If art is a journey what is the vehicle?

These days there are plenty of people doing posts, memes and videos about life is a journey not a destination… which is actually blatantly obvious since death is the destination for 100% of us.

Of course memes, posts and videos that say “Death is the destination so make the most of your life” are not winners in the virality or merch stakes, YOLO to that.

A long time ago I read a book my mum had by Dr. Wayne Dyer and he espoused that “Happiness is a journey not a destination.”

He wasn’t the first to say that, but he did latch on to it and sold quite a few books by elaborating on it. And since people love to copy success we often see that quote floating around in social space (social space is like cyber space just less real).

If you want to pick holes in sayings like “Happiness is the journey not the destination”, it’s pretty easy, just ask questions like:

• So where are we going?

• Are we taking a taxi? (who’s paying?)

• What do you mean we have to walk?

• When’s lunch? (who’s paying?)

Clearly we need a vehicle for going on this journey, I’ll be damned if I’m going to be happy walking all the way. If we have a vehicle we will need to fill it up and maintain it on this journey and it better not be a sea trip as that’s not going to be more colorful for some of us than others.

There better be some sense of direction as I’m sure happiness isn’t going round in circles, unless you have wheels then happiness is the wheels going round and round, unless you’re on a bus… I don’t like bus replacements.

Time for a picture…

This is me going on a journey… that’s if Art is a Journey and not a destination…

Now here’s where it gets tricky… the act of arting… is different from being an artist… anyone can do a painting and call themselves an artist and in fact many people do call themselves artists.

What do you call yourself? When I was a transformation manager I called myself an adrenaline junkie who lived to put out fires and take people on crusades so that could achieve far more than they ever believed they were capable of… it was a very big business card… more of a brochure really… anyway I didn’t introduce myself to people as a team leader, BA, service manager, business architect, or whatever… so when people ask you… “What do you call yourself?” What do you say?

The thing is… people don’t ask us that… they ask “What do you do… for a living?” note they always add the financial rider at the end… for a living. Which is stink for those who are mums… what does a mum do… actually I don’t have enough space in this post to list all the things a mum does but they range from ‘I don’t want to think about it’ to ‘that’s amazing!’

We are evaluated by others through their lens of occupations. They thing is… an artist might not make a living from their art… like Vincent Van Gogh or in the early days Claude Monet who was supported by a wealthier artist. Yet they were artists all the same even though they didn’t get paid…

Is an artist an artist if they don’t make $

So here’s the thing… when I was made redundant from jobs and I have received 6 red letters in my lifetime… I’d say career, but when you get a red letter you no longer have a career so lifetime will have to sub in.

So if you are made redundant and someone asks you what you do for a living do you say “I’m redundant, what do you do?” or do you call yourself the title of your now non-existent role?

Wherein lies a trap for so many job-seekers - especially those without a job - they often look to get the same job they were made redundant from… um… sometimes there is no going back… as I discovered once I passed the mighty decade of 40 and learned that experience is something that can devalue your CV….

…anyway I now call myself an artist… at least when I am not arting… when I am painting I call myself all sorts of names if I mess up that painting… sometimes I just call myself a friend to all things coffee and abandon the art for some pick me up juice that hopefully has a sugary treat attached to it.

I once read an article that tried to define amateur artists from professional ones… and while it said a lot of silly things - it did say one thing that stuck… a professional artist is someone who paints even when they don’t feel like it.

Actually that sounds like pretty much every job I’ve done in life… I guess I wasn’t an amateur Operations Manager because I turned up even when I didn’t feel like it. Actually the only people I knew who never turned up for work were millennials… curse their casual ways.

Now if happiness is the journey and you’re occupying some specific occupation and are happy in it then is the happiness enough or do you need a destination?

Here’s some flowers while you think about it…

This is a painting I haven’t finished… I can tell you that sometimes while I am painting I am happy… and other times I am thinking… this is hard work… what the heck?! Aren’t I supposed to be having fun? I have 12 more flowers to do this year and 4 more underwater paintings before November and it took me a whole hour just to lay one layer of skin tone and I have 4 more layers of skin and that’s just blocking in…then I have to detail… what the heck am I doing?

The answer is… working…

Hmmm… if art is the journey what is the vehicle… the vehicle is work and hard work depending on your skill, energy, caffeine levels.

As an artist - happiness is the destination - the finished piece… where I can see all the work, passion, name calling, coffee (hopefully chocolate) and vision coalesce into the final piece.

This journey nonsense about happiness might be great for selling books but I can tell you in art a lot of the journey is uphill on a non-electric bike and sailing threatening seas that hint of nausea inducing moments… this happens when your heart leaps into your mouth when the easel falls over… the ultimate gerd moment.

In the end… clearly this post needs to end soon… an artist is an artist whether they call themselves one whether they earn money or not as long as they do the work.

Which is why I won’t let people tell me I am talented… I am not talented… I know very little about colour theory, or values, or how to paint stinking leaves on stinking trees… but I do know how to work and I know that if we keep working with a view to getting better that is usually the result.

So whatever creative activity you find joy in… and I guess here on Substack most will find joy in writing… know that if you want to be called a writer or to succeed as a writer… the vehicle is the work you will put in… whether that vehicle is a bike or a Ferrari is up to your own passion.

Wishing you a great rest of the week… thanks for reading!