Thursday, July 19, 2012

An Artist or Not An Artist

My husband and I have had this little discussion on and off over the years about
whether or not I'm an artist.

He says I am because I make things using fabric, paper, paint, etc.

I say I'm not because I'm not talented enough to consider myself to be an artist.
In my book, an artist is one of those amazing people who can make
something incredible out of nothing.
I'm a sewer and a partial dabbler in other mediums
 but I'm not an artist.

By now, he knows if he can catch me off-guard with
an "I told you you're an artist" comment,
it's sure to get some sort of rise out of me.

This past Sunday, as we were racing out the door to church,
I asked one of the kids to grab my sandals from the closet and bring them to the car.

As we pulled away, I looked at my shoes....


scuffs on the toes. UGH!

We have this mystery person named "IDon'tKnow" who floats around our house.
No one has seen them, no one has heard them and no one has smelled them.
It's the oddest thing ever.

Apparently "IDon'tKnow" was clomping around in my shoes one day
while everyone else was occupied and nobody noticed.

As I launched into a rant about my scuffed shoes,
my husband looked at me and said, "They are just shoes. Relax. Who cares."

"You're right", I told him. "I'll just paint the white spots this week and you'll never notice."

"You don't have the right color paint", he said.

"I'll just mix up a few colors", was my answer.

Giving me his sly grin, he replied, "See, you're an artist."

"No, I'm not. Anyone can
 mix paint colors together.", I huffed back at him.

He wisely kept his mouth shut and we continued on our way.

This morning, while the kids ate breakfast, I painted my shoes.




I grabbed two browns (one light and one dark) and mixed them together.

If I was an artist, I'd get an exact match
and know exactly which colors to mix to get the color I want.

But I didn't because I don't know how to do that. So the brown I used is close enough
and just perfect for what I need it for.

You can't see any more white and that is all I care about.

I am not an artist. :)


7 comments:

Pam said...

Good job wih the shoes! (And if you create things with love, then you are an artist!)

Sarah Niemela said...

Oh, dear. I must not have encouraged you enough when you were little.
Artists come in all kinds. We all have gifts from God that we can use freely.
Talent is something we learn by doing.
So, yes, relax as Tom says. Use your gifts and keep learning new talents. I haven't even painted my shoes yet.

jessica said...

you're full of art, or is it artful?

Kristin said...

i say artist. also i agree with jessica!

jen said...

You are totally an artist. :)

Anonymous said...

The fact that you can think out of the box when it comes designs and colors makes you an artist. Maybe not the artist you imagine, but definitely an artist. :)

Kellie Staton said...

I say you are an artist too. You look at fabric and see what it could be. You can imagine how things would look together. Then you make it happen. That is artistic.