War And Peace for Artists

Maybe they're terms that's overused and over-rated. If humans are made in the image of God, do you think that maybe if that was true, we are all artists? Believe it or not, these are just a few questions that spin in my head daily. Art is just not your typical profession. It's not just work that you take home and prepare reports for the next day. It's like a bacteria or a virus. It consumes you, engulfs your mind, body, spirit. It is 24/7 like Ebay, except there's no bidders waiting to buy your soul. Though I did see a few try that, but that's another story.

Like being an athlete, you can't just turn it "off" and "on". It's always on, or at least sometimes on neutral. I can't help it, it's always there. No matter how hard I want to lead a more normal existence, no matter how easy it would be to settle for a 9-5 job and be part of the mainstream and be a good soldier and another cog in the American dream, it all sounds great on paper. Just one problem, my DNA thinks otherwise.

I don't know what a "normal" existence is, just living a life the only way I know how. Very independent, lots of time management, marketing, art creation, traveling, a few friends, and if I find time in between, maybe a relationship and a trip to the mall. Artists are like soldiers, we have a mission in life, a discipline to follow, a regement of activities to abide to. We are on the frontlines when we're painting outdoors or doing outdoor shows.

Our badge of honor is in our eyes and expressed through our heart and soul. Our purple heart is the many beautiful paintings we create in a lifetime. As independent and free as we portray to our society, we totally depend on people, consumers and art lovers to help us live our dream and make our profession relevant.

Our independence is partially codependent on you. It's a different kind of American dream with a spiritual and vocational twist. My head's still spinning, but my heart and soul seems to understand, so we just soldier on to fullfill our mission, our dream. And maybe we will learn about ourselves during the journey. It might be worth it after all.

By Joshua Lance
joshualance.com