much to my surprise, it was one of the first art blogs in my area. Today, I am happy to report that more local artists are online creating blogs and posting their paintings and if they don't actually have their very own website, they are at least on Facebook and/or Myspace and some are even in the professional site of LinkedIn and a few are even on Twitter. While some have found facebook and myspace applications a great way to connect with people by using games such as Small World, Yoville and Second Life. Artists are creating online art communities and demonstrating their own version of an actually made in application, digital art gallery. Yours truly has hand created 12 paintings in Yoville and these are all part of my online presence, as an artist. (My Yoville is a Facebook app)

With an entry to any of these worlds; be it your own blog, website and /or social networking; you are here to stay... you are stating your relevance. You are sharing your art, people want to know about you and your art. They want to feel that you are accessible. I am accessible; talk to me, connect with me, sign up to be my friend or follow my blog or tweets ... I'll be seeing you again soon.
Yours Truly,
Jeanee

Artsails1 is Thinking, Again!

"Journey" c by Jean Bourque
Silk Collage m/m on paper (sold)

Thoughts of an Artist by Jean Bourque 12-18-07

As artists, we wear many faces. When we create we are our truest selves, for there lays our freedom, our soul, our very being. Everything that I am stems up and out from the artistic soul I was born with.

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about what it means to be an artist. I mean not in the obvious sense but on a deeper level. What does it mean and what does it take in terms of commitment, time, passion, expense and love to develop one's self as an artist.

Then there are the practical concerns which at times can be more pressing than the joy of art. How can I be self supporting as an artist? How can anyone especially a single person, be above the survival level without a fund or supporters; be that an inheritance, a grant, or a family's financial support?

I have been searching, not just for the answers to these questions, but to many more. Somehow it feels like a puzzle with a few missing pieces. Can we create the larger picture of being profitable and going above and beyond just getting by? I do believe we can. I try the doors and some open, while others need a key. Perhaps sharing my thoughts will provide a key.

We wear a happy face. We are blessed, we know we are. All of us that have this talent are very blessed. In the blessings there is a key to another dimension. We walk thru the sheer veil and what we experience is all in the mind. We are our minds, our thoughts, our passions, our creations, and our talent must come from our soul.

You can tell when someone is creating from their soul. Their work will look like no one else’s artwork. It will be as unique as a fingerprint. If we are all to write a story about what we did last summer, they would all be different. Yet, a group may paint flowers together and many times the teacher assists them, so that they all look alike. Not all artists are creating from the soul. I can attend any art gathering and spot the ones without joy in their hearts. They typically are just copying other artists and always wear a mask.

I have been blessed to be a very talented writer and a visual artist. This comes natural to me just like doing PR, Blogging and Marketing do. I have had many classes with many great and well known artists and some fine writers as well. I have been blessed to do things my own way. For that I am very grateful. I have the joy, I have the passion. I create unique art that is my own. I have a signature style. Even when I think my work looks real different and no one will know it is mine; they do. Something from within me always presents itself in my work, so that others recognize it in a crowd immediately.

I am moved to write, I am not able to “not” paint. These are things I must do; they are within me and must be shared. The colors and words swirl within me; paintings in a slide show format run through my head. I have been hazed and dazed with tons of creativity. It is what propels me through life. It is my passion, it is me; it is what I am. Creating is 100% me. It is my natural state of being.

This writer, artist has never ran out of ideas or faced a blank wall for more than a split second. I am like the proverbial; cup runneth over, my artisan well, runs deep. The more I let out the more I have! The face of joy exists when I am, who I am. When my soul is set free!***********

I look forward to every art meeting to see the happy faces of other passionate artists like myself. Hope to see you at our next art gathering!
Yours truly,
Jean Bourque
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