Creative Fulfillment?

[Rhu]

This question just popped into my head. If you do something creative, why do you do it? When does your creative activity give you the most pleasure?

My primary creative activity is in writing, mostly in the form of short stories and poems. When I'm writing for a specific audience, such as one of the silly stories, my purpose is to build something for the purpose of creating consumable amusement, both for myself and others.

That's what most of what I write is. Consumable, disposable, and reactive.

On the other hand, when I've had personal matters bothering me and I had no release for the emotional charge, I take to writing things down. I try to make it brutally honest, or write from a perspective or in a style that I normally wouldn't attempt.

These tend to be the most personal and favorite works of writing I've created. I don't tend to share them much, because they are mine. They are the release and relief of pressures I don't like to admit to having.

The purpose here? Freedom, self-exploration, deconstruction, rearrangement. It's a photograph of my thoughts from a different angle.


So... what types of creativity please you most?

[camille]

Dancing and music

Music I generally play with the intention of exposing myself to someone else. I particularly like mastering manuscript though because it is an outlet for this perfectionism problem I have.

Dance is all about me and what I get out of it. It's physical, which I love, and it involves my head, my emotions, and my body.

[songbird36]

Music and poetry.

I sing because it feeds my soul. I write poetry because it exercises my mind and has a cathartic effect on internal "baggage".

[Rhu]

Dancing and music

Music I generally play with the intention of exposing myself to someone else. I particularly like mastering manuscript though because it is an outlet for this perfectionism problem I have.
I tend to be that way with things I create for consumption. The things I write for personal release tend to be a little rougher around the edges. Smaller in scale and larger in meaning.


Dance is all about me and what I get out of it. It's physical, which I love, and it involves my head, my emotions, and my body.

Bah. This probably wasn't the best time for me to start a thread like this. Trying to examine this sort of thing gets me lost so deep inside my own head that I have trouble resurfacing. Probably not what I want to do if I don't want to get noticed at work.

That disconnect from my body/self is something I'm more likely to be seeking when being creative.

Suffice it to say, this is all quite the opposite of me. We shall have to duel!

[Rajah]

I can write a story geared toward a specific audience, but it's definitely not my preferred style. My favorite writing is deeply personal; the goal is to figure out why I'm feeling or not feeling a certain way. I create because I have things I need to express, but I don't have any other outlet. Usually, I read what I've written, decide that the substance is lacking, and shred it. On the occasions I keep what I've written, and viewed it later with a more objective eye, I've been somewhat surprised that there are useable nuggets in the writing.

Although I'm hypercritical of my output, I think the process of writing down and sorting my thoughts is very cathartic.

[dunee]

visual arts (crafts in particular). Its constructive as well as deconstructive, because I prefer working with things I am not an expert in (yet) as it gives more challenge to deconstruct the processes and figure out how to get the results I want. From that I learn more about the skills involved and am able to see better the parts of the process of creating other (usually related) items. Doing it is an escape of sorts as well as extension of my need to learn.

to a lesser extent, I also write bits of poetry -though I have to be in a strange state of mind for that!- and work on a short fiction (which I'd like to become a graphic novel) on occasion.
This is less for my self-discovery than it is for writing out things I think of in visual form for safekeeping (as opposed to just thinking about it and then forgetting). I just don't have the impulse to write, so I have to force myself to put whats in my head into permanence. I also find the short fiction comic a nice exercise in creation of the framework of a fictional universe.

[Rhu]

I sing because it feeds my soul.
Hm. Singing for me does the opposite--sometimes just listening is nourishing, but singing is always a release, for me.

I think I find nourishment sort of thing most in good conversation. It makes me feel like a closet extrovert to feed on intimate social contact, but I suppose everything that uses energy needs some sort of fuel.

It also makes me wonder if conversation can be considered art.


I write poetry because it exercises my mind and has a cathartic effect on internal "baggage".
This I agree with. Need dissenters on the subject of writing poetry!

[camille]

I think I find nourishment sort of thing most in good conversation. It makes me feel like a closet extrovert to feed on intimate social contact, but I suppose everything that uses energy needs some sort of fuel.

It also makes me wonder if conversation can be considered art.



Me, too. :)

Wrote a poem 'bout it.
Like to hear it?
Here it goes......


Just kidding. about the poem part.

[Rhu]

On the occasions I keep what I've written, and viewed it later with a more objective eye, I've been somewhat surprised that there are useable nuggets in the writing.
I wrote a poem a few months ago that came out in almost perfect iambic pentameter. I was feeling distressed at the time, and it was completely accidental and very surprising.


visual arts (crafts in particular). Its constructive as well as deconstructive, because I prefer working with things I am not an expert in (yet) as it gives more challenge to deconstruct the processes and figure out how to get the results I want. From that I learn more about the skills involved and am able to see better the parts of the process of creating other (usually related) items.
So: Process = deconstruction; Expression = construction?


to a lesser extent, I also write bits of poetry -though I have to be in a strange state of mind for that!- and work on a short fiction (which I'd like to become a graphic novel) on occasion.
So far poetry seems to sound like an Fe expression; putting a giving pattern and structure something seemingly inherently niether.

[Rajah]

Hmmm... my idea of "deconstruction" is that I take a specific situation or feeling and break it down into its components. So, the way I feel for example, is caused by X, Y and Z. Writing helps me get at this. It's also why I'm not compelled to share my writing -- who wants to read a bunch of stuff about why I feel the way I feel? It's just uncomfortable.

[AMDG]

Taking things apart and figuring how they're comprised and how to put them back together in a better way, discarding any redundant parts. The usual subject is myself, though it could equally be my finances, home decor, my faith, my understanding of a person - anything either abstract or concrete.

The only time I can't stand 'deconstruction' work is in decorating. I hate that you have to spend hours and hours in hard manual labour (my least fave activity), only to have at the end of it an empty room that needs a lot more work on it before it's habitable. Wallpaper stripping, paint stripping, floor ripping-up, that sorta thing - hate it. I pay others to do it, then decorate on the blank canvas.

My most creative work is the thinking I do in quiet times and alone, either in silence or inspired by music. I pull my world apart (or someone's situation) and rebuild it, aiming for a better model when I know where to put myself (or where to advise them to put themselves). But this isn't stuff I can share with anyone or express, because it's not done in words or even pictures - just abstracts in my mind, though somehow I form them into something concrete and I can seldom understand how I do it. It's when I'm the most me, when I'm at my best, and the only time when all of my knowledge is used.

[ApeTheDog]

Sex, and so does everybody else.

[Rhu]

...who wants to read a bunch of stuff about why I feel the way I feel? It's just uncomfortable.
Is it also not entirely self-contained? I've been tempted to (and recently have) shared some personal stuff I've written, but before I did, I had to preface it and add end notes because I felt like it was expressing a perception of a feeling, not the situation surrounding it.


The only time I can't stand 'deconstruction' work is in decorating. I hate that you have to spend hours and hours in hard manual labour (my least fave activity), only to have at the end of it an empty room that needs a lot more work on it before it's habitable. Wallpaper stripping, paint stripping, floor ripping-up, that sorta thing - hate it. I pay others to do it, then decorate on the blank canvas.
Over the holidays, I watched three house-flipping and home-decorating shows in a row with my folks. It nearly drove me mad. The shows only make it look slightly less tedious than I'm certain it is.


...just abstracts in my mind, though somehow I form them into something concrete and I can seldom understand how I do it. It's when I'm the most me, when I'm at my best, and the only time when all of my knowledge is used.
This is understandable, except a little slippery in how it is almost self-contradictory--you know the process is you from the result. Art is an expression of imperfect self-awareness, and this imperfection fuels the need to make an expression by taking the abstract to the concrete to begin with?

That came out all convoluted.

[Rajah]

Is it also not entirely self-contained? I've been tempted to (and recently have) shared some personal stuff I've written, but before I did, I had to preface it and add end notes because I felt like it was expressing a perception of a feeling, not the situation surrounding it.It's my own discomfort with talking about my feelings. I don't know... I need to get over it.

[Rhu]

It's my own discomfort with talking about my feelings. I don't know... I need to get over it.
So... you're going to share something?

I should let you know, Rajah, that I've always thought of you as the big sister I never wanted had.
:puppy:

[Rajah]

So... you're going to share something?

I should let you know, Rajah, that I've always thought of you as the big sister I never wanted had.
:puppy:Um. Thanks.



Jerkface.

[CreativeChaos]

Music (playing piano and singing), have created three music CDs, writing, dancing, poetry. Those are the main things. I really have gotten into you name it with creativity.

The main thing is, I don't have any motivation to do any of these things, except dancing and singing, unless I have an audience to do them for. If I play piano or write I must have an audience in mind, or I don't do it.

[Rhu]

If I play piano or write I must have an audience in mind, or I don't do it.
You couldn't conceptualize yourself as the audience? Someone just like you? Maybe the futuristic CC-2020?

[CreativeChaos]

You couldn't conceptualize yourself as the audience? Someone just like you? Maybe the futuristic CC-2020?

Lol! No. But thanks for that concept. CC-2020. :D I'm gonna have to name my next CD that. And dedicate it to INTPCentral. :smooch:

[AMDG]

This is understandable, except a little slippery in how it is almost self-contradictory--you know the process is you from the result. Art is an expression of imperfect self-awareness, and this imperfection fuels the need to make an expression by taking the abstract to the concrete to begin with?

That came out all convoluted.

Yeah, take abstract to concrete, make it abstract then reconstruct it in abstract and make it concrete again. I did say I can't really express it. Plus, I've had about four pints of beer :)

[abathur]

Everyone's a fucking poet but you can't get anyone to buy the shit. *sigh*

[PeeSquare]

I'm into the constructive/visual side of things. I express when I work on cars, which is my hobby/passion/addiction I guess. I know when I paint a car, I want it to look like "I PAINTED A CAR", not like something that just rolled off the showroom floor. As such, my daily driver car is, well, lime green. Odd how I'm introverted, but I like really bright colors?
Then again, I'm into older cars for the most part, but now I'm going off on a tangent.

[venerationOFrabbits]

creativity is not a hobby for me, it's my life, for me it's change for the better

the environment I grew up in was not healthy, the community from which I came is not healthy, I'm trying to plant seeds by living a healthy live

live by example and show people by simply existing in a good way, now they can't claim they don't know any better

I realize I can't change everything I want but I know I can contribute

[Rhu]

Odd how I'm introverted, but I like really bright colors?
Is that an invitation for others to cross the bridge or climb the wall that it takes to communicate with you?

[Jennywocky]

Everyone's a fucking poet but you can't get anyone to buy the shit. *sigh*

Not with the Internet to steal it all from.

I probably sound like a fascist/elitist by saying this, but the fact that everyone has a voice on the Internet means that no one has.

It's just one loud cacophony.

People have forgotten that not all ideas are equal: Some are more coherent than others and some are executed much more skillfully/convincingly than others.

Once people figure it out again, they'll [hopefully] be willing to pay for them.

[Rhu]

[The Internet is] just one loud cacophony.

People have forgotten that not all ideas are equal: Some are more coherent than others and some are executed much more skillfully/convincingly than others.

I'm not sure how much of a concern this should really be--people, en masse, will end up gravitating towards certain concepts or coming to consensuses on the significance of a piece of art.

But, yes. Unfiltered, the Internet is a great cacaphony. It's like the gates to the underworld have opened up and every greater and lesser fiend is trying to bend your ear towards their grating voices in order to trap you in their own personal hells.

A city at noontime is much the same, but there's a block of the population that seeks to uncover things with meanings that are greater than the superficial. I honestly think these sorts of people actually have a greater presence on the Internet, simply because niches are so much easier to dig out in cyberspace.


Once people figure it out again, they'll [hopefully] be willing to pay for them.
One fifth of everyone who has ever lived is alive right now. Insight that could have been unique a couple hundred years ago might be thought up simultaneously by several different people. With the advances in technology, it can also be taken and shared instantly; consumed by everyone in the world interested in digital format as soon as the thought is finished.

I guess what I'm saying is this: I'm not sure what it takes for a person to be worth publishing these days. If you were to try to write for a living, how could you make what you have to say more valuable than anyone else, in a way that can't just be stolen and redistributed in a flash?

[Jennywocky]

But, yes. Unfiltered, the Internet is a great cacaphony. It's like the gates to the underworld have opened up and every greater and lesser fiend is trying to bend your ear towards their grating voices in order to trap you in their own personal hells.

I particular love seeing links on ABCNews (for example) saying, "Come and vote [on this current issue] -- state your mind for all to hear!"

But it's just a lot of people talking, worried about stating their opinion... and no one is really listening. Noise, that's all it is, and the illusion of relevance.


A city at noontime is much the same, but there's a block of the population that seeks to uncover things with meanings that are greater than the superficial. I honestly think these sorts of people actually have a greater presence on the Internet, simply because niches are so much easier to dig out in cyberspace.

All right, I do agree that the niche group has been permitted to thrive in the presence of the Internet, mostly because people can find each other and not remain in isolation and/or wondering whether they are just oddballs.

In addition, computer tech has permitted us to diversify targeting and market directly to particular subsets of the community... allowing again diversity to thrive, because specific needs/interests can be catered to.


One fifth of everyone who has ever lived is alive right now.

That's impressive. I didn't realize that.


Insight that could have been unique a couple hundred years ago might be thought up simultaneously by several different people. With the advances in technology, it can also be taken and shared instantly; consumed by everyone in the world interested in digital format as soon as the thought is finished.

It does make originality more difficult, in a sense. You can no longer really pitch a "high-concept" idea (for a book or movie, for example), whereas in the past just the idea itself might seem new and thus worth pursuing. It's about how it's implement and detailed.


I guess what I'm saying is this: I'm not sure what it takes for a person to be worth publishing these days. If you were to try to write for a living, how could you make what you have to say more valuable than anyone else, in a way that can't just be stolen and redistributed in a flash?

Well, "worth publishing" in the realistic sense = can make lots of money. This isn't me just being cynical; money is the driving force. It's why people like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and other socially worthless creatures (no personal offense meant, but really, they contribute nothing useful due to their self-centered natures) can garner lots of media attention and bring in money. For whatever reason, they're cash cows.

Still, if you want to be idealistic, what I have seen is that, while the general patterns of thought are no longer unique, the uniqueness comes in the implementation. In other words, how can *I* share this idea in a way that is uniquely mine, just because I am who I am?

[As an example, it's like trying to watch people selling "Harry Potter" spin-offs, and none of them quite succeeding like Rowling's work did. They are trying to be Rowling and are thus just dumb knock-offs... fakes.]

I am really selling myself and my unique spin on the idea, not the idea itself. And each one of us has that opportunity, if we allow ourselves to give what specifically and who specifically we are (which, of course, means we need to know WHO we are, and where we have come from, and have courage to expose ourselves).

[s0978]

I guess what I'm saying is this: I'm not sure what it takes for a person to be worth publishing these days. If you were to try to write for a living, how could you make what you have to say more valuable than anyone else, in a way that can't just be stolen and redistributed in a flash?
um, didn't you kinda answer yerself earlier in yer post.

I'm not sure how much of a concern this should really be--people, en masse, will end up gravitating towards certain concepts or coming to consensuses on the significance of a piece of art.

[PeeSquare]

Is that an invitation for others to cross the bridge or climb the wall that it takes to communicate with you?

I'd have to say yes. I definitely was never the flirty type with the ladies in college. However, my project car then was a Ford Torino that I had made into a Starsky and Hutch clone. Partly because I liked the show, partly because I REALLY liked the obnoxious stripe. I got more than one "hey I love your car" from the artsy-type-hot chicks when I was there.

Of course, being an INTP, I used to just go "Thanks", and sheepishly shuffle to class.

:banghead:

It helps, I guess.

[Rhu]

That's impressive. I didn't realize that.
It's scary. We're all fucked!


It does make originality more difficult, in a sense. You can no longer really pitch a "high-concept" idea (for a book or movie, for example), whereas in the past just the idea itself might seem new and thus worth pursuing. It's about how it's implement and detailed.
Nah. I'm pretty sure I was falling into fallacy, there--there's more depth and breadth to your audience than ever. Two hundred years ago, if you wanted to produce fiction for, say, Pennsylvania Methodist churches, you might be able to scrape out a living.

Today? Jesus--I remember driving through Mechanicsburg, PA (population: 10k) one day and noticing there were two of those--not just in the same town, but on the same block.

What was marginal no longer is.




Well, "worth publishing" in the realistic sense = can make lots of money. This isn't me just being cynical; money is the driving force. It's why people like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and other socially worthless creatures (no personal offense meant, but really, they contribute nothing useful due to their self-centered natures) can garner lots of media attention and bring in money. For whatever reason, they're cash cows.
Nah. They are billboards. Their handlers essentially sell advertising space. ;)



I am really selling myself and my unique spin on the idea, not the idea itself. And each one of us has that opportunity, if we allow ourselves to give what specifically and who specifically we are (which, of course, means we need to know WHO we are, and where we have come from, and have courage to expose ourselves).
Good point. This actually touching on some other subjects that have been on my mind, lately--information filtration and personal exposure in Internet culture and how I personally stand and relate to these things.

I think that sentence could spawn two or three separate threads. ;)


um, didn't you kinda answer yerself earlier in yer post.
Macro level vs. personal level--how does the individual create something that some mass gravitates towards? Or should the personal level be a concern?

[s0978]

Macro level vs. personal level--how does the individual create something that some mass gravitates towards? Or should the personal level be a concern?
The thread is called "Creative Fulfillment"!

I suppose I tend to believe that labors of self-expression alongside a pursuit of excellence is enough concern and focus to make creative quests meaningful and promising- issues of originality and marketability are secondary, and if anything, can rather distract on the road to creative fulfillment. Perhaps that seems wide-eyed and overly idealistic, but I would say my attitude stems from a kind of pragmatic optimism. I don't see that there is a better choice than to trust with great conviction that endeavors born of value to self will have value for others, and be appreciated/ compensated by them.

Not to say one should stick one's head in the sand. I've met aspiring writers who hadn't seemed to have read much. But I don't think that's you.

[abathur]

Not with the Internet to steal it all from.

I probably sound like a fascist/elitist by saying this, but the fact that everyone has a voice on the Internet means that no one has.

It's just one loud cacophony.

People have forgotten that not all ideas are equal: Some are more coherent than others and some are executed much more skillfully/convincingly than others.

Once people figure it out again, they'll [hopefully] be willing to pay for them.

Eh, apart from older poetry--stuff the poets usually aren't alive to profit off of--most of the available stuff online is absolute shit. There are a small number of sample poems on journal websites, and a few good online journals, but for the most part, it's shit. It's like if everyone quit going to the movies because of youtube. Our society, really, just doesn't value poetry that much these days (the exception to this is children--childrens poets can actually make money, and even be best sellers--but we manage to ruin that before they make it out of HS.)

I doubt there are many people who honestly would buy poetry books but don't just because of the poetry available to them online.

[Jennywocky]

I doubt there are many people who honestly would buy poetry books but don't just because of the poetry available to them online.

To be honest, I'm not even sure poetry was a big seller BEFORE the Internet happened.

(And admittedly I was thinking more about fiction, cinema, and music when I made my comments.)

[abathur]

I never said the internet had an impact on poetry (and it doesn't, really, other than giving everyone who thinks they're a poet a place to put their shit up for free.)

The internet didn't make everyone think they were a poet, nor does it make them refuse to buy poetry.

[Rhu]

The thread is called "Creative Fulfillment"!
A plate of food can be pretty fulfilling! :P

Then again, comfort can be stifling.


I suppose I tend to believe that labors of self-expression alongside a pursuit of excellence is enough concern and focus to make creative quests meaningful and promising- issues of originality and marketability are secondary, and if anything, can rather distract on the road to creative fulfillment. Perhaps that seems wide-eyed and overly idealistic, but I would say my attitude stems from a kind of pragmatic optimism. I don't see that there is a better choice than to trust with great conviction that endeavors born of value to self will have value for others, and be appreciated/ compensated by them.
There are other choices--a friend of mine, for instance, enjoys discussing ways to create clever and disposable art whose creation process is automated--the feeling he's going for, I guess, is that he's outsmarted his consumer.

I'm not sure how he'd actually feel about himself if he succeeded at that, though.


Eh, apart from older poetry--stuff the poets usually aren't alive to profit off of--most of the available stuff online is absolute shit.
What, in your opinion, makes the poetry (edit: and elsewhere) you have seen online absolute shit?

At least, any moreso than what's produced for other mediums. Visual art, for instance, can be really freaking horrid (http://www.deviantart.com) online. There's also some stuff that has made me pause, stare, and think.

Mostly just stuff on rotten.com, though.

[abathur]

It's the nature of the publication process. People who are serious about their writing, whether they're working in fiction, poetry, etc. are more concerned with publication than exposure. Once a piece is out there, most journals don't want it anymore. If a full manuscript is already out on the internet, most publishers won't consider it anymore.

The visual artist is a different breed. Sure, there's a lot of bad visual art on the internet, but there's also a lot of really killer material out there. The visual artist is able to sell prints of their work, sell original pieces if in the right media, freelance for appropriate projects, and get exposure for job offers in the visual media.

The poet isn't going to get many offers to write a freelance poem for someone else, and there are very few "jobs" a poet will find himself in because of his work, most of which are looking to the publishing world for prospects, instead of the self-publishing online world.

So, that's what matters: serious poets aren't releasing their best work online, unless it's coming out in online literary journals, or is one of the sample pieces on print journal websites. Serious visual artists have some viable reasons to release their work online and it isn't suicide to display their best visual art online.

I also imagine more people "think" they're poets than seriously think they're visual artists (of most types.) Poetry is, to the writing world, what photography is to the world of visual art. Everyone with enough money thinks they can pick up a camera and be a photographer. Everyone who can put words on paper thinks they can have an emotional experience and be a poet. How many times have you heard, "here, look at this painting I made," compared to, "here, look at this poem I wrote"?

I'm sure the ease of evaluation has some effect, too, especially self-evaluation. It's easier to realize the visual work you're creating sucks, I think.

*edit* there's a lot of horrible visual art, and horrible poetry/fiction on deviant-art, but there are also some really high-quality visual artists on dA. There aren't many active high-quality literary deviants because, as I said, online self-pub is usually a dead-end for people serious about writing (unless we're talking newswriting, in which case running a good investigative blog can be a good way to showcase yourself.)

[Rhu]

I also imagine more people "think" they're poets than seriously think they're visual artists (of most types.) Poetry is, to the writing world, what photography is to the world of visual art. Everyone with enough money thinks they can pick up a camera and be a photographer. Everyone who can put words on paper thinks they can have an emotional experience and be a poet. How many times have you heard, "here, look at this painting I made," compared to, "here, look at this poem I wrote"?

So you think that there's some measurable objective value to art?




Edit: From the times I've seen it posed, I've come think the question above is a trap from which there is no escape...

[abathur]

I think I don't know why your question is a reasonable response to my assertion. ;)

[Rhu]

I think I don't know why your question is a reasonable response to my assertion. ;)

Well played.

[Jennywocky]

So you think that there's some measurable objective value to art?

Yes -- Temperature.

(If someone's burning it, it must be art.)

[htb]

I maintain a weblog, writing political and anecdotal commentary, and publishing photography, holding myself to reasonably flexible weekly word counts and content benchmarks -- some means to ensure production on one hand and keep myself from baseless self-criticism on the other.

Elsewhere, the last four years have been spent working on and off on a late band's album; in this, I am most pleased when the most current stage of an unfinished track is, if not aesthetically perfect, technically competent.

[Toonia]

creativity is not a hobby for me, it's my life, for me it's change for the betterWhat do you create? If you don't mind my asking.

Right now i'm working on a piece for someone i met on this forum. :smooch: It's what i should be doing at this moment, so i won't take too long here. It was inspired by one of her posts. She knows who she is. I create to have a record of my experience and to connect with another person in a meaningful way. I might post it whenever i get it finished and recorded as a little tribute to someone who has the ability to *see* people.

I tend to write for the people most important to me. Sometimes they appreciate it, sometimes not, but it is my favorite gift to give.

[Toonia]

Macro level vs. personal level--how does the individual create something that some mass gravitates towards? Or should the personal level be a concern?If your goal is to make money, then the personal level is secondary, but if the goal is to create art, then money is secondary.

The problem with commercialism is that it targets the lowest common denominator. It requires fast results, so worth is determined by initial impact, not substance. This is equally true of french fries and art. Cliques are easily recognizable by the masses and serve as the best model for commercialized expression.

The very greatest art also finds a broad connection to humanity through a kind of deep self awareness in which the artist finds himself as a kind of microcosm of humanity. That takes time, ingenuity, and merciless rigor. It is also not always immediate in its connection to others. In music Beethoven stands for this type of profound expression, but he was at times brutalized for his work during his life. I can include quotes as needed. There is no fast and cheap with art, and so it is by its nature in conflict with the principles of commercialism.

[lbloom]

These tend to be the most personal and favorite works of writing I've created. I don't tend to share them much, because they are mine. They are the release and relief of pressures I don't like to admit to having.

That sums up how photography feels for me. I work hard to get it right, the mind juggling the technical and the artistic, almost instinctively dialing in the correct exposure while grappling with the frame's limiting boundaries to capture the mood of the moment. And then I refuse to show them to people.

When long periods of work keep me away from writing or taking pictures, there's a palpable tension in me, till I can take it no more. I just grab my camera, drop everything else, and go for a long walk. I might not even take any pictures, but the process of actively soaking in my surroundings with that intent is cathartic.

I occasionally think that I post in here only for that release that comes with expression. Ideally, I would want to spend years working within the sciences to express my joy at how everything is put together, how everything is. That privilege is reserved for the very bright or very lucky. I'm a bit of both, but probably not enough.

I need to learn to play the piano.

[Toonia]

So you think that there's some measurable objective value to art?There are both objective and subjective measurements in art. It requires both to complete an evaluation.

Artistic expression, in all its forms, is a reflection of the natural world, and the experience of being human within that context. The values of proportion, pattern, balance are just as relevant to a created aesthetic expression, as to one that occurred naturally. There are some objectively measurable reasons why flowers, mountains, sunsets, waves on the ocean etc. are beautiful. Here is an overview for your consideration.

1. Fractal patterns: create relationships between large and small scale patterns.
2. Symmetry: creates balance and proportion
3. Distribution: random events distribute themselves generally into balanced proportions.

Within these (and there are more i'm sure) natural principles, we get a constant interplay of structure and randomness that together create balance. This interplay is at the heart of the aesthetic experience. Those patterns that occur with absolute rigidity remove from the experience that sense of discovery. It is the play of randomness on the repeating patterns of tree branches, cricket songs, waves, etc. that allows us to engulf our senses in perceiving the constantly shifting interrelationships within the patterns. The great artistic expression in music are based on fractal patterns and symmetry (oftentimes w/o the composer even being aware of it). I would guess that would be relevant for literature as well.

We are a product of these same aesthetic processes. Every detail of our body is based on fractals, symmetry, balance, and random elements. There are also aspects of artistic expression that tells of our specific vantage point as a human being.

1. Movement through time: the rhythms and movements that define our passage through time.
2. Abstraction/symbolic thinking
3. Perceptions/Cognition (is a new field of study in the arts now)

Dramatic pacing in music and literature can be evaluated based on its relevance to how this occurs in the human experience. The symbols and their meaning are also of a largely subjective in nature. Their meaning depends on culture, personal experience and perception. The evaluation of the arts is in its totality subjective, because it contains subjective elements. This does not mean that some level of objective evaluation is not possible. Thoughts?

edit: this post emphasizes some of the objective aspects of aesthetics, a thorough subjective analysis requires a more specific context.