You don't choose the art path, the art path chooses you

A fellow artist and homey of mine hit me up recently asking me why I make art.  I simply responded that I am passionate about art and that's why I make it... As nice as a response that was, I felt there was way more to it. It was a question that I felt was too precious to be answered so easily. It's someone asking me why the fuck do I chose to do what I do? I can't just reply by saying it's because I like it, that's just as vague as a blank page. All night this question remained in the back of mind until I came to my own realization. 

Think about all of us people in this world as a whole, not all of us are artists. We've all had artistic experience in school, but not all of us carried on with these experiences with time.  Few of us have seen ourselves devoting our lives to being artists, no matter the outcome. And those people that have, are the chosen ones aka the artists.

I've concluded that we don't choose to do art, art chooses us. Art is a force and it looks down upon all humans coming into the world and it selects it's creative contestants into it's circle. After what I'd like to call "The Coloring Book" phase, it chooses us and knowingly leads us to our artistic tool. It makes the Graffiti writer infatuated with the art in the streets feel connected as opposed to the non-artist who would just see vandalism. It makes the photographer look outside and feel a view and visualize the landscape they want to capture as opposed to the regular human who sees that view every day and feels nothing. It makes the poet absorb all pain they feel, and project their sorrow into a harmony of words... same with musicians, sculptors, composers, bakers, you name it. You develop an artistic 6th sense that only you can feel. Just like love, you don't really choose what or who you wanna invest yourself into... it just naturally happens. That's when art chooses ya, the epic art bug.

As I wake up, I realize that the first thing on my mind is creating something, which makes sense because it is the last thing I am doing before I go to sleep. When the first thing you think about is art, I believe that is being passionate about something, and now I feel I've earned my right to use the word passionate. As an artist, you're highlighting your usual encounters and putting in your flavors, making your planet a better one. The art force got your back, it makes no mistakes either, trust it. 

So why do you make art? Because it won't leave you alone? To share your insanity with the planet? To liberate your mind? To leave your traces in the world after you perish? Or is it because you are simply passionate? Explore your answer. The art path has enriched my mind and has helped me find Sola, and Sola helped me find myself... if you ask me, I've succesfully made it to my path already. 

Sincerely,
A content Art force victim

Peace, love and immortal art foreva.

Give me a moment.

Ever feel like everything in the world is continuously going wrong, as if that dark cloud above you just got comfortable raining on you and your emotions? Yeah, I've been there. The stressballs we build around ourselves at times matter momentarily, which means that we love to never-endlessly over stress them.

 I realized that if we, ourselves are not doing okay, then nothing else matters. We need to concentrate on ourselves to get stronger. Those who try to tell you that the real world is full of nothing but pain and misery are those who over-think, those who havn't found that one hobby that can make them happy. To some extent, I do agree, the world is indeed built for tough people. This means it's built for those that can survive those hard times, return and rejoice after they've gone through it. Sometimes I feel like we are pre-determined to stress things. By that I mean, that maybe we wouldnt be stressed if everyone else werent telling us to be. As if our feelings didn't really belong to us, as if they were based on those who have lived before us. That's kind of like a waste of a human being,let's experience our feelings for our own shall we?

There's often a method to fight and solve our problems, we shouldn't feel to trapped. Solutions are all around, they just aren't so easy to find, that's why we gotta dig further. Things that seem like a big huge deal, sometimes only appear to be.

We need a moment, a moment we dedicate to us, just because we deserve it.
We are always doing something and we can never acknowledge sometimes that we could just be.

We never spend time with ourselves and appreciate our existence, because we always sit and feel like we MUST constantly be doing something. It's okay to give yourself a moment you know? We often doubt ourselves of the greatness that we posses. I don't sit and compare, but when I do I compare myself positively to those that overcame and succeeded. Whenever the sun shines outside and everyone is happy, absorb a little of that greatness in. The brightness of every new day can spread millions of beautiful vibes into you. They say every new day is a fresh start, take advantage of that.

And by all means, if you are doing something in your life that you passionately hate, figure out a new alternative, it is always there. Fucking smile.

With love,

The eternal sunshine in your spotless mind.
SOL(a)

You can't knock the Art Hustle.

The other day I stepped out my house, headed to send out some art that people had ordered from me and I couldn't help but smile at how awesome it was to be getting support off of something that I created, something that not only I, but many others believed in.

It lead me to think of all the moves I had made in order to get to where I currently am, which is a step further than where I was a year ago. A college kid walkin through life's maze just trying to figure things out. I always told myself that as days go by, we grow older and we learn more. So each new day that arrives, we are older both physically and mentally. Lookin' back, hopefully today we are some wiser muhhfuc*as.

In my opinion, being an artist is about living in that current moment. Not being able to tell if your next move will punish you or positively push you further, but that thrill of uncertainty is art right there. It's that faith you locate within yourself, believing in the power your art conveys. We never know if we never try, right? Being shy and insecure is cute at first, but as we grow there isn't anymore room for that. We want our work to be loud, so it can reach and touch as many people as it can. Get your work out there and proudly express it to whomever you wish to express it to. The tools we have in 2013 to express ourselves are beautifully and ridiculously endless. A lot of what I condone as SOLA is to follow through with what you say you will do, whether people back you up or not. And with that, proving to yourself (even more than others) that whatever it is your mind wants to do/create, gets done. Everything lies within you my fellow talented loaner. And if you're young, make sure you read my previous post beause this is without a doubt our time to shine.

Get out there and do everything you can while you can still get away with it. Make these years last in your artistic adventures. Travel on a tight dime, man who cares it's all about that thrill! If you really wanna get something done, no matter what it is, you'll find a way. ALWAYS. Work on your attitude, your mentality, your patience, your sense of humor, your kindness and keep feeding that mind. I'm always finding myself packing my book-bag onto the next journey while barely able to afford my travel ticket. And each time I come back home, man is the smile on my face bigger than ever after my experiences. Nomad steeeeeeeeez.

The art hustle is a beautiful hustle, you may make a few mistakes, you may come across broke moments, but these are all part of the process. If you're pocket's empty, make sure your mind isn't. Don't let lack of money be the reason you can't enjoy yourself. I got one life now, I ain't here to forget that.

You gotta remember that if you don't believe in your art, then who will? If I am who I am today, it is definitely because I never allowed that "what if" to enter my mind when it comes to art. I took those chances not knowing the outcome and kept going with whichever results. Keep telling yourself that if this is something you love doing, then nothing should stop you from doing it. Continuously motivate your mind, keep gettin inspired, it's always out there.

The laziness disease is a strong one, let me tell you that I do come across days where i'm tempted to stay in bed, but I remember that it wont really get me places, so I just jump out. I know I know, sometimes the world can be such a terrible stressful place with endless bullshit we don't wanna deal with, but nonetheless we have many wonderful things to distract us from it. Remember that what you see, mainly depends on what you look for.

My thrill (I know I said thrill like 65 times) lies in making things happen, in bringing my artistic ideas to life. So they can emerge and express themselves, as I do. And the reaction, is often so pleasing. Ever notice how admirable it is to come across someone who has made everything happen on their own? Any reason that can't be you? Don't settle with working for others when you're an artist, you're only helping someone else's dream come true... Go out there, find a way and work on your own.

Living is your creative masterpiece/peace.

If you're an artist, be an artist.

Thrillin,

SO(U)LAMAZING.

If only I can freeze this specific age of youth we livin' in...

Maaaaaaaaaaaaan, I write this today in complete excitement at 3 in the morning only because I am so happy to be young and enjoying every minute of it. I'm going to assume that my readers are all youngsters (I could be wrong, sorry!) so this here post is about one thing: savoring youth... Enjoying this time the most, where your body, your emotions and your aspirations need to be at their best performance. None of that laziness, continuous sleeping in bed past 3 pm shit. That ain't savoring your youth, that's just plain old wasting potential time to be living. We should understand that we are young and it lasts long for a reason, so that we can be the best damn youngins we can be while figuring out our calling. 

I am 23 years old, I only give myself about once a month (if I ever even do) to party. Although don't get me wrong, I do believe being young consists of carefree wild livin', but I believe in it to a certain extent. We should find a way to balance these times, between steady productive work and leisure, and that is exactly what I do. Incorporating my artwork and ideologies into my daily life, I find that balance which leads to my happiness. 

Every day I wake up early and jump at the chance to expand my mind and realize more and more of the great opportunities we have as kids growing up. We get to discover how the world works, how our feelings work, then we start to understand the essence of what we do. And that is why youth is handed to us, to experiment, experience and perceive these meanings. We are given our clocks of youth in order to take advantage of every minute, to blast our music, to go on roadtrips, to eat junkfood, to write on walls, to dance around and to partake in as many acts of rebellion. Not to overwork ourselves, not to infatuate ourselves with making the most money, not to stay high aaaaaaaall the time nor to sit at home and stay depressed because our boos left us. Find what interests you and explore the living life out of it while you still can, let it be the outcome to your future. Forgive me for sounding like Rev Run here, but as corny as things sound, does not make them untrue.

Discovering, exploring, traveling, creating, making mistakes, learning, helping, loving, befriending and achieving positive changes will make us remarkable older adults. These are realities that are evident to us, but that still need to be said out loud once in order to understand their power. Really, there is never a better time than now, because one day we are going to wake up unable to do a lot of what we can freely do today. Sit back and take a good look at life kid, let's start wisely livin' it up because we are in control of the rest of our lives. At 65, we're goin' to smile knowing that we lived the best damn youthful life we could of ever lived. 

As I conclude this post, I got nothing but a rush of youthful positivity I can only hope to transcend through your screen as you read this. 

Enjoy life productively young cub.

Forever young,

SOLA

Chosen Ones.

A friend of mine brought to my attention the trait of leadership and how it seemed like it was a quality that you are either born with or you arent born with. The same way why Malcom X became Malcom X or Che Guevara became Che Guevara, why wasn't it another person who did those courageous acts and thought the way they did? Was it because they hold an act of leadership that they learned to develop over the years? Or because it naturally bloomed from their characters? Even the villains, Why was Hitler... Hitler? Maybe it's the way they were raised, although I still feel like ultimately we do whatever we want in the end.

Now, me. Why did I become sola? Why wasn't it the next young female who decided she wanted to change the way she lived her life? In all honesty, Ive got no idea. I don't know why Muhammad was chosen as a prophet or why others became the greats that they were/are... 

What I do know, is that I need not to create a logic out of why people are who they are, I should just embrace it, appreciate it and get inspired by it. Organically, these people located inside themselves WHAT they wanted to fight for and become and with that, they were chosen. Ever get into a situation and think "Dang, why me?" Well why not you? You were chosen and that's what it is.

Maybe it's all illusion, maybe its all made up, maybe we are just so good at convincing ourselves about who we are that we can successfully convince others. These days you can easily spot these situations, especially through the magic of being whoever you wanna be through social networking. The point is, it's incredible. Believing in something so strong that it becomes everything you live for. Not allowing anything else or anybody else to distract your main thoughts, your main mission, I believe that's what will lead us into being leaders. Actually standin' up and realizing that we are all human beings capable of the same things, only difference is some realize their potentials to do so and some don't. Even you, you're probably here because you do own that trait of leadership, I feel like anyone that fucks with me and what I do is a leader, not a follower. Someone who shares my vision and sees it as I see it. Heck, maybe you got a beautiful vision of your own. Few of us, but we'll eventually prevail, inside of us, we remain eternal as long as our soulful beliefs do.

I am figuring out who I can be, the leader that I will become, the leader that I am. Broadening up my horizons and imagining all possibilities I hold in this life we are given. The human being aware of my infinite potential, the chosen one, the main reason why I dedicate all of my life to the ideology I believe in, no matter the highs, lows and many delusions it bringeth. 

Nobody will ever be able to take down your thoughts or your beliefs if you believe in em'... And if they do, well then, you never truly believed in em. The trait of leadership is one that remains memorable and essential to live ones own life and truly have hold of it. Follow people on twitter, but in real life... lead. You got it in you somewhere.

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Winters Funk.

Okay, so ain't no denying that for me this has been quite a tedious, long, cold and energy draining winter. That time of the year where I find myself in the moodiest uninspired funk (do not get me wrong here I say this keeping in mind that every minute alive is a minute survived), but hey gravity does kick in and it knocks this positive soul into a little slump come wintertime and I can't help it.

Now... what can we do to improve on this. Well, truth is, not much. To the point where I cant even enjoy doing the things that make me the most happy? You gotta be kidding me here. Upside... okay well, I have always believed that we can truly convince ourselves of anything we want right and this life is anything we make of it, so if I cant get over what I'm feeling right now I'm gonna make myself this simple promise that I permit myself to have lows but only if they follow with highs. Ever since I told myself that, things have been looking a little bit less gloomy. Truthfully, had to rise above it and tell myself "okay, these days may suck a bit but that's only because better ones will proceed". I owe it to myself. It isn't right to constantly sit and mope around. Once in a while is permitted, but it's not fair to your wonderful existence to constantly do so.

A few remedies that have helped, obviously a great book, what better of a companion than something that gets your brain's wheel moving and your mind off your current situation. Some good old quality time with Netflix, as well as music of course, that's has always helped (John Coltrane's "Blue Train" has been really good to my old ears). But keep in mind, these days shouldn't be days we sit and hope for to go by quickly, these are days we should live through. It isn't a moment of pause in life where we should feel it's okay to waste away 3 cold months of our lives.

So convince yourself of this time's greatness, re-charge your batteries and don't let those winter blues get you down. Before you know it, you'll be complaining about July's humidity anyway. Find a way to enjoy those outdoors, take walks and breathe winter's cold fresh air, sip on that hot chocolate and keep warm, mentally and physically. Locate that balance and master it. If nobody's rootin' for ya, I am.

Peace, fellow survivor.

Sincerely, 

-A wrapped up in  a blanket sola.

No sane human being would ever be an artist.

I agree. We're INSANE. Stark raving mad even. Nobody in their right mind would choose art as a profession, as a means to survive. And this is why, fellow readin' artist, we are certified crazies. Us people, the ones that the regulars would title "weird". But don't we love it? Here's what this post is about, it's about making sure you are crazy enough to call yourself an artist.

Ive met a bunch of people lately who call themselves "artists" and it got me thinking. There are those who do art and those who live art. I feel like if you only treat art like a job, then you shouldnt call yourself an "artist", you should just say that you practice art as a profession. Now for those who live art, those outspoken souls who carry the stench of artist in their demeanor... those to me are the real artists. Salute to your wonderful existence. You make my world so much more colorful, meaningful and magical. The crazy ones.  Because just as this blog title indicates, no sane human being would ever be an artist. The path is uncertain, it may not always bring home the bread (and all that random crap our parents would tell us in order not to pursue art).... but it's all worth it. To live the life day to day and remain unsure of tomorrow's plans but just enjoying knowing we'll wake up to a new day. This one goes to you, inspiring artist, life savourer, human being aware of the beauty in your existence. There needs to be more of you/us out here. More human beings who don't care about being judged, who don't care about the latest fads, who just care about living the best damn life they could, with their very own goals and expectations and of course, with the people they love most.

ARTISTS. We're crazy, but what's life without a little crazy? Had to express myself with this one.

Thanks.

Peace.