17 November, 2008

Call for Traits

Modeling the Head
Sketch for Drawing Class
9.5" x 8"
Graphite, White Charcoal & Pastel
Casey Klahn



Thanks to all of my readers for making the Artist's Traits series a success.
Also thanks to the many Bloggers who kindly commented. The genesis of this series was taken from my bi-annual goals, which I began to formulate in September. As a framework, I wanted to work towards improving myself and focus on certain traits that are important to me as an artist.

The list of traits follows, each linked to an essay or set of essays:

Commitment-Link
Courage-Denied, Moral,
Get It!
Creative Integrity-Artist's, Matisse's
Decisiveness-Link
Excellence-Link
Generosity-Link
Knowledge-Link
Self Understanding-Link

For you technology minded Bloggers, you may be interested to know that I highlight popular series' with quick-link buttons (my version of a Widget), and the post for this series can be found here. If you want to start doing these for your own blog, the "how to" of quick link buttons can be found here.

Announcement:

Now I would very much like to hear from the readership. What is the trait (or traits) that you hold high for the artist?

11 comments:

Miki Willa said...

I have been following your series about traits, and they have got me really thinking. I haven't quite got my list together, but I know discipline will be high on the list. I will be interested in seeing how other artists respond.

Lisa B. said...

I admire perseverance. That ability to persist towards a goal in spite of frustration or self-doubt. If I could use only one word to describe Van Gogh, this would be it.

Anonymous said...

I love the one about courage, and Eddie Rickenbacker's quote. For me, artistic courage is the willingness to embrace rejection.

colorspeaker said...

I am really enjoying these well written themes you're doing here, Casey. Here are some of my thoughts on "traits and..."
First, what I call "a strong (very) work ethic"-which falls under the already mentioned "discipline" is the first thing that comes to mind whenever I think of a trait of necessity for the "artist path."
In staying with artistic traits, in addition to self awareness, I would definitely add having a keen awareness (and interest) of one's environment-both on the small and larger scale. As your posts are reflecting, being open minded to learning and change, ultimately makes one a better artist as well as a better person.
Thanks

Casey Klahn said...

Glad to get the thoughts, Martha & Julianne.

It was fun to include the famous flying ace, whose life was one of great courage even after his war exploits.

zooms said...

Love, faith, hope, courage, persistence, generosity and a sense of humour, not necessarily in that order.

Casey Klahn said...

Thanks, Zoom-ster (I couldn't find your real name, but it made me look around your cool blogs).

TSL said...

The overwhelming sense that one, "just has to do it," period.

Casey Klahn said...

Nice to meet you, Tina. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Meredith Kuntzsch said...

Curiosity - an eagerness to continually be learning new things, to find the answers to questions about one's own surroundings, the world at large and about oneself. The enjoyment of finding the solution to a color, technique or compositional problem requires curiosity. An artist must be curious in order to grow.

Casey Klahn said...

Thanks for commenting, Meredith, and I'm happy to see your new blog.

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