Amateur / Creative

Aaron Segal wrote:

"There are tons of amateur painters doing water color landscapes and duck paintings without any interest for modern art, who paint for themselves only."

in reply to my posting of December 04, 2005 at 20:27

I accept that. I've known some of them, though those I have known are generally interested in what others do - though without necessarily searching it out.

They all seem to have an interest in what those around them think of what they are doing. They're often very good.

They seem in my experience to be less than obsessive than writers _amateur_ or _professional_; but of course I am selecting and evaluating the evidence for and against my own expectation and without showing my working, so I can make no claim for it

The matter of _modern art_ is interesting too, in that water colour tends not to be the medium of choice for many name artists. Hockney recently drew attention just by using that medium.

I take your point though. I take it seriously. My gut feeling is that there is a difference, both in kind and in quantity, but I couldn't argue it further than that. I have no good data; and I am aware that I may be fond of my prejudice.

It is a better example, I think, than what I expected - the number of amateur pop musician wannabees, because I think there are other things going on there

One thing that occurred to me since I wrote is to note the number of poets there were BEFORE the relatively recent creative writing courses.

Potentially an unexpected / _unregulated_ input is healthy...