Tell (Paint) Your Truth

This post is a little later because I was busy attending the annual Writers Conference at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.  As some of you already know, I was first a writer before I discovered I was also a visual artist.  I continue to pursue both artistic modes of expression with enthusiasm and vigor.  This was my seventh attendance at this long-running conference.  2011 was the 42nd annual.  In my opinion, it was one of the best.

No matter if you are a visual artist or a writer, what applies to one art also applies to the other.  For instance, Loida Perez said, "Write what interests you.  It will interest your readers.  You can rest assured there's an audience out there with the same concerns."

Passion Garden by Candace Hennekens

You can apply that truth to painting.  Instead of write, substitute the word "Paint." 

Another speaker was Maxine Hong Kingston, the most anthologized writer in America today.  Of Chinese-American ancestry, she has spent her life promoting peace through her writing.  She said, "Tell the truth and so make peace."   

Again, simply by substituting the word "paint", there is another truth that pertains to visual art.

America is a great nation but very commercial.  As artists, we must remember we will only find success by staying true to who we are, what interests us, what are passions are.  Sharing our truth sets us free.  And our truth just may set someone else free as well.  We may never know the true impact of what we have said, what we have painted, what we have written so we have to trust that authenticity makes us true artists not cranks pretending.