Passion for Art

"Passion for art"

We always use, read or hear the common word “passion” for this and passion for that in particular passion for art. But what is the meaning of passion and from where was driven!? What does it mean having passion for something or to be passionate about something? Word passion has been driven from the Greek word “pathos” and has more than one meaning. It can mean something good or bad happens to us; in particular, bad thing that carries the meaning of suffering! Passion in Latin word is “passio” means suffering and the verb is “pati” means to suffer!

I definitely, do not wish to talk about suffering but about the passion for art in the optimistic sense. Our common understanding of word “passion” has been always as a fine quality to have. In a way yes, it is, for the fact that passion works as internal forces and as an inner agent to motivate oneself. It is inner feelings or personal needs to express oneself in different ways. Passion motivates us to have devotion, desire, deep interest, intense love and affection for what we wish to do or have.

When intense emotion exists usually become uncontrollable and stirs us to reach what has been foreseen from a distance. This deep feelings or needs create enthusiasm which leads to action, in turn, action will lead to success. So, we can say that Passion creates action and action creates result.

But how about the suffering part and why that was included in the original meaning of the word? When passion is left uncontrollable with no guided goals or constructive plans can cause the negative results and suffering. However, having self-discipline, strategy, clear vision and determination can result in the positive part of passion.

Now, what does all this have to do with artists having passion for art? In general artists, of all disciplines, have much passion for what they do. Yet, we have seen some artists have stopped creating art, why? Whether because of low sale or no sale at all or t\hey were dreaming too big and rushing results! This factor would induce artists to examine the inner motives and find out if they have enough passion for what they have chosen to do! Has the financial issue contributed to their decisions of quitting? Have they made enough research of how to promote their art? Have they inquired about how to turn art to business or even asked for professional assistance? Have they taken the necessary steps to reach the next step? Or have they discovered that art was not for them? When some millionaires were asked “what made them successful?” they stated that “when doing something you passionate about, the money will follow”!

Art career is one of the most difficult paths one can have to make living from. However, my fellow artists, I am not a dreamer neither I am encouraging you to be. But keeping your passion alive and passing the suffering part (the waiting period while working hard) is one of the most important ingredients to success.

And this I wish you all, not the suffering period but the successful experience.

Rest a creative Mind

“Rest a creative mind”

A creative mind needs a rest from time to time to refreshes and reenergizes itself. For the fact that a creative artist is not an automated machine that works 24 hours nonstop, and still produces same thing over and over every minute. Therefore, refreshing a creative mind is essential need for artist's creativity and productivity. That is why learning to reenergize the mind is a step toward the goal. Our surroundings of nature are available to provide what we need. Although, it is necessary for an artist's mind to slips in and out, of consciousness, to nourish their visions. Being absorbed by nature and capable of observing and meditating will inspire a creative mind for next step of improvement. When the brush keeps on moving all over the canvas, not knowing what to do, while the minds goes off somewhere else, it is the time to revive the focusing point. If your car is running out of gas, you will not be able to drive, for too long. If your brain is running out of protein and phosphors, surely do not expect to see matters clearly. If a person lacks good amount of sleep, what productivity can he/she expects next day! Yes, the brush will tend to drift and re-paint same areas with no result. Because of the mental drift as the case with beginners and less confident artists, so are the creative mind can experience same thing exactly, as if it had never painted before. In this stage, artists absolutely need to pause for reenergizing themselves. The sensitivity of a capable artist is a quality of perceiving and responding to external conditions and stimulation, absorbing lights, shapes, colors and reacting to other's feelings, attitudes and circumstances.

As far as how to reenergize oneself and for how long, this is where a personal experience fits in. Creative people gain knowledge of themselves as to how, when and where to get that craving for creating artwork and what dose influence their minds. Seeing, observing, reasoning, watching and feeling for, studying, meditating and listening to favorite music can make the big difference. Of course, self-discipline has a big role in this. These steps of nourishment would clear out the abstracts and the mind distractions. To produce the" instinctive painting" we need to be full of it and completely focused, at the moments of creating it, with no distractions. But how often can we accomplish that, with the intention of creating a new piece of art, while we might be apprehensive about other matters in life! It has been the struggle of many artists including professionals!

To keep the frame of mind, to maintain its freshness, to prolong the openness of learning new materials and to carry on the innocence of a child, creative people need to work with the subconscious mind, that has been previously, nourished, with spontaneous intention, true motives, passion and enjoyment. Watching creative children, we find that they are free from any fear, worries or calculations of matters. These factors do affect our freeness of expressing oneself whether in painting, performing, composing or any other form of art to create. In the harshness of not only the western society but in all societies, artists easily struggle, not only from many worries in making living but also, in living up to the speed of life. Freeing oneself from these factors, while crating artwork, is another struggle requires self-discipline. Liked the smell of your first medium, you will be eager to stay in your studio for long hours as when appreciating a word of wisdom, you will acquire more of it. Also, staying in a studio, for many hours, requires self-discipline. Observing Artists who started drawing and painting since childhood and probably were faced with oppositions from different ones to go in different direction, yet they have been painting still and will for the rest of their lives. Artists do not need to spare as of how to keep the innocence and the freshness in their minds for that is driven from within.

Artists brains are progressive gift where can be maturing in vision, imagination and widening out with flexibility. Hence, let us learn more about that marvelous gift was given to us, from God, learn how to use it and keep it in a healthy state.

©Mona Youssef - Realist fine artist

Is art accessory or necessity

Is art accessory or necessity?

To start with the leading answer; Artists continue creating art regardless of their economic, social, health or emotional states. Obviously, art nourishes our cognitive and aesthetic needs thus, it leads us to self-realization. Through self-assessment, we come to deeper understanding of our emotions and thoughts. It turns, this progression increases our self-awareness and grants us openness to new ideas and additional life experiences. Hence, creating or viewing art of all its forms improves the brain elasticity for better life management, tolerance and turns what we do to enjoyable tasks rather than merely duty or obligation.

Needlessly to mention the awe inspiring beauty in the universe with its infinite designs, shapes, colours, forms and even countless sounds! Apparently, art has existed even earlier than human and is extending our existences individually and collectively. And collectively, we see that art of all it forms, not merely transcends entertainment and beauty but also generates powerful emotions, serious influences and conceptual ideas which in turns become influential discoveries.

Countless evidence proved that art was not simply to communicate or to convey a message artistically. More importantly, art is to elicit an emotional response, to move and motivate us. Often times, we automatically and unconsciously use it as a tool for creative expression, advertising and tapping beyond the ordinary.

Who of you could imagine having colourless meals? Or listen to soundless music? Or watching colourless birds and flowers? These are few examples of how art gives meaning to our lives, enjoyment and helps us understand our world of which we are part.

Definitely, art is an essential element of our culture and works as barometer to measures levels of cultural sophistication. Thus, art is not accessory but necessity.

©Mona Youssef

Important Questions Artists need to ask!

Important Questions Artists need to ask.

Should Artists pay to enter competitions? Word competition is to compete first, contest for some prize or honor, then receive the award end of the tunnel. Should Artists pay to receive Awards and honor or these must be granted as recognition for their special skills and talents? Do Artists need to feel inferior to winners when they are not? Is this the proper investment on their artwork? You got my point! In addition, do truly competitions provide a peaceful atmosphere among competitors? Do Artists care to contribute to the spirit of peace or to the spirit of “Me first”?

• 1- Should artists pay to receive Awards? It has been brought to my attention, by some artists, asking me what do I think of invitations they received to pay fee and win Awards! Many times, a book can be read from its cover! In my opinion, given Awards is a recognition of good artwork that meet the main criteria when jury it. Should artists pay to receive Awards? If receiving Awards are ONLY for those who can afford the fee, I deeply sympathize with artists who can’t while deserving recognized Awards. Can I congratulate those who have been receiving unnumbered Awards because they can afford it? As a fair jurist, I wish I would but whom will I be deceiving or putting down?! You do the math. And whom will I be encouraging to continue their official deception to Artists? I think you got my point.

• 2-Sould Artists pay to get published in misleading publications? There are some publications that use masterful titles to satisfy Artists egos, such as Top 100 artists or Top Masters of the world etc. If Top 100 were chosen ten years ago, are there still different top 100 every year! If it is yearly publication, why it is published often? Are the top 100 truly the ONLY Top 100 artists in the world? If so, why the world did not hear about them prior to that publication was issued? I have looked at some of these publications, and as a jurist, I was hoping to review different artwork. Artists, should you choose to publish your artwork in any publication/magazine, inquire first; how many copies are printed? To whom are distributed? What is the sale price for each copy” this is another revenue for the editors in addition to collecting the fees to publish your artwork! Another essential point, your artwork is sold in high resolution to the public and can be reprinted, reproduced or copied by different parties for different reasons, are you aware of that? If you are offering prints of your artwork, do you know what that mean? Think it over.

• 3-Should Artists pay to enter competitions? Word competition is to compete first, contest for some prize or honor, then receive the award end of the tunnel. Do Artists pay to receive Awards and honor or these must be granted as recognitions for their special skills and talents? Do Artists need to feel interior to winners when they are not? Is this the proper investment on their artwork? You got my point! In addition, do truly competitions provide a peaceful atmosphere among competitors? Do Artists care to contribute to the spirit of peace or to the spirit of “Me first”?

• 4-Should Artists pay fee to exhibit? Please read this article and hope will help. https://www.monayoussefgallery.com/articles/should-artists-pay-fees-to-exhibit

The above are some of questions artists have asked me in private messages and these are my open and honest opinion. As always, I speak my mind and do not work in hid and seek games. I do hope that these points will add some lights to your decisions and I am always happy to help.

©Mona Youssef - Realist fine artist

Brain, Age and Creativity

Creative people use more of the right hemisphere of the brain which handles daily activities such as visualizing, painting, writing, talking, reasoning, discovering, learning, responding emotionally, imagining, organizing, composing and creating. Creating is described as combinational force with the ability to perceive matters/objects in new ways and make the connection to generate solutions. It requires passion, rich imagination and flexible thinking to be cultivated with intellectual strategy and produce innovative ideas/ projects. We have been equipped by nature, with brains that contain the needed abilities to use or lose.

The human brain is one of many marvelous creations. Every second, the brain receives about 100 million bits of information from the various senses and the mind can easily handle them all. There are two factors involved; First, in the brain stem there is small network of nerves, the size of a little finger. This is called the reticular formation. It acts as a Traffic Control Centre by monitoring the millions of messages coming, examining out the trivial bits and allowing the essential ones to be passed through for attention by the cerebral cortex. This network permits only a few hundred messages every second to enter the conscious mind. Second, it pinpoints our attention to the waves that sweep the brain 8 to 12 times per second. Theses waves cause a period of higher sensitivity so that when the brain notes these stronger signals, it acts accordingly. By means of these waves the brain scans itself and focuses on the essentials.

The wonder starts in the womb and the brain continues to grow, forming a network that includes about 100 billion nerve cells called neurons. Cells are separated by synapses and bridged by chemicals called neurotransmitters. These chemical signals are received at one end of the neuron and transmitted at the other end of the neuron by a nerve fiber called axon. The intensity of a signal depends on frequency of impulses. Experimental evidence believes that as we learn in early life the better connections are formed and more of the chemical bridging, the gaps between neurons are released. Reinforcing learning that strengthens the connections and produces more neurons and pathways. "The deeper matters are the more easily perceived by mature people who through use have had their perceptive powers trained." Research has revealed that unused mental powers fade away. Thus, the brain, like a muscle, is strengthened by use and weakened by disuse.

By age 80, the brain will have lost an average of 7% of its neurons. However, the brain compensates by increasing its crystalline intelligence and its ability to solve problems by previously, acquired knowledge and solutions. Experience proves to be the best teacher and is something aged people have more than of younger ones.

The more active one is, while aging, the more intelligence improves and the brain stays fit to generate new connections. Older people may suffer sometimes from "information overload" because of neuron loss that affects their short-term memories. However, once new materials have been learned, older people can remember as well as their younger colleagues. Acquiring new information activates long-term memories. Says one retiree who started his own company at the age of 65: "God has given us certain talents and he gave them to us to use." Several well-known artists and business professionals have done their best work after the age of 60. The pianist Vladimir Horowitz was not pleased with his performance at the age of 78. He retired and started to work on his performance at the age of 81 and made a triumphant return to the concert stage. Georgia O'Keeffe took up pottery in her late eighties when her eyesight became too weak for painting. At age 80, the Spanish painter Goya drew a picture of a very old man with the inscription "I am still learning." We all are still learning about the wonder of creation that is our brains.

©Mona Youssef - Realist fine artist