on quirkiness

at the beginning of this year 

the KZNSA 

(Kwazulu Natal Society of Art) 

held a members' exhibition. 

the theme was Grassroots;

and... this is the mixed media piece i made for it:

it is titled "uprooted" 

i was pretty pleased with it until it was time to take it to the gallery. 

 then i hit a huge wall of self doubt, 

i never went in. 

 i looked at it and it became not serious enough, not deep enough, 

it didn't bring any earth shattering message or emotion, 

it was too... quirky. 

quirky = odd, eccentric, idiosyncratic, offbeat, peculiar, unusual 

(Collins Dictionary & Thesaurus)

the truth is i love quirky, i love the word, i've got a quirky style, 

a quirky car, even a quirky dog... and my art mostly ends up looking quirky. 

when i'm asked what i do i still squirm as i say i'm an artist

and then when asked what i paint, 

 i stumble over the quirkiness of my painting style. 

the lizard voice in my head starts rambling...

"i can't possibly show them my art, it's childish, not really art, too easy, 

not meaningful, not serious, too colorful" and on and on... 

then the other day i read these: 

"I believe in shining a bright light on innocence and joy,

 and that lifting people's spirits matters, one drawing at a time." Jan Avellana

"It seems that everything is taken seriously, so we want to leave things that will be... un-serious.

We like all of our projects to have a little bit of lightness to them. And surprise. 

We like there to be something a little bit magical 

about the things that we leave behind." dearhuman.ca

 it made me feel better about how i do what i do.

 maybe i can even learn to love and embrace my quirkiness. 

maybe i can too,

 lift people's spirits and add a touch of magic to their days 

one painting at a time... 

PS: art saves ;)