The tools used are not what defines the value of the art you create

I texted my artist friend Rhoda a photo of my most recent abstract drawing that I did yesterday afternoon. Besides both of us being artists, Rhoda and I have often shared philosophical insights into books which we are reading and their applications which they have to life. The drawing was a bunch of colorful circles with smaller circles in them among a few swirling wavy lines. Rhoda responded that she loved the colors involved and asked what I used to make the circles. I told her that I had two circle making tools which I had bought at the art supply store as well as some lids to various containers which I had used at some point and these were what I used to make circles. I sent her the attached photos to show her what I was referencing. She loved the photos and commented that while she was painting the famous Two Andy’s Mural in downtown Pittsburgh (which is located a short block away from the USX Tower) shortly out of college she used “a cd and paint lids” to make the circles. I responded to her that “it matters little what supplies you use, what matters is the final outcome.”

Rhoda, being the ever philosophical artist that she is, responded that she loved my comment, which she found to be profound, and wholeheartedly agreed. I went on to comment that one of the best icon painters of the 20th Century, the Monk Gregory Kroug, used rather simple supplies, and yet he created some of the most beautiful icons created in the past 400 years. Kroug’s work has often been compared to the beauty of classical Novgorod icons, and yet the supplies which he used where often quite simple. The same can be true of the photography which I love to do. There are those who think that to be the best photographer one needs to have the best gear. However you can have the best photography gear and if you do not know how to use it properly, then it is a total waste of money. It is how you use the tool and not simply what the tool is that is the real measure of the artist.

As long as you are using quality supplies, it matters little what you use to create your art. I say quality because you can’t expect childrens finger paint to hold up against the test of time. However, that being said, one does not need to use the most expensive paint there is to create beautiful work! The icons which I paint are painted using Jo Sonja’s acrylic gouache. Jo Sonja’s is a craft paint and yet I know MANY iconographers who insist on using Jo Sonja’s. My teacher used it, taught all of his many students (including myself) to use it, and I have a few other iconographer friends who use Jo Sonja’s. A tube of Jo Sonja’s can be purchased for $3.25 or so on line. Compare that to other brands of paint which are MUCH more expensive, and yet there is no one passing judgement on any of us for the work that we do based upon the materials which we use to create the icons. The only judgement that comes is from those who put the technique of cracking an egg and mixing it with pigment over the actual final painted icon. It is the final outcome of the work that matters, not the materials which are used to create it. If you think that because you use eggs to mix your paint that your work is superior to those who use acrylic paint then you are focused on the materials and not the actual finished product. One final example which I will use to illustrate my point is an artist I met a few years ago on a rideshare. This artist created paintings on what he described as brown paper bags, and yet he was well sought after and able to charge double for his work than what I charge for my icons! People did not judge him for the materials which he used but for the work he produced.

And so my encouragement to you is that do not let what supplies you have stop you from letting your art work excel. Do not use the excuse that you only have an entry level camera or some simple paints and a store bought canvas as a reason to stop you from creating the best art that you can! Take what tools that you have and let your creative self thrive! Should you succeed and choose to get nicer tools at a later time then all the more power to you, but in the mean time use what you have to create the masterpiece which you are desiring to come to fruition! Be bold! Be creative! Shine on you crazy diamond!