A very common question I ask all my clients is, “What would you do if you had no money constraints and didn’t have to work?” It is a good question because it allows the mind to free itself from the constraints of life and allows itself to want, simply want.
In life, instead of learning to want and go for our dreams, we learn to comply, to suppress our wants and do what is expected of us. We are born dreamers. Research says that this is at its peak when we are about 5 years old, starts to decline around 8 and reaches total devastation around 16 years old. By that stage, what seems hard is a “sign” we are not capable of achieving our dreams.
The journey to becoming an artist
For over 25 years, my answer was to be an artist. You see, I wasn’t an artist. I did a year of Art History of in grade 12, an art course for teachers that was just an experiment of textures and a pottery class that was great fun because I finally could play with what seems like mud without being scolded (also as part of my education degree).
There was a huge gap between that and spending my time as an artist. I chose writing as my form of art and allows the words, the ideas, and the characters of my stories to fulfil the artist’s quest.
About 20 years ago, when I started asking my clients that question, I had to answer it too every time they did. When I have no work or money constraints, and no obligations to raise kids, I will be an artist (and write!).
For years, I watched videos of art, went to the museum, took myself and the kids to art fairs and was very excited when my youngest daughter started drawing on her body and created beautiful things. During that time, I was a crafty person. I made jewelry, worked with polymer clay, made cards, used stencils and my greatest strength was creating educational games for working with my kids (my own children and the kids at work). I loved it!!!!!!!!!
Exploring Different Art Forms
About ten years ago, I said to myself, “That’s enough, Ronit. You have to register for a class and learn some art”. After a long search, I found a class nearby with an amazing teacher. It was a fabulous year – I was very excited and learned a lot about drawing (for the first time).
Since then, I spend hours every week creating something.
For me, creativity is a state of flow. I think of it as meditation. After 6 or 7 hours of immersing myself in art, if you ask me what I was thinking about, the answer would be “nothing”.
While I’m creating, I am 100% in this divine place of joy. I think words are limited in explaining it.
Quantum moment
So, ten months ago, I ran two leadership camps. One camp was for primary school students and one for high school students. At the first introduction of each camp, I asked the kids to share their name, which school they came from, something they were proud of themselves for, and what they wanted to be when they grew old. As always, to set the tone and be a role model, I started.
“My name is Ronit, I am one of the leaders in that camp, I’m proud of myself for organizing this camp and when I grow up, I want to be an… artist!
We finished the circle, 2 leaders, about 30 students and 6 teachers and I asked them what they thought about the activity and in both camps, they said to me, “but you are already grownups” and this is when it hit me.
I don’t have to wait until the moment I grow up, I’m grown up already.
My kids are grown, I don’t really have to work (I love it, so I’ll continue doing it), and I don’t really have any money constraints. What am I waiting for?
Throughout camp, students and teachers had to gather information about all the other members of the group. Many of the students came and asked me what kind of art I wanted to explore, and I said “sculpting”.
My first sculpting experience
Camp finished and I registered myself to a charcoal class (not my thing) and I started sculpting. I started with plasticine I had at home, and it was great fun. I was very happy to discover that there are thousands of amazing people who teach many different forms of art for free. I found that watching a video, having the ability to watch it again and follow it step by step, was very useful for me.
It was very funny but my daughter, Noff (who is an artist from birth), was watching some videos with me of a young woman showing how to sculpt a mouth. It was so enjoyable to watch and the day after, Noff came home and we both said to each other, “I bought a surprise” and showed me a block of air-drying clay she bought for us to try. At that moment, I opened my bag and showed her the block of air-drying clay I had bought for us to try.
So, we chose air-drying clay, because we didn’t have a kiln for earth clay.
Sadly, I was doing it for myself, so I have no photos of the process. Here is my first attempt at sculpting before coloring it in. My pirate faces.
How I did it
Again, I don’t have a video of the process but here it is in case you want to try.
- I made a basic shape of face from plasticine. You just need to play with it for a while until it’s warm, and it’s quite fun to play with. I focused on basic shape, not the details.
- I used a bowl to make a round shape at the back.
- I covered it with fabric plaster – a role of plaster fabric that you cut to pieces, dip in water and let it dry for a day.
- I took the plasticine out from the back of it – I still left it on top of the bowl to help me with the round shape.
- In areas where there was not enough fabric plaster (it was too thin), I added more plaster fabric and let it dry again.
- With air drying clay, I shaped my face. I used a mix of water and glue to attach the air-drying clay pieces to the dried plaster and to smooth the surface with some carving tools that I had from the time I did cake decorating class (some people use simple tools you have at home like knifes, brushes, pins, etc.).
- It was like that for about 2 months and my sister-in-law asked me if I was going to paint it. I started playing with the idea of painting it, which I eventually did. I used acrylic paint.
- I was debating what to do with the back. I thought I might cover it with cardboard, but in the end, I painted it black (see picture).
- To make it suitable to withstand the weather (if used outside), I covered it with thick transparent glossy sealant (the kind you use for boats), just to be on the safe side. But I don’t dare put it outside, because air drying clay is just paper with glue.
The art of life – My new definition
Well, I was soooooooooooo proud of myself f. I showed it off to everyone I knew. Every day I look at it, I remind myself that I don’t have to wait, that I don’t need to grow up to be an artist and enjoy doing art.
Since then, I have explored different materials and experimented with concrete, with recycling, with my succulent, went back to sewing and I love every second of it.
I have made a promise to myself that I needed to do something with art every day because being an artist is a feeling. I know that feeling when I write, because it is also a form of art. It is a wonderful feeling.
We are all artists. Every expression of art is an act of an artist. It can be in dance, song, writing, gardening, socializing, painting, sculpturing, working, recycling… the list is huge, and I enjoy so many of those form or art, that it is addictive.
This pirate man motivated me to keep creating, and since then, I have created about 100 pieces of art. I find myself dreaming about the next creation and excited to get up in the morning to create something.
Encouraging artistic expression in others
This is now my formula for the definition of an artist. If you are dreaming about your art or getting up in the morning excited to do create, you are an artist.
If you are a parent, remember, your kids are artists too. You want them to discover art long before they are all grown up, like I did.
I wish you all, artist readers, to awaken to your art. Find it. It doesn’t have to be one form for life. You can explore many forms of expression and all of them will bring you closer to mastering the art of living.
Good luck,
Ronit
