Launch Pad.

What are Artstronauts?  What does Artstronaut mean?

Artstronaut is a word that I made up, a construct to describe the place I find myself in the art world, and an attempt at an explanation of the path that I am taking through it and my general approach to art.

I am a bit of an outsider when it comes to "Art"-  I've never had any formal training or attended art school.  I've never attended a formal gallery event, and I've only been to a few dozen art museums.  I don't know how to stretch a canvas, or the proper way to frame a watercolor painting.  Yet I am an artist of sorts.  I make my living solely through my "art", although it isn't entirely conventional art.  I've sold a few paintings and a few drawings, yet I don't have a portfolio and I've never had a showing or gallery representation.  All I know is that I have an attraction and a drive to create and connect with art, whether I understand it or not.

And I think my lack of knowledge makes the journey more interesting.

Part of me-  Most of me, that is, wishes I had paid more attention in art class in middle school, and at least given an arts college a try.  It certainly would have saved me hours and hours of trial and error and disastrous efforts.  But the rest of me knows that this learning process is the heart and soul of what I am attracted to.  Having a teacher instruct me on the proper brush to use with the proper paint to apply to the proper medium would detach me from the work.  Having to use three coats of acrylic because the paint that I am using is too transparent, before painting Titanium White over the whole area and repainting teaches me in a more hands-on way than being told how to do it right before I began.  The learning path is where the real joy is.

I like the art of Vincent Van Gogh, Hieronymus Bosch, and Edward Hopper, but I couldn't look at a painting and tell you whether it was a Monet or a Renior.  I only have an amateur understanding of art, but I know that I like what I like.

So this blog is for me.  A collection of my own ideas, thoughts, and discoveries as I continue on my art adventure.  And this blog is for you, hopefully to look at some of my posts and enjoy some of the things I enjoy, to comment with your own insights to further discussion, and maybe learn along with me as I go.  Finally, this blog is for us, the Artstronauts, journeying further into the art frontier, stumbling blindly most of the time, battling confusion and frustration, and having fun the whole way.