The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.
Small Artist
Written by guest writer D. K. Smith, aka our dear [kay-chan]!
I never intend to be famous one day, nor do I try to draw fame from this hobby. I major in the sciences, rather than in the arts, and I like it that way. I do not draw for money or profit; every cent that goes into my art is of my own money. I will never be linked to, talked about, or otherwise acknowledged by those that rank above me in talent or status. My works will never be shown as a jewel adorning a gallery or forum, and my art shall never be stolen by those who wish fame of their own. I will get no more than a nod from those I give art to, and I will garnish no fans outside of my immediate life.
This is all how I like it. In a way, my smallness makes me safe. It shelters me from those who would make my art more than it is, to put a price on something too precious to sell. Art is memory, art is soul, art is a piece of one’s self if it is made the way it should be made. Truly, it is not the art that counts, but the joy that goes into making it, the spontaneous laughter that it generates from the artist, those tears it creates when the artist stares upon what they have bared to the world.
As Theodore Roosevelt said, "it is not the critic that counts." The importance lies not with "the man who points out how the strong man stumbles," but with the artist who conquers the process, whose face is streaked with oils and ink and color, the lifeblood of those who create; whose fingers create worlds that sometimes only they can see, strange ideas that creep and peek from the corner of the canvas or the paper. They portray those images that haunt their minds, showing people from another life, creatures that roam in a distant forest that no man has set foot in. These unique works serve to please those who made them, not those who invade the territory of the artist, those who point out the doer of deeds and say it could have been done better. The aesthetic value of art is not as important as the expression it creates. One can take pleasure in fame, but love of art comes first.
This is for all small artists everywhere. Those that create from the heart, that show their emotions and mistakes, their life, though the previously blank canvas. This is for those that love their art, those who should never give up on their art just because someone says ‘this is horrible.’ Art is art is art.
I am a small artist.
And I am happy.
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