The Most Impotnat Thing Every Artist Needs to Do

The most important thing a creative person does is choose what to express. It matters less what style the writer uses or what color of paint the artist chooses. It matters less if the clay is sculpted in a rough or highly polished manner. The poet can use a pen or a computer. The playwright can be funny or serious. But before an artist makes any of those other decisions, the number one thing to consider is what they want to express. It may sound simple. Just say it, as Nike would have us do. But say what? Where do you look to decide what you want to say? Do we climb a mountain and look for it there? Do we study meditation to find it? These things can help but it's really about self-awareness. You need to start by knowing yourself and then looking inside to where you keep your deepest convictions and your dearest values and that's where you'll find something meaningful to convey.

My upcoming show at Kaewyn Gallery will feature paintings of places that vibrate within me. I have positive, loving feelings and real connections with these places and have painted them in a very Joanne sort of way. That is how I walk my walk. If I am true to myself and my art, those feelings should come right off the end of my paint brush and be pulled deep into each painting I create.

Nike may say it but we artists try really hard to just do it.