The Materials of Art

Sunday, October 26, 2025

Good morning, The Wonderfell Way.

Oh Autumn, with its slow sunrises... taking time to gather all the colors of Fall before showing.

How's your day? O/

A so much to say day in the air here.

So, let's go.

On with our show...

"How do you know what to write about?"
- Interested Reader Who Also Writes

There are a few ways to go about writing.

One: Have an idea, sit, and start.

Two: Sit and start. See what comes and keep going.

They both come down to listening, a certain kind of trust for your imagination and your craft.

Your craft is your imagination's means of transportation. The pun works.

Craft also grows. The more we create the more we can create. Skills advance, too.

Imagine if every time you drove your car the car itself provided a better ride.

That's the creation experience of showing up consistently to create.

Musicians know this. You have to play everyday. Practice, they call it.

The analogy blurs between practicing playing an instrument and writing in that there's a right way to play Bach, but what's the right way to write you?

You could practice writing like your favorite author, but it's disingenuous somehow.

You get good at mimicry. It's acting not writing. It's a step removed from you.

There's an aspect of knowing yourself required to make art. A familiarity with your dreams and perceptions of life is necessary to create anything sincere.

So you have to sit alone and know yourself.

Any artist in any craft devoid of a knowledge of a relationship with their dream of life can only ever be an actor at best.

So many of our screen playwrights and popular musicians fall into this category.

It's the difference between Art and Entertainment, a mocking bird and an eagle in flight.

Any Artist truly committed to Art for Art's sake is always viewed as a loner. Not because of personality quirks, but for the sake of their business.

We have to sit alone, be alone, to harness a genuine understanding of our personal experience of life so we can best express it.

We're not anti-social; we're working.

If you're consistently creating, you're not depressed. You're gathering materials to create.

Daydreaming and self-reflection are necessary skills of any true artist.

Tell your friends and loved ones you're working and go stare at the wall.

Every Artist will know where you really are: Feeding yourself with the dreams necessary to sustain your art.

It only becomes what we call Depression when we don't have a practice developed. Choose your craft. Choose many. Sing or strum, write or paint; the idea is to create for a set time everyday.

Even if it's just one chorus from one song, one sentence, or stick figure drawing at first. Something. Everyday.

Your whole life will improve. Stay consistent. Enjoy it.

To make anything requires materials. You're not depressed Artist, you're gathering dreams.

Dreams are shapeless things, spirit. We give them form through the creation of thoughts. Our thoughts become actions.

Have your actions preloaded. Pick up your instrument at the same time everyday, write, paint, draw, sing. Shape that dreamtime stored in you with your craft.

Some call it a flow state, but it's really just being prepared.

Preparations are made by daydreaming. It's part of the work Artist.

Thank you for taking the time to gather dreams and share them.

Take care and make wonderful this wonderful day.