So I married an Artist - by Stephen Adele

Late nights with cold coffee and dizzy visions of the canvas seems like normal events for most artists. For graphic designers they are usually locked away in a small room only lit by the computer screen. Smoke circles the air around the desk and working area. A few scratches of the head while replacing countless music CDs and then it is back to work. The life of an artist is imperfect and random like life should be. The creative process is demanding and the artist’s work environment needs to be a certain way. It is almost too superstitious with certain tools and inspiration placed in their respective locations around the work area. Like the artists favorite brushes, a loving relationship must be present between task and process or person and artist. Improve the loving relationship between husbands, wives, friends, siblings, or roommates by understanding how the artist works.

How do relationships work when someone is paired up with an artist in the home? It is a tough scenario, as one can see an artist go through many moods while working. Things have to be a certain way for an artist to remain creative. Look at an artist’s work space. Do they have a favorite coffee mug or toy that sits in the same place near them when they are in thought about design? Perhaps they have their desktop, toolbars, and panels set a certain way on the computer. There are many routines in an artist’s day. Maybe the routine is as simple as waking up, eating breakfast, and heading to work. But it’s the little things working in the head that make this easy ordered list seem like calculus.

Imagine a few minutes before the alarm goes off, the artist is already thinking about the work in progress, the meeting, or the layout. While in the shower, color and placement are the subjects of mental debate. Then…”Wait!” ”Fonts!” “What about fonts, sizes, and colors?” “Hmm, filters?” This may continue to the refrigerator to retrieve juice and more thoughts about the logo, tagline, or overall image placement of one element. The food being placed in the mouth doesn’t have taste at this moment. It is just pieces of substance filing the belly. Nothing feels or tastes normal until the work is done and more importantly accepted.

Some artists pace in between these great ponderings while trying to place form and design into a piece. A love hate relationship can develop while searching for the right color, shape, message, or text. It is like going through a 10 year marriage in 8 hrs sometimes. No one can speak to this artist until one of the barriers are removed. And please, no critiquing yet, because they are using “Lorem Ipsum” text as a place holder.

This leaves the other party or parties in the house feeling alone while the artist works like a mad scientist on the new art. Hopefully the peace and quiet is put to good use for the others that are involved with the artist. A hobby, T.V, sports, or friend’s night out will make things nice for both sides as both enjoy the time to focus on themselves. Is that selfish? No. If you are in love with an artist, let them run free like a stallion on the prairie during this process. They will not be complete until the work is done.

If this person is a true artist, he/she will put everything they have into their work; even if it is five minutes. When someone involves themselves with such a creative process, everything else disappears. -As it should. Would you want a doctor with lack of true commitment to his or her work? So why would an artist not work as hard? Plus the doctor already has something to work with. Imagine building a body from scratch. Artists do it all of the time. That’s why it is important to have a healthy atmosphere.

The other people in the house must comply with this situation, or the artist’s creative nature will whither away slowly. The negative connotations and overall feelings about time spent on projects mixed moody behavior and long days will be sure to force the artist to an ultimatum. If you are an artist answer this question. If it comes down to selecting ultimatums or art, which one would win in your house? Maybe you should not scream your answer now. But it is true.

Love is hard to find and it is even harder when it is lost. That’s why it is important to know your mate and yourself. If there is a good understanding about the other in the relationship, problems are probably reduced to not trying to get messy handprints on a sandwich.

Artists are weird and they know it. Well they know it but won’t admit it. It’s the rest of the world that is crazy. They have to see things this way. It is a perfect balance between something and nothing when all is considered. The artist is the king/queen of that balance. Adding and removing, looking and feeling, with working and reworking until the piece is finished. How does a friend, or lover cope with the moodiness of an artist while working? How do they understand design happens in the mind before the paper. Pay no attention to the blank expressions looking beyond the talker’s eyes in conversation? They are staring at the sky’s colors or pattern on someone’s shirt. How does one deal with the stacks of magazines, tubes of paint, and bottomless pencil drawers? What about paint splatters and the smell of turpentine. If you are the other half, be lenient, it’s all apart of the process.

If you are really in love and you know the artist within your mate, God bless you. But if you are the other half that can’t stand the mess, the late nights/early mornings, paint on the face, clay in the hands or computer screen buzzing while you try to sleep, slowly back away. You are not ready to understand the person you claim to love and will feel like you come in a distant second to their love for art. You will need to find someone that is closer to the way you are. Why stay and suffer? Why make someone else suffer?

If you are an artist and you have a mate that does not understand you. Drop your brush and run! You will forever battle this person and time for work will always get compromised for something else. Even though it may start off well your artistic gut already yelled at you for going to that cookout you should not have attended last weekend. Now you are probably replacing those lost art days with no later hours. Woops, my bad. You CAN”T come home and work some more because that will spark another argument.

Either way it all boils down to love and understanding. It is not selfish to have artistic talent while feeding into a creative personality. If you are in love with an artist or happen to be an artist, be wise in your decision making when it comes to mixing creativity with loving human relationships. There must be a healthy balance on both sides. Give each other room to be and flourish. A positive relationship will do wonders for the heart because the house will be happy and decorated with love.