Amateurish?

So question: ‘when does an artist becomes a professional’? Or what is amateur art?

On a sunny morning, I decided to go to an art exhibition in my neighbourhood. I had no idea about the exhibition and when I arrived and walked around I felt a bit of a disappointment.

It wasn’t the exhibition, because that exhibition was beautiful. But it was the way the art and artists behind the creations was described. ‘Made by an amateur artist.’ 

Now here it is. What I saw in there was not my interpretation of amateurish art at all! My interpretation of amateurish has a negative meaning. It means someone just created something without a thought, idea or background in creating art. It’s even different from intuitive creation. It’s like painting on number and call it art. That is my interpretation of amateurish. Amateurish is meaningless.

 

A few years ago I followed a painters course, because I just needed to learn how to paint humans. Actually I wanted to learn to paint in a different way then I was used too. I needed to study the ideas in my head and after a few years I decided I was ready to paint and explore that world on my own. 

The people in my class where so good! It was like being back on art school when talking and discussing about art and I felt insecure, because most of them where way better in their techniques then I was back then. 

And here it was, I still had a prejudgement and it was there all a long without being aware, about how much it influenced my own work as well. 

You know the voice in your head? It says you are not good enough to call yourself an artist. Change the word artist for every occupation or hobby and there you go. You never enjoy fully -and in your own freedom, how to master any art, because that voice will hold you back, unless you ditch the fear and start practicing. 

It’s a bit the same when someone tells me they like my work, because they aren’t creative themself. Well, every idea starts with creativity. Every piece of art starts with creativity, even making a phone script on how to convince others to buy a stupid product from an organisation is somehow creativity. However I won’t call that art. But it is creativity…

And everyone has creativity as a skill in them. You are born with it, remember that when you feel the urge to create something and don’t do it because you have a prejudging voice in your head you aren’t good enough…

 

So when does art becomes professional? Is it when you are successful? Or when you can make a living out of it? Is it professional when you make art every day when you’re coming home from a completely different job, or is it a hobby then? 

Well, it’s a bit like Elizabeth Gilbert is saying in her book Big Magic; ‘if you can make a living out of it, then you are a professional’. But that doesn’t mean that, if you can’t make a living out of it, you are an amateur! 

It means you can still make beautiful things and study on ‘the how to’. 

I decided to stop calling art amateurish. It’s not ok. It’s like telling a volunteer in healthcare who has years of experience it’s worth nothing, because there was no professional education behind it. But in the end that volunteer helped many people feeling better. 

All art that is made with feelings of expression, is art. And yes there are studies on how to, but in the end when you have finished your idea to a physical object of satisfaction, it is art. Studies can be art too. But that is for another time to write about…

NFT and why not falling for it as an artist

  (English only)

NFT’s. Do you know what it is? I didn’t until someone on Instagram asked me to sell an artwork by NFT.

NFT is a Non Fungible Token. It’s a way for collectors and investors to ‘make sure’ an artwork or something else collectable, can be digitally stored with only one owner in a blockchain. Ah yes, blockchain. Also a new word for me.  

A blockchain is a database where you as owner and the object you own, will be listed. You need an account and wallet to trade with it.  And you trade with it in tokens.  

Now what’s in it for you as a normal artist? You can make an account and can play Wolf of Wallstreet by selling pictures, paintings, your grannies jewels etc. The only difference with a physical selling is that it is digital. So, if you take a picture of your feet and register it in the blockchain, you can trade your feet or just make a statement that you are the owner of those feet. 

So far my information and interest in NFT. 

I am an artist who exhibits my artworks, processes and thoughts mostly online. It’s a nice way to connect with prospects and buyers or find colleagues who inspire me. 

But online also means everyone can see my work. And yes, that is a choice. 

Every day, like really every day I get a DM (direct message) from someone who is trading with NFT’s and wants to buy my artwork. I stopped answering unless I need a good laugh.

They don’t read my profile, they just DM me they want to buy my work in NFT. And the answer is and will always be No. 

Of course I know that if I make a wallet on a blockchain, (for a lot of real money) I can ask huge prices for my work. But that is not the reason why I make art! I make art so I can make another human happy, because they love my work and the story behind it. And that other human wants an original and physical piece in their hands to be inspired with.

I make art so people can connect with it. And that is my problem with NFT traders; most of them are Wolfs of Wallstreet (scammers) who really want to make a lot of money by selling the art over and over again for absurd amounts of money, or they want other information from you and whatever the reason is why they think you are an easy victim. 

And you as an artist will only see a small percentage of it when you sell it to a new owner who is going to trade with it, if you are lucky…

*Oh well, the same can happen with an art gallery, but then there is for 90% the love of art involved.

Of course you can make a blockchain for yourself and start trading with it, but remember that if you say yes to an offer from a trader on instagram or whatever online platform, they will ask you to make a blockchain account yourself so they can buy it from you. Making such an account is expensive and the buyer from your art mostly rans away because as a self respected artist you ask decent prices. Buying art in NFT is a vague investment. So buying your art has nothing to do with a beautiful artwork in a house, with owners who love to watch it, but everything about changing your art in a trademark. And working with NFT traders will never make you rich… remember that.

But it is a nice question: ‘what is the meaning of art when it becomes a trading object?’

In my opinion my art would loose it’s soul and meaning. My art has a message and the owner has a feeling with it. It’s a synergy between me, my artwork and the new owner of the artwork. All those things won’t happen when I connect my art to an NFT. And for that it will be NO to NFT. 

  

Notes and sources: 

*Of course if I make a deal with an art gallery the owner can change as well, the price fluctuates and I will never know where my artwork went, or that it was appreciated. But the artwork by an art gallery is mostly a real piece and it is transparent with rules and contracts. 

**

If you trade with bitcoin, you never have to pay for making a wallet (account) Paying for a NFT listing is never free. So you never own your own listings unless you make your own trading website. But then you can better sell your artworks the normal way. 

*** 

NFT is mostly a way to be scammed. And this is one example of the way it goes.

The NFT trader won’t ask you to make an account and wallet on a blockchain, but says it will make/invest in it, for you, they’ll ask for your bank account number with the promise to send you the money and then disappear with the picture of your artwork which is then all ready transformed in a NFT code where that scammer is the owner of your NFT and can trade with it. As soon as the trader has sold it for the double price they have paid you, you’ll get your money or more likely never hear from them again, since the social media accounts are mostly empty or fake. So don’t do this online, but make sure you have a blockchain account or know more about the business the trader has behind it. In the end you can make a lawsuit if you know who the scammer is, but since the rules of trading with NFT aren’t that clear and the accounts online are mostly empty or fake, it will be a long exhausting road. Precious time you better use to make an artwork. And if you want to trade with it, register a NFT yourself in your own blockchain. 

 

**** disclaimer: this article is based on opinion. 

Sources: 

Dutch: https://www.kaspersky.nl/resource-center/preemptive-safety/how-to-avoid-nft-scams

English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIBfc28qtfE

1 year of war in Ukraine (english only)

 It’s a year ago when I started to draw my first Love Bird - No War. When I started I still had the naive idea that it would be a short war. The first week I couldn’t stop crying. The weeks after it I lost two friends who died there. So far my experience with a war far from my own country borders. The world changed the last couple of years. I don’t know why, but I have the feeling a lot of people stopped listening to eachother and can’t reach the lanquage of the heart anymore. It makes me sad and it makes me desperate sometimes. If I want people to listen, I need to be open myself aswell. I need to hear and try to understand why some of us have a completely different opinion about this world then I have. 

I need courage to say I’m not ok with a lot of opinions, but an opinion used to do no harm. It was just an opinion and live goes on. 

In Russia you can’t have an opinion. If you do have one, make sure it’s the same, the Kremlin is having, because every other one is treason against a criminal government.

Nowadays almost every political opinion has a weight. Also in my little country. There are politicians here threatened by mobs or online. Live threads, dead threads, you name it... 

And like I was raised it’s never ok to threaten someone if you don’t share another vision or opinion.  

Polarisation is a verbal war at first, before it becomes a physical war I think. 

I often feel like WW2 is to far ago for some of us to remember how that started. I wasn’t there, but my grandmother told me a lot about it when she was still alive. It has it’s similar events. And do people ever learn from the past, or do we need to forget and learn it the hard way over and over again? Is this also human nature? 

I often asked myself last year what I would do when another country invaded mine. 

Would I fight? Would I stay passive? Would I know hate the way some people hate. Raw hate is a brick wall you can touch, but not break trough, because behind it, lies a great sadness and even bigger anger.

How would it be if soldiers marching trough my streets, occupying buildings not theirs? Where does our freedom go when a government has no other choice then to fight and calls everyone to join? Would I flee, or would I defend my country until I die? 

So with every bird I draw there are these questions.

Freedom as we know it in my country is more vulnerable then ever and we need to cherish it. Because it can be over in a wink of an eye. 

And that is why I draw my Love Birds. As a reminder that nothing and certainly not freedom, is for granted.

Love Bird - No War

Oorlog is denk ik wel het meest machteloze wat je kan overkomen als mens. Het laat me nadenken over ‘Make love, no war.’ Over leven zonder geweld. Het is een besproken onderwerp in de yogaklas van mijn lief. Hoe kun je je eigen leven zo inrichten dat het geweldloos is? 

Maar met de oorlog in Oekraïne, dus de ‘niet zo ver van mijn bed oorlog’ is die vraag bijna niet te beantwoorden. En al helemaal niet als je je moet inleven bij mensen die aan het front voor hun en ook mijn vrijheid vechten. 

Mijn antwoord op die vraag is, is dat zolang er oorlog bestaat, de keus op een geweldloos bestaan niet zo gemakkelijk is. Het neigt naar lafheid, niet opstaan voor de idealen of opkomen voor de democratische standaarden waar we in het westen veel waarde aan hechten. Ook ik. 

En als er dan iemand in mijn achtertuin staat en die waarden met geweld wil afnemen, dan verwacht ik niet dat ik mijn andere wang toekeer.

Oorlog in mijn achtertuin betekend nu nog dat de vogeltjes vechten om een nestkastje of de beste plek op de tak. En met de aankomende lente zijn het allemaal ‘Lovebirds’. 

Liefdesvogeltjes die zingen dat het licht onderweg is.

Het leidt me af van het knagende gevoel van machteloosheid. 

Graag stel ik je voor aan Love Bird. 

Mijn manier om zolang het kan, geweldloos om te gaan met oorlog.