Art of Seeing continued…

After creating my Art of Seeing podcast yesterday more thoughts came to mind that I want to share in respect to this subject.

Honing our SEEING skills is really only the first step in the creative process in my opinion. Being “in the moment” when writing, photographing, sketching and/or painting enables the artist/writer to investigate his/her subject matter (external/internal references) and “tap into” (connect) with the creative spirit that resides within us all.

Just the act of SEEING and then making art in itself nurtures our artistic sensibilities. I believe there are many levels of seeing that start with being more hyper aware of our immediate surroundings, but eventually leads to a deeper understanding of the artist within us all.

I believe our true goal is to translate those external references (landscape, nature, people, architecture) we use to write about, photograph and/or capture through any art form and metaphorically (symbolically) translate our expressive/emotional response to our subject matter into a conceptual bridge (path) for deeper awareness and understanding of the world around us and our place in this world spiritually, emotionally and intellectually.

The artist’s world is limitless.  It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away.  It is always on his doorstep.  ~Paul Strand