Art

Thursday, 2 September, 2010

We've been exploring children's art in my degree recently which has got me thinking about my personal artwork through the years.


I used to think I wasn't very 'artistic' as my paintings didn't come out how I wanted...I (very stupidly) compared myself to friends with great perspective and painting talents. I've now realised that 'art' takes a much broader view than what I had in mind. The collage I made as a teenager, of a birdsnest using real hay and egg shells was art. The photos I take, sometimes they are art. My cards are art. Now that I've worked out that creativity and artistic ability can take many forms, I enjoy doing collage-style artwork, and things that tie art in with other uses, such as card making or patterns in knitted blankets.

Here's one I did as a very young child. Such a cute tadpole, I was! The name writing is a work in progress...

We went through all the saved artwork with Mum recently, my brother and I. It was so interesting seeing the differences in artistic ability. My brother did the most amazing, detailed drawings from a very young age. Many of my saved artworks are things stuck to paper (i.e. sand, bottle caps, etc!) rather than drawings. Shows how we process things differently I think. My brother had really good fine motor skills and saw things in detail. I liked to collect tactile objects. So our artwork really reflected who we were. It is nice to look at it that way, rather than thinking one form is 'better' than the other. Neither of us would consider ourselves artists in the classic sense. He has gone on to write, perform and teach music. I do a lot of things with my hands. So I guess we are artists, after all.

Here's a more recent artwork that I did in Australia using some gorgeous local seeds and splotches of red and white paint. I had to leave it behind as I don't think NZ Customs would have appreciated it...I do miss it's bright colours, texture and semi-random patterns. I hope to do some more canvases, eventually. Maybe after finishing my degree??? This summer is already booked with a photo album for Munchkin, among other things. Amy