#EndOfStory
I took art classes in high school. After about a year, I quit. The reason was simple: I did have the skills, but I didn't have pretentious meanings behind my work. If I wanted to draw a girl playing Quidditch, I drew a girl playing Quidditch. It drove my teacher crazy. She kept asking me the reasoning behind everything I did, where the inspiration came from and what the meaning of my artwork was. I had no answer for her. The idea was just there, out of nowhere. Maybe it's a giftedness thing, maybe it isn't. Either way, I quit. I was tired of being forced to make 'meaningful' art.
Fast forward four years. Occasionally I draw. Sometimes I paint on walls, sometimes I paint on paper. But most of the time I work on art journal pages. I enjoy the creative process and the endless options of art journalling and decided I wanted to share some of my work on Instagram. There was just one thing I didn't like about that idea: explaining my art in a caption. Loads of people online try to be artists by trying to be as meaningful as possible. It feels forced. Every post has some deep philosophical meaning behind it, even if that meaning is nowhere to be seen in the actual post. 11th grade art class all over again, no thank you.
Still I wanted to share some of the things I make, especially my art journal pages. So I took to Instagram anyway and posted my work. It was accompanied by only two lines of caption: a very short description of the work, followed by the three simple words 'end of story'.
End of Story represents my attitude towards my work. I make it because I like it. Period. I could write long paragraphs on inspiration for an art journal page, while in reality I made it simply because I like manatees or something silly like that. Art doesn't have to be complicated or extremely meaningful. That's what I'm hoping to show on my art journal account.
That doesn't mean there's no meaning behind any of my pages. Yet sometimes that meaning is too personal or too weird to share. And why would I want to share it anyway? The beauty of art is that everyone can give their own meaning to a piece. I don't see any reason for me to force a meaning upon you through a long winded and pretentious caption. End of Story.
x Envy
32 Fellow Ramblers
I'm so sorry that school art classes weren't such a great experience for you! Art doesn't always have to be deep and meaningful, the process of creation and how therapeutic and engaging it can be is good enough!! I'm loving your work, off to follow your Insta now!
ReplyDeleteAbbey 😘 www.abbeylouisarose.co.uk
Art class was just 'meh'. I don't know why I wasted so much time there. I just like to make things for the heck of it, not to send a message. Thanks for the follow :)
DeleteSorry to hear you did not have the most positive experience with art classes, but you have serious talent here! Continue doing whatever brings you joy!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! Making art on my own terms works out so much better for me.
DeleteThere's absolutely nothing wrong with making art because you had a lovely idea and wanted to put it into practice. Pretentious folks like your teacher are so irritating -- I bet she's put tons of students off art forever!
ReplyDeleteYour journal is lovely and I'd enjoy flipping through the pages 💙💙.
xx
Emily
emilyhallock.blogspot.com
You don't wanna know how many students she put off art, hahaha. We started out with a class of 12 (out of 75 students in our year) and in the end only 7 took art classes until the very end, hahaha.
DeleteIf you're ever in the Netherlands I'll let you flip through the journal :)
I love your work! (Also I want to see a picture of a girl playing Quidditch!) I'm sorry your art classes weren't what you'd hoped though ���� you're so talented!
ReplyDeleteHels x
http://thehelsproject.com/
Thank you so much! I know I must have the pictures lying around somewhere, I'll have to go look for them. Sadly, I wasn't very good at organizing my work when I was in high school, so they could be anywhere, hahaha. At least art class taught me what I didn't want my art to be like!
DeleteYou're talented, don't let anyone stop you achieve your dreams or put you off! Love what you do :)
ReplyDeleteAnika xo | anikamay.co.uk
Thank you thank you thank you! I'm working hard to achieve those dreams now ^-^
DeleteSometimes the 'best' art doesn't have to have the deepest meaning - it simply has to come from the heart! :)
ReplyDelete- www.roisinslatest.com
That's the truest comment I've ever seen on my blog
DeleteWow I love these pages. I agree that you don't need to justify your art. First of all it's yours and second of all people can and will interpret it in different ways and just because 2 people see it 2 different ways it doesn't mean either person is wrong.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you like them! I totally agree with everything you said there. There's always some kind of meaning behind everything I make, even though it might be something silly like 'I like that color', but someone else will see it differently anyway
DeleteI had a similar experience during school! I used to love art but all the teachers were only bothered about the meaning, or the technique. I understand that's their job but it completely put me off the subject. I'm only just rediscovering my love for being creative now I'm in my early twenties!
ReplyDeleteBecca x
www.rawrrbecca.co.uk
Art teachers have such a weird way of teaching their subject. I wouldn't have been bothered by a focus on technique as long as I was actually taught that technique. Something that didn't happen in my classes either. I hope you're enjoying art to the fullest again :)
DeleteLove your visual journal! Keep discovering yourself and painting/writing for you!
ReplyDeleteThank you! That's exactly what I'm doing :)
DeleteI'm really sorry your school art lessons weren't what you needed them to be. You are so talented at art! I can barely manage to keep a bullet journal, and I'm always so envious of those that can draw; it seems so therapeutic!
ReplyDeleteGemma xx
HiddenLittleGem.com
Thank you Gemma! Drawing just takes a lot of practice. I started practicing when I was about 9 and that's the only reason it looks good now. I'm sure you'll be able to draw too if you start small with doodles in a bullet journal :)
DeleteYour art work is beautiful, and you're so right-- you should make art because you love it! Don't worry about the meaning unless you want to. I love your concept with the whole End Of Story idea, it's neat and an artistic statement in and of itself. Cool post, as always :)
ReplyDeleteAww thank you! I don't see any other reason to make art to be honest. It just comes from the heart, end of story :P
Deletecute post!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://enchantedclub.blogspot.com
Thank you!!!
DeleteSometimes I would die of boredom in my art classes. They wanted me to draw strict things in some projects and I just wanted to throw creativity on the paper. Sometimes They would ask for a project and I could show my skills and enjoy drawing. (and one or 2 of those projects were stolen by my arts teacher and that's how I learned how she got projects to show to the following students...)
ReplyDeleteSometimes teachers ask and question the things we want to do and they don't even realize that they are blocking our minds when they do that
That sounds so frustrating and boring. That's not nice of your teacher to steal your projects! Mine were shown once or twice, but I always got them back at least.
DeleteI think asking for meaningful things is the best way to ruin creative projects to be honest.
OH. My. Goodness. This post is so relatable-- honestly, that's probably the reason I declined ALL art classes in high school. Like, I want to make art *I* want to make, dammit! And just to create for me, for my aesthetic, for my pleasure, for no forced meaning or "deeper" layer... Thank you so much for this post and I'm super excited to go check out your work! :D Keep it up!!!
ReplyDeletexx
steph
strictlystephanie.blogspot.com
stephaniewscribbles.blogspot.com
So many people have been in this same situation! It's kinda sad actually... I'm so glad I can make art on my own terms now ^-^
DeleteYour art is amazing! Wish I had your talent, so determined to increase creativity but don't know where to start! Sorry about your bad experiences with art class too xx
ReplyDeleteThe Frugal Teen | http://thefrugalteen.wixsite.com/thefrugalteen
Thank you so much! It's more practice than talent though, so I'm sure you'll be able to create awesome stuff too!
DeleteLoved this post! You are so talented & I'm glad you decided to carry on creating art even after you quit art school x
ReplyDeleteThank you! The classes sucked, but it takes more than that to stop me from creating things!
DeleteI solemnly swear that I am up to no good! Wait, no, I mean: I solemnly swear that I will answer each and every comment ;)