Creative Passion
I’m going back to the beginning as the world is flooded with AI art. Is any of it good? No. All creativity needs passion to be art. It has to be born of the human storm. It is the hunger that matters—the raging connection among all of your senses and those dual, but divergent properties of the intellectual world: the logic of reality and the seeming illogic of wisdom.
Few artists I have known have the pure passion for art as Alan Braley of Washington DC. For over 50 years he has explored and conquered so many subjects and techniques. He begins with an idea. It grows and sends out shoots and a new series is born. It can lead anywhere but it has to have a raging connection with spirits of the earth and humanity.
Famous and not-so-famous artists have said in various ways that art without passion is decoration. Paul Cezanne said, “A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art. Emotion is the starting point, the beginning and the end.”
The great painter, Jean Ingres, said, “Do not suppose anything good or even fairly good can be produced without the nobility of the soul.”
The struggle to create, to learn, to explore is always there. Occasionally when PTSD grabs us and the dark winds blow, the fire goes out. But something will spark, maybe a person who electrifies, or, for me, a long walk in the woods, or watching the creek behind my house, and the fire ignites. The need to make art explodes. It’s also true in music, writing, and theater. PTSD can be the tornado that lifts us to a clearer vision of what really matters.
To Ben Shahn, “Spiritual energy” was the “primary force in art.”
Real creativity comes not from just your eyes, or your hand, but from inside—the heart, the soul...and hunger. It is the hunger that matters. You have to soar above the endless fragments of reality into the intensity of invention—the realm of idealism.
I have followed the work of Barbara Nuss for many years. She paints from life not photos. She is master of technique, a teacher who has written a book on landscapes. But it’s the inner life of her work that can’t be taught—it’s the passion for making a vision come alive.
There are other passions in life. I don’t include the accumulation of money, credentials and awards. That’s obsession, not passion. It is the spiritual energy that clings to your soul, your humanness—and in the end it is the only award worth dying with.
Today marks the 35th anniversary of a mind-searing night flight mission I was on during the onset of Operation Desert Storm.
But today, I'm reading "Odysseus in America" by famous PTSD expert Jonathon Shay. He writes of how therapists, family and friends telling you to "just get over it" after so many years is one of the worst insults you can throw at a combat veteran; as that would be the ultimate betrayal and dishonor if you forget those who fell in battle.
As for the beautiful artwork, God denied me any musical ability whatsoever and my painting skills are limited to Sherwin-Williams products. But I have found that my only creative outlets are writing and photography.
I'm so grateful for Substack's community of creators.
Those interested can read my recent article about that mission noted above here: https://danafharbaugh.substack.com/p/it-was-a-go-no-matter-the-risk
Great work as usual. Love these artists!