Both/and it is. Birgit may agree that her chosen field of biochemistry works with both/ands rather than either/ors. Life becomes interesting when things combine. But then, knowing of the eithers and the ors as such, is itself, a combinational process.

So you “know you – yawn – how boring”. My camera will say things like that. I argue with it as I insist that the lens through which it sees, and which it sees as boring, is, for all its transparency, the refracting and focusing medium through which it reacts to the world. Perhaps your boring self is actually such a transparency, rendered so through a long and complex life lived clearly. A pane, which if placed in isolation, would be a wonder of interrelated complexity and a marvel for all to ponder. There – how was that?

Rex, I tried to imagine what you were doing with that fish, until I read the next sentence :)

I’d have to say I’m both kinds of artist, and I don’t see that as a contradiction. I don’t think of my audience as every possible person in the world. There are many audiences out there, many overlapping, and they tend to form around things that resonate with them. I’d rather have a small passionate audience than a large fickle one (though a large passionate audience would be best).

That said, I trust my own intuition to explore areas that I find compelling, and to know whether a painting or a song in progress is working or not. I don’t live in a vacuum, and there are others that like the same things that I do. I figure if it looks/sounds right to me, then it will to some other people as well. I do listen to my audience once the work is out there, and no doubt I adjust what I’m doing in response. But I don’t try to second-guess them. I think that would be a disservice to them.

I’ve done no drawing or painting for months. My job was a total drain.

I say “was” because I decided to add some crew and transfer to another job withing the same company. This inspired me to take up music again because it’s a lively place with lots of great musicians coming and going.

Again, it’s an audience thing. My present environment has an audience for music, and I do like to perform.

I think I’ll have to achieve some isolation before I do the two huge projects I have in mind for drawing and painting — The Techniques of the Masters and the illustrations for Diana’s Falcon.

Thanks for asking.

I hope the restaurant business is going well.

Did not see any of your new portraits as yet. Hope the ‘painterly’ hand is not kept so busy making dishes that drawing suffers.

And Steve, of course you should do what’s right for you. What I liked about King’s observation is that it sees the rightness of both viewpoints.

Which is the “and” between the “or.”

I write for myself and I photograph for myself and I think it would be foolish to deny “it’s all about me,” yet I’ve been surprised in the past at the reactions I get from my own personal “stuff” because they can have nothing to do with what I’m trying to say and that’s not a bad thing!