A friend I knew well recently asked me if I knew I was odd. It was said as a pejorative. Well. Yes. Actually, the hardest thing for me has been to connect with ordinary people. Most friendships are task-related. My life has not followed ordinary patterns or currents. So I don’t always have the same tasks. Sorry about that. I get to most places other people go, but I’m not on the same schedule. I’m not particularly ordinary. She told me I could at least pretend.
I know, even past her irritation with me, that it would only matter if there were any ordinary people. Normal is a setting on the dryer. They’re just different in different ways.
How much of this defines us as artists? Are we really separated by our art? There are people who say they aren’t artists. I don’t buy that. We are not artists by what we do. We are by our genome. We are artists because we are human, and that’s part of our humanity. We may not choose to make art or need to make art, but our humanity makes us artists. It’s common to us, but it’s not ordinary. What isn’t ordinary is the need to focus on that art.

There are always artists who we see as better than we are. More ability. More output. More glory. Sorry about that. They’re not ordinary either. But it’s not a competition. They can’t do what you do, either.
So that well-vaulted, much-desired normal is not in any way normal. That may be just as well.

Perhaps the only thing we have to offer as artists is our viewpoint. That really isn’t ordinary. It’s the unique viewpoint we bring to the world, and it is precious.
Skill is something we learn over time. We develop all kinds of abilities, and they change our lives. They are a wheel that runs smooth or rough against the road of time. We gather skills, we drop what disinterests us, lose them as we age, change them as we grow. They change with technology and time. Skill doesn’t make you an artist. It just improves your vocabulary.
Our vision is who we are. What we see, the images we must work with, those sometimes change, but they are personal. They are all we really have to offer. Talk about different! None of us are much like other people. Vision usually is more permanent. It can change, but it represents a huge change in who we are.
I tend to see people as animals. It’s not a comment on their humanity. It’s just my vision. All those bugs and frogs and birds, they’re people I know. That especially includes myself.
I am not like other people. I don’t think anyone really is. Our uniqueness is a sign and a symbol of that unique spark. I can’t help but wonder if ordinary is a sign of exhaustion. Of giving up. Of giving in. Of course it could always simply be that I’m not trying hard enough to blend. But if you see yourself as a large frog, well, there you are. And no one can say your not working hard enough at it.

If you enjoyed this article, consider joining my Patreon community. We’re exploring our art and and nde tech both, in search of an artist’s life. It’s free to join, but if you would consider being a paying patron, it supportsme, and keeps me able to bring you this content.

This week on Patreon we had

Visual Path Quilts, Video
Smaller: Strategies for Scaling Down
The Do What Scares You Challenge.

Check it out!