Revelation: Artist Personality

There is a stereotype of the "artsy type". Maybe you think of someone who is a little spacey, or not grounded in the real world; maybe a little crazy comes to mind; maybe you think they are all creative and therefor not very logical or practical. It's interesting to me that being "artsy" can be somewhat of an excuse for being eccentric, or irresponsible. People almost expect that of you when they know you are an artist. You can take advantage of this and use it to your benefit, or conversely, you can be embarrassed about it and try to discredit the myth!
I find it a little humorous, and a little fun that art people are forgiven and accepted for things that other more academic people wouldn't necessarily tolerate otherwise. It's expected that artists are on the edge in looks and in actions! "Oh well, you're an artist, you can get away with that!" We hear about artists that explore the weirdest, wildest things in their art. We see artists who wear the craziest outfits, and have the strangest tattoos and piercings. I guess I really love this about the art world, social rules are regarded as mere suggestions or discarded altogether!
I used to teach reading, and the assumptions people had about me were completely different than what I perceive from them now that I teach art. I wonder, do we subconsciously live up to our label, whatever our label may be? As a reading teacher did I act more studious or more "readerish" than I do now? Do I act more artsy now, so I won't disappoint those who expect me to personify the term?! Perhaps the stereotypes came about because that truly is the basic persona of an artist. Which came first the personality or the label? Do I fit the label or does the label fit me?

Title: Jena's Heritage

This painting is one of 2 that I painted to depict our heritage as women- our genetic code is depicted by the quilt. This pattern is from a quilt that my great grandmother made. I wrapped my daughter in the quilt to show how her great grandmother is part of her, even though she never knew her. The love of her grandmother, and all of her traits are ingrained in her. This grandma must have been creative too, she did a lot of beautiful hand work!