For those of you behind on the times in my life, I left my job at AT&T about back in July. It was a great job that I was good at, but I consistently found myself unsatisfied when I took stock of my life. I had enough money to get by, a great group of friends, and a good deal of satisfaction with what I could accomplish at my job (including accidentally exposing a husband's infidelity). So I took a drastic action, I quit. I was unsure of what I was going to do, but I needed to free myself. I was living to work. So I left and a couple weeks later had a new job. But before the new job came along, I jumped back into my passions, acting and music, and discovered some new ones, painting and graphic design.
It was amazing to begin exercising those muscles again. It had been so long, so there was some atrophy, but before long I was remembering songs on the guitar I had learned a decade ago, and I was in a production of the Crucible (one of my favorite plays of all time that I had never had the chance to do before). I completed a painting and designed a web site. I began thinking about what makes art special, especially the older arts. One of my favorite shows, Parks and Recreation, has a quote from Ron Swanson:
"Welcome to "Visions of Nature." This room has several paintings in it. Some are big, some are small. People did them and they're here now. I believe that after this is over, they'll be hung in government buildings. Why the government is involved in an art show is beyond me. I also think it's pointless for a human to paint scenes of nature when they could just go outside and stand in it. Anyway, please do not misinterpret the fact that I am talking right now as genuine interest in art and attempt to discuss it with me further. End of speech."
Now, that is funny, but it did strike me as an interesting thought. We have photography, film, and recorded music; why would someone view a painting (I'm speaking of realism and landscape, abstract art is a whole other beast), go see a play, or watch a musician perform live? A photograph will capture the image more precisely, film actors have multiple chances to get a scene just right whereas stage actors have to get it right in that moment with you staring at them, and the music will sound great from your speakers.
But that is just it, my art exists in my mistakes. When I am painting the shape of a tree just slightly wrong, you know I did it. When I am acting on stage and I accidentally spit in an actor's face from shouting a line, you know that was a real moment and everyone involved if fighting that urge to react to it. And the voice cracks, missed fingering, and raw energy that goes into playing music in front of people, there's magic in it. Nobody seeking art is seeking perfection, they are seeking you. The artist has only one pact with his audience, to expose himself, not to be perfect, and with that knowledge, it takes a bit of the pressure off.
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)