CREDIT: CREDIT: "STREET ARTIST" BY NANA B AGYEI ON FLICKR. LICENSED UNDER CC BY 2.0 / DESATURATED
Being intentional in creating and perfecting one's art takes work, but the result will be better.

It’s been a while since I’ve had one of those moments that inspires a new piece – one of those fleeting moments that many artists go about our busy days waiting for, that flicker of tenderness that starts to thaw a dormant idea hidden inside us.

Sitting in a crowded and energetic restaurant, I watched everyone around me buzz with excitement. It was a place of passion – the cooks were busily making the food, and the small tables that were filled with more people than you thought could fit around them were chatty and anticipatory.

I was lucky enough to be sitting across from a chef.

As each dish we ordered was brought out, I listened to him explain what was in it and how it was made. He gushed about the process of making a meal and how much time, energy and love goes into it, from the time a chicken lays an egg until it ends up on your plate.

It’s an intricate process, one that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

To me, the creative process of an artist is an important part of the art itself.

Last year, I wrote about the importance of process in conceptual art and how the medium can be a powerful tool in communicating the message to an external audience.

But lately I’ve been thinking a lot more about what art means to the artist who created it.

When a chef cooks a meal, he’s dreamt it into existence; every step is a pleasure. He kneads the dough attentively, carefully chops the vegetables and gingerly stirs the pot.

To an artist, it’s incredibly easy to slip into obsession about the end result: How is it going to look, who’s going to see it, what will they think, will someone buy it? But that’s not why we decided to do this. Not many of us signed up for this on a promise of making an easy living.

But there is a reason why we chose the arts: the love of the game. We love to drape the floor, set up the easel. We love to open our supplies and see the paint pool onto the pallet.

We love to slide a brush across a surface, watch the stroke take the shape it should. We love to step back and see what we look like sprawled across the canvas.

Many people create art for many different reasons – we all have our theories and ideas about what that should be. But our binding note, the thread that connects all artists, is the pleasure of creation.

This new year, I plan to get back to the visceral passion I have for making something out of nothing. And I can most certainly say that when one’s been present and intentional during the process, the result will taste much sweeter.
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