The Appendage Police Comments

(As if I needed to tell you this....) Whatever you do - don't listen to any of them. I'm not a big Picasso fan (with the notable exception of his fabulous Don Quixote drawing) , but I completely adore the slogan of his Cubist movement - 'Paint not what you see but what you know is there.' An artist HAS to, I believe. Any alternative would be a devastating endeavor, really - to accept what the collective seems have accepted as acceptable (the world's so-called reality) - would be completely detrimental to the artist, it seems to me. But, too... attempting to allow both to co-exist in your consciousness is risking insanity. (It is no surprise really that so many artists are deemed mad, you know?) Either way, I suppose, an artist lives the bulk of their life standing on the rooftop of some ridiculously tall building - ever a heartbeat away from throwing his/herself off or perhaps getting locked up in a padded room. Personally, if one is to teeter there in such precarious position, I'd suggest (agree, really) that it's considerably more appealing to do so for the rightest of reasons. Rage on, poet. Christine