art

You know, I don't think that it's possible to create art without putting a lot of ourselves and our experiences into what we create. It makes us vulnerable, it might piss off the people we use as inspiration ("did you put me in your book?!"), but it also makes us real. Art is a reflection, an enhancement, an interpretation of reality. It's how we bring out the beauty, the ugliness, and the truth that we've discovered in our lives.
Some of my best short stories are based off of things that have really happened to me. I wish I could create something not so personal, that doesn't involve awkwardly revealing my own weaknesses and the vulnerabilities of the people around me, something that's not my "diary screaming out loud", but I'm not sure that I can't. And, God, I'm a private, extremely introverted person, so I hate it when my diary screams out loud. Shut up, already.
And sometimes you don't want people to know how you really see them. Like the boy you're irrevokably attracted to, but you know you can never ever be with. And if he ever found out . . . Like how you can see your parents' faults maybe a little clearer than they might want you to. How you're not as happy or as perfect as you'd like the world to believe. How you struggle to keep forgiving the people who've hurt you.
And I don't want to reveal so much about myself! I don't want people to see who I really am. "And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand." I don't even think that I understand myself; I don't want anyone to be upset by what I reveal.
But there's a lighter side, I suppose. I love when artists draw something and then make someone they know and love into a beautiful character. Like in an episode of the detective series Raines when a young graphic novel artist makes his girlfriend an angel. That's just so beautiful.
And something I just looked at on DeviantArt, an artist depicted her son as an acorn pixie. And he's just adorable. And it's her son, and he's not *really* an acorn pixie, but it's great to use the ones you love as models. I wonder if they mind.
Maybe we can't create without drawing on our lives and experiences.
I don't know. Just thoughts.