After (and during) the completion of this weeks project, I began to ask myself “Is this thing that I’ve created art?” I walked out the door of my apartment today without any idea of what I’d make. I had my watercolors. I had some colored chalk that I’d purchased last week. I had a box of clay. I had no preconceived notions, other than “I need to make something, and I want to stay out of my comfort zone.”

There’s a nice spot down by the Hudson river near my apartment with good light. It was a pretty day so I headed in that direction. I sat down on this big stone and began playing with chalk. After a while I shifted to clay and started working with blotches of color pressed into the stone. I had no idea what I was creating, but it was very meditative to just work with color, texture and light. While I was finishing up and photographing the piece, a colleague rode by on his bicycle. At that point, I still had the word “ART?” stenciled next to good old Frederick.  (”Frederick” was a name I only came up with after my colleague looked at the piece and saw something in it that I hadn’t. At that point I had no idea what it was that I’d made…)

To be honest, I was a bit shy about having anyone look at what I’d created and found myself making excuses for the quality. I felt embarrassed to be caught red handed out on the Hudson river pushing clay into a rock. Writing “ART?” next to what I’d created was my way of apologizing. It was like saying “Yeah, I know this sucks but is it art?”. After he left, I decided “You know what, screw it. Let people look at this thing and make up their own damn minds about what it is.” I pulled off “ART?” and re-photographed. In the end, it’s enough that I spent time creating. What I ended up with was something that is uniquely my own. Whether or not it’s “ART” (or good “ART”, or bad “ART”) is immaterial. I made something, and that’s enough.

I have to say that I’m extremely proud of this weeks project. I’ve never really painted anything before. (I’m sure I must have painted as a child… it’s the type of things children do… but I have no memory of it.) It was extremely meditative and I lost track of time while I was painting. It’s interesting how similar the process was to composing music. Many times when I’m writing something I’ll have moments in the beginning where I’m thinking “This absolutely sucks.” I plow through those voices in my head, and eventually come up with something that I like, or at least something that’s a hell of a lot better than when I started.

When I first began this piece my little voice was saying rather loudly “I suck at this!” I managed to plow through. It’s no Picasso, but I have to keep reminding myself that 52 Things was never supposed to be about creating masterpieces. It’s always been about simply creating. I kept painting and what I ended up with was a hell of a lot better than when I started.

Also, a major hat tip to my friend Dav. He’s recently begun his own 52 Things, and seeing the cool things he’s come up with has inspired me to take more chances in what I’m doing here.

For a higher resolution copy click here.

Click below if you require auditory stimulation…