I tried to stay neutral and not accidently comment on these post lest I tip the scales in anyone’s favor by accident.

Here’s the screenshot where I also sent payment to her!

Thanks everyone who participated. If you want to see all the entries, check them out at this link.

Post from: Artist Hideout

Art is hard work.

Unlike some, I can’t relax when I’m painting. It’s too difficult, and to be completely honest, I don’t always enjoy it. The real reason I create art—the one thing that makes it worthwhile—is seeing that finished, perfect painting when I’m done.

I actually feel the same way about painting as I do about working on my 1976 Datsun 280z. I love that car, but it takes some serious work to keep it in good shape.

Every time I head out to the garage I just expect to skin my knuckles getting a bolt loose, or to spill brake fluid all over the floor trying to get those darn air bubbles out of the brake lines.

So I plan ahead to make it easier on myself, assembling all my tools beforehand and thinking through the process each step of the way. When I make mistakes, I work twice as hard to fix them, because I know that’s the only way I’ll get my car back on the road again.

And that’s exactly the way I paint, too. I wish it came easy, but it doesn’t—and I’m amazed when I hear other artists say that painting itself is fun. Is it really, for you? Are there any artists out there who know what I’m saying?

Because for me at least, art means a hard day’s work—and yet it’s still worth it in the end.

Don’t for get to vote by leaving a comment below.

Post from: Artist Hideout

In my art I try to bring together my experiences, skills and emotions. I draw on my experiences, filtered through my emotions and moods and use my skills to ‘paint’ with light on my pc. I use my own software to translate what I see and feel into still frame images, I’ve replaced the brush and pencil with an electronic pen and tablet. Unlike with paint, I can vary the intensity of light in the images to reflect my thinking and emotions. I find it far more liberating and intensive than paint, and I control powerful computing ability to render my imagination into digital reality.

don’t forget to vote for him by commenting.

Post from: Artist Hideout

A character in a story I once wrote, says, “The world is not a beautiful place, you have to work to be beautiful in it.”

The character lives on the same planet as the rest of us. It is, maybe, a place that we experience one way and see another way depending on the amount of news media we consume.

Art, in all its forms, makes me reconsider that gap between what I live and what I — whether consciously or not — just judge. Or dismiss.

And I do mean the AIDS epidemic in Africa, the deaths of countless Iraqi civilians, the returning coffins of soldiers to their native soil, brainwashed suicide bombers and the countless global tragedies that march on around us with only a reaction of accepted powerlessness that is the dulling and numbing of human culture.

Art lets me see something else, something other than human self-destruction. Instead, art shows me the individual and the collective creation of a person, of a people, runs contrary to the dulling, the numbing of us.

I don’t think I react to art. Instead, I reconsider.

It’s not too late to jump in on the contest.

Don’t forget to have your friends vote for you by getting comments on your guest post.

Post from: Artist Hideout

Art is everything and anything in the world. Since I was a child I loved colors and textures of art. As I grew older I loved the sounds of art. I would paint or create. When I wanted to study art my parents discouraged me. When I didn’t finish school art was a distant memory until I was pregnant with my first child at eighteen, everything became art again. The whole creation process of carrying a child stimulated my energy for art. I began to write poetry and sketch. Now, seven years after the birth of son and I enrolled in school to get my Art degree. I work in an office as an assistant and all I can think about is creating ART! I would love to work in a museum as a curator or at an Ad agency as an Art Director or a freelance Artist. Art is everything to me. I will pass this passion to my children. They create, color and mold whatever they see. When my oldest son goes to college and says “Mom I want to study art!” My response will be, ” Art is everything, as long as you create art, you energy will never be lost!” Art is warm, cold, dreamy, bland or full of spice. Art is having a wish and making it come true. Art is a dream transformed onto canvas, to clay or to whatever you imagine in your heart. I will finish school and get my Art Degree.

Thanks for your submission Judi.

Post from: Artist Hideout

For me, art is that safety valve on the furnace. If I am building up too much stress, I go art something. People laugh at me and say I’ve never grown up when they catch me with a table full of canvases and paint, (or maybe its the way the paint is smeared on my nose they’re laughing at.) but I’m feeling really mellow at that point, so I don’t point out that being an artist is actually a career entry in the Occupational Handbook. Hey, building sand castles can be a career, for that matter.

Without art, I’d be terminally grumpy and overstressed. I won’t say it is cheaper than therapy. It is actually probably more expensive. However, it is definitely more fun, although the wiped out feeling once I’ve gotten a piece of art right sounds like it is pretty close to what people say they feel when they’ve had a breakthrough in therapy. Plus, I can sell my art and I’m pretty sure I’d never be able to sell a therapy session.

Katelyn

Post from: Artist Hideout

It’s progressive because I figure, the more page views, the better the prize will be (because I get paid for page views). There will be only one winner for this contest, but the prize will just get better for each level of page views.

Let’s go through the prize list* first of all.

• 1,000,000 page views – Nikon d40x
• 750,000 page views – Photoshop
• 500,000 Page views – 80gb iPod
• 250,000 page views – 22″ LCD Monitor
• 100,000 Page Views – Original Art from Josh Simpson, small megaplanet
• 50,000 Page Views – $50 via paypal

* winner can choose to also take the equivalent in a cash prize via paypal.

Here’s how it will work. To enter the contest, all you have to do is write a post for Artist Hideout of 150 – 250 words on the subject “What does art mean to you?” Make it funny, make it memorable, and make it creative (videos accepted). Email it to: william@b5media.com with the subject title “What art means to me“

Then, you can ask friends, relatives, readers of your own blog to come and comment over on your guest post and share what art means to them too in the comments. Each comment works as one vote for you.

At the end of August, I will tally up the votes to see who has the most and send out the prize earned by page views.

So the more people you have post comments, the more page views and the better the prize.

Pretty simple right?

So get writing and sending me your submissions.

Feel free to ask questions below too.

Certain restrictions may apply, such as these have to be family friendly and informative. No junk posts. Everything will be read before it is posted.

Clarification on Page Views can be found here.

Post from: Artist Hideout