Today, it often seems that no one, including many an artist, can get a handle of what art is.

To help explain this apparent lack of comprehension, remember that art, at its essence, isn’t about fads, trends, taste, or even movements, which are like waves, not the energy creating the waves. Fine art or high art, they are one in the same; this is art from the soul, driven by passion and executed in pure emotion; this art is a source of power and creation that can’t be defined by academicians, demystified by the press, or pigeonholed with convenient labels by critics.

Remember too, that anything of quality—art, craft, or design—transcends time and remains forever a thing to be appreciated. Franz Marc’s painting Blue Horse I, for example, is as exciting for its spirit, bold colors and purity of form today as it was when he painting it nearly a century ago. 

As an artist, do you feel blessed, or not?

Do you feel that you must sacrifice and suffer for your art? Do you torment yourself by the intensity of divine fire, or do you use the heat to forge a new world evolution?

While others might have sold their souls to the company store, you have kept true to yours at all costs—not as in the ends justifying the means, but as an individual of character who knows the heavens don’t penalize mortals; men punish or reward themselves.

The price for divine fire is dedication.

Accessible Art: This is a buzzword that many of us hear.

But what does it mean? Sure, we understand it means art that is understood by the general public—like action movies, or romantic comedies, or easy to digest paintings that strain no one’s soul to go beyond the norm.

It all comes down to reaching an audience if you plan on earning a living from your artwork. For those artists who know how to touch the divine, the task is daunting and not for the meek. 

Without temptation there would be no test of character.

This is the world we inhabit where things exist only in opposition—good-bad, up-down, health-illness, and so on.

The true artist lives in a minefield of temptation—not the carnal as one might envision for that is far too prosaic for creation that is magic. The temptation I am writing about is the battle for the artist’s soul, which, if it can be bought, is lost forever. 

To confront this dark side of temptation, the artist chooses another path: he knocks at the door of heaven—intuition—to guide his brush while keeping ideas, ego, and thinking from invading the work.

Motives have no relevance in art from the soul. 

What is true art is a question both the artist and the art viewer must demand of themselves.

You cannot bottle the sublime. But here is a tip based on medications that will point you in the right direction.

Pure art—that is, art from the soul—is intuitive, healing; this art has no negative side effects because it is organic like herbs.

Other art—that is, art from thinking—is subject to motive, which means that it is premeditated: this art, while it may do some good for some superficially, always exacts a price of negative side effects because it is synthetic like plastic.