Thursday Thoughts...

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without the work.” 
Emile Zola

I'm pondering art this week and this quote is a nice one which reminds us that our art is really a combination of things.

I like that there is a gift involved - whatever that may be, the talent each individual has been gifted is unique. Artists need these talents and gifts to create; but just the gift often isn't enough. The gift needs us to work; to practice, to learn; to perfect.  The gift needs the skill developed over time and under different circumstances.

he gift is of no value if it isn't used. If time isn't spent with it, using it and developing it.

I think there may be a very few folk , very very few, for whom the gift doesn't need work - for whom it just appears and delivers.

I think the working, the refining, and the challenging are all necessary and valuable, and I think that possibly if we do these things over time, then the gift can deliver work for us quite effortlessly. But we know we have done the work that makes that seem possible.

Evidence of the work that lies behind the finished, etched product...and of course, before that there are the years of calligraphy practice and learning...