The Gifted
So many times I have heard artists, singers, musicians, and others referred to as gifted. In some ways I think this is true but a bigger truth is they have been given a huge responsibility as well. For anyone to accept the gift as it is will probably end up with nothing but an undeveloped talent. The gift must be accepted as a responsiblity one that must be developed and nurtured through out a life time, maybe with some reward but maybe not, if you learn to enjoy the process this will be your pay.
Should this gift be given to someone without a great deal of drive and a burning love of the process of learning, it will be totally wasted. When I was a kid in school I remember a lot of kids that were more talented than I was but were not driven and didn't believe they could become exceptional at drawing and painting. On the other hand this was all I ever wanted to do and it consumed all of my thoughts and my spare time, and I never doubted for a moment that this would be my life's work. How I knew this I don't know, since I really didn't know what an artist did for a living. I suppose I thought they all did magazine covers and story illustrations. At any rate I knew at the age of 5 what I wanted to do.
After raising a son and a daughter I discovered that I was a bit of an odd ball. The reality I found, was most people finish college and still don't know what their life's work will be. To many times it depends on the direction their first job offering takes them. This I find very sad because I believe many more people are gifted in ways that know one recognizes. I think talent is more readily recognized in the arts because we are a left brain society so anyone gifted in the right hemishere of the brain have been given a special gift. This is a way for the public to explain why they can't do it. They were left out. The left brain seems to find pride in pointing out that they can't draw a straight line. How hard could this be you place the chalk on the chalk board and drop your hand. Gravity works it's magic and you have a straight verticle line. But they are proud they can't do this.
In any case people grow into middle age and discover they are gifted in some way. Maybe this gift is nothing more than a strong desire to do something. An interest you just can't shake. Well today there is no good reason not to pursue this interest. The computor via the internet gives us access to worlds we have only imagined.
To try something new that you are interested in doesn't mean you have to ever reach a professional proficiency. Most activities people do as a hobby, were mean't to be done as a hobby. Only the very best become professionals, but if it weren't for those who do it as a hobby we wouldn't have professionals. Bowling, golf, and other sports, if this wasn't true then we would only need 28 stadiums and 28 gymnasiums for the whole United States. One golf course would take care of all the professional golfers and one bowling alley would be more than sufficient.
To take up painting late in life is admirable because it is probably the most difficult thing you'll ever try. It will consume the rest of your life. Myself I took up the guitar and more recently I have begun to carve leather. I have absolutely no desire to ever make ten cents from either pursuit. To attempt to earn an income from either one would only be a distraction from the learning process as well as eat into the time I have to do them. Plus I hold out no hope that I will ever reach a professional level at either one. What I have found exciting is the wealth of information and help in the form of professionals out there to help you teach yourself.
The same is true of painting there are so many books and classes available that didn't exist when I was young. So go for it, work hard, and above all learn to enjoy the process because that is your true reward.
Wm. F. Reese
Should this gift be given to someone without a great deal of drive and a burning love of the process of learning, it will be totally wasted. When I was a kid in school I remember a lot of kids that were more talented than I was but were not driven and didn't believe they could become exceptional at drawing and painting. On the other hand this was all I ever wanted to do and it consumed all of my thoughts and my spare time, and I never doubted for a moment that this would be my life's work. How I knew this I don't know, since I really didn't know what an artist did for a living. I suppose I thought they all did magazine covers and story illustrations. At any rate I knew at the age of 5 what I wanted to do.
After raising a son and a daughter I discovered that I was a bit of an odd ball. The reality I found, was most people finish college and still don't know what their life's work will be. To many times it depends on the direction their first job offering takes them. This I find very sad because I believe many more people are gifted in ways that know one recognizes. I think talent is more readily recognized in the arts because we are a left brain society so anyone gifted in the right hemishere of the brain have been given a special gift. This is a way for the public to explain why they can't do it. They were left out. The left brain seems to find pride in pointing out that they can't draw a straight line. How hard could this be you place the chalk on the chalk board and drop your hand. Gravity works it's magic and you have a straight verticle line. But they are proud they can't do this.
In any case people grow into middle age and discover they are gifted in some way. Maybe this gift is nothing more than a strong desire to do something. An interest you just can't shake. Well today there is no good reason not to pursue this interest. The computor via the internet gives us access to worlds we have only imagined.
To try something new that you are interested in doesn't mean you have to ever reach a professional proficiency. Most activities people do as a hobby, were mean't to be done as a hobby. Only the very best become professionals, but if it weren't for those who do it as a hobby we wouldn't have professionals. Bowling, golf, and other sports, if this wasn't true then we would only need 28 stadiums and 28 gymnasiums for the whole United States. One golf course would take care of all the professional golfers and one bowling alley would be more than sufficient.
To take up painting late in life is admirable because it is probably the most difficult thing you'll ever try. It will consume the rest of your life. Myself I took up the guitar and more recently I have begun to carve leather. I have absolutely no desire to ever make ten cents from either pursuit. To attempt to earn an income from either one would only be a distraction from the learning process as well as eat into the time I have to do them. Plus I hold out no hope that I will ever reach a professional level at either one. What I have found exciting is the wealth of information and help in the form of professionals out there to help you teach yourself.
The same is true of painting there are so many books and classes available that didn't exist when I was young. So go for it, work hard, and above all learn to enjoy the process because that is your true reward.
Wm. F. Reese
Gift is choking necessity.
You have waited for April 1st to pass
didn't you?
Great essay!
Responsibility?!
What?
Are you out of your mind?
painting responsibilities?
sculpting responsibilities?
what the hell is that?
you screw up
somebody dies
that how seriously simple that is!
trying something new is not a hobby
it is a necessity!
that is why
there is no choice
only do it
and that is your lot
so
enjoy it.
i have week knees in front of the people who come after full day of work to paint or draw or sculpt
and
i have to pretend that i know more then they do
it is scary
what if i can't deliver ...
what if i can't pull the best out of their one hour stolen for me?
how that for responsibility?
professional...?
that is a ruff measure
i know we have to know the alphabet to write,
but what if
it is in an unknown language?
thank you, my friend! for the opportunity to spill over.
yoursimon
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My friend Simon writes in a broken meter type of prose, a little like shattered glass and when you read it is like picking up shards of beautiful broken art glass. It requires a great deal of care for fear of drawing you own blood. So I am going to try to interpret and answer each line.
Art is a choking necessity.
For those that are among the so called gifted they really have no chose but to persue it or face certain suffacation if they don't.
You have waited for April 1st to pass didn't you?
I suppose this might mean the most people would think I was joking had I written it the day before.
Responsibility?! What? Are you out of your mind?
Well Simon aren't we all?
Painting respnonsibilities? Sculpting responsibilities? What the hell is that?
How could something be a responsibility when you really have no choice, I suppose in a way this is true. Unfortunately I have seen too many people that did not except this responsibility and wasted their gift, and I think it is a true tragedy to waste a God given gift because someone is too lazy to do the work necessary to develop it. Usually they stop when the work becomes difficult, the progress comes slower, and the cheering stops this is when you have to reach down inside and work your way through and do it for yourself.
You screw up somebody dies that how seriously simple is it!
Simon means that when you are creating a piece of art it requires the same attention given by a surgeon. No mistakes or somebody dies. This is not a game.
Trying something new is not a hobby, it is a necessity!
A hobby deserves the same attention that any thing else deserves, if you are going to do it, do it right and with the same agressive energy.
That is why there is no choice only do it and that is your lot so enjoy it.
Plain enough what can I say?
I have week knees in front of the people who come after full day of work to paint or draw or sculpt and I have to pretend that I know more than they do. It is scary what if I cant deliver....what if I can't pull the best out of their one hour stolen for me?
Simon has just owned up to the responsibility he feels for the time given to him by his students and the job he must do in getting the most our of their time.
Professional...? that is a rough measure.
Professional amatuer what is the difference they both require the same degree of attention and hard work. Art is only worth doing if it is done for the love of it. Amour I believe is the root of amatuer. If you are not going to do art for the love of it, it is too damn hard to be doing for money.
I know we have to know the alphabet to write, but what if it is in an unknown language?
Art is only art if it is in an unknown alphabet. Art is an invention something that has never been seen before and we must each develop own own language and calligraphy to express if.
Well Simon how did I do as a Russian interpreter?
Wm. F. Reese
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Well Beel,
what can i say...?
in some places you interpret
in others you react...
no blood for you
today
I like this hide and seek - nice
loveit!
thank you
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In someplaces I interpret in others I react. You must mean the part where we're both crazy. Sooooooooooooooooooo!?
Wm. F. Reese
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Mr. Reese,
I have always admired your work and have written to you on a couple of occasions. This "musing" is wonderful... For those who "have it"... it is understood what is written.. For those who don't... they don't have a clue. thank you again, Someday, I would love to meet you. If I ever get up to Washington, I will get in contact with you.
Paula Jones
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Paula
You bring up a good point, "those who have it understand it. For those who don't..they don't have a clue."
So how wood they understand it if we don't tell them. Anything that is done well always looks easy and artists hardly ever talk about how hard is is to learn to do and even harder to make a living at it. Because to us it is like being paid to eat lemon pie. Sure it is a little sour but that's the way we like it.
Thanks for the comment.
Wm. F. Reese
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I came to painting in midlife, but I always always drawn to it as a child. I was also drawn to writing. When I went to college, I felt I could take one of two routes - either painting or writing. Weighing the economics of each, I decided writing would be the least expensive to get started in. (Back in those days, we had no computers, and I figured a typewriter would cost a lot less than brushes, canvas and paint.) I became an English major. Even so, I hung out with the art majors and NOT the English majors. After college, I went on to get yet another degree in English. It was a long haul to writing professionally, but I got there. Yet I always painted. One day ten years ago, I took a one-day pastel workshop, and it literally changed my life. A lightbulb clicked on, and I recognized what my gift was. I haven't looked back since.
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The price of a type writer. Boy what a strange way to chart the course of your life. Never the less you found yourself and here you are, that is the important thing. The good thing is your are probably not semi literate in your native tongue like most of the rest of us.
Nearly everything we learn in school or other wise is somehow connected to art so as long as we continue to draw and paint, the time spent learning other subjects is seldom wasted. I have learned so much about painting and sculpting from music and science it is hard to believe. Think sometime about how much philosophy there is in art. I always believed that to study art is to study everything, math, history, geology, I really can't think of anything that wouldn't bring us back to art. The most damaging thing would be to not study art in a studio setting at the same time you were studying everthing else.
Wm. F. Reese
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Bill, I absolutely love this entry may I quote you on my blog? I agree with you 100% on this. We are currently in Italy and have seem some beautiful art here. The world would be a dreary place if those with their various gifts did not do their part in working to develop them. We all have them, it is a matter of finding them and the drive to perfect them is what separates them from our interests. It is a luxury to develop talents and interests without worrying about income. That is what I have experienced in my design work. The enjoyment along with the feelings of satisfaction with a job well done. Surprisingly. on top of that, is the income for such things as traveling to Italy! Hi to Fran!
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Bonnie
I'm jealous of your trip to Europe, enjoy.
Talents and interests should only be developed without including the burden of income. Especially the arts. Motive is everything if you paint for money it shows, if you paint for the love of it that also shows. The truly artistic persue art because they have to they have absolutely no choice in the matter. So it is not a luxury it is the only way to pursue art or anything that requires a great deal of work and practice. If we are only in it for the money then chances are it will never happen. The pay off is in the process and that is where we find our reward.
Wm. F. Reese
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