Yes, I have indeed decided to begin a blog. I'm not entirely sure where to begin. I suppose what I really wanted was an art blog. Or really, anything to put down my hum-drum thoughts and to also share art and progressions of my work. I do find it entertaining when artists post works in progress; it gives you a wonderful picture of how they work and is quite enjoyable to watch a blank page turn into a wonderful work of art.
I suppose I should explain how I came to the title, "The Herzeleid Theory". First off, I have been using the alias of "Herzeleid" for quite a few years now; it's my gamertag, my nickname, hell maybe you could call it my own personal franchise. Herzeleid the character was originally created as some sort of dragon-fox-wolf character that acted as my portrayal in my art. Nowadays, she still exists in many forms; a skeleton creature, a wiry skin-and-bones depiction, pretty much anything my mind can come up with. Why the name Herzeleid? Well, I suppose the first thing some of you are thinking is "That's a Rammstein song!" or perhaps "Herr... zee... leed? What the heck is that?" The word is "Hur-zeh-lyed"--in german, it means Heartache, or heart-sorrow. And yes, it is a Rammstein song, but that's not how I arrived at the word that would eventually become my handle. The simple name of "Heartache" was too emo, too cliche. Perhaps it's still cliche even in a different language? Yes, I'll admit it probably is. Nevertheless, I do enjoy my tag, and I use it quite often. The reasoning behind it is probably a little too personal to divulge to the masses of the interwebs, so I'll leave it to your imaginations.
I arrived at the idea of "The Herzeleid Theory" bearing in mind the translation of the word to Heartache. I scratched my head for a minute when creating a blog; what should I call myself? What kind of heading should I go under? My most favorite artist, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, goes under the heading of "Shadowscapes"... which I find to be absolutely astounding to my mental and artistic psyche. It sounds like a dream, rolls off the tongue, describes her fantastic art in a single word with the same intensity that her art brings to your eyes. Something about it just rings true. So I sat here and thought... What kind of branding would I give myself? I previously had created things to sell under the name "Phoenix Feather Studios"--which I adore as a sort of business name, but it just doesn't quite fit my personality. After thinking for a moment, and deciding that I did indeed want to incorporate "Herzeleid", I started adding words and playing around with them in my head. The Herzeleid Theory came to mind when I passed over the word "Theory" in some article I was reading. "Theory"..... One definition being "a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural and subject to experimentation, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact", and another being "the branch of a science or art that deals with its principles or methods, as distinguished from its practice". I propose to you exactly this; what is the explanation for where art comes from? What is an artist's motivation? What principles and methods distinguish each artist from the rest of the bunch? So many questions surround art for me.... "How does she paint so realistically", or "How does he draw so well without reference".... Part of my theory, hence, "The Herzeleid Theory", revolves around emotion, and how emotion can greatly impact art--or any form of art really--and be the basis for the reason we create. How many songs do you hear about painful breakups? Songs about the immense happiness one feels? Even songs about a cowboy and his horse encompasses a certain kind of emotion. How many paintings have you seen with dark colors and a dreary mood that strike an empathetic chord in your chest to a point you actually FEEL what the artist was feeling? Or the happy, bright, sunlit cottage that brings on a warm feeling of calm... How many pieces of art do you see that actually have zero emotion? Granted, there may be some out there. But the works that interest me are those with a story behind them.
If you're still reading this right now, I commend you for being genuinely interested in what I have to say and it's truly heartwarming. I used to skip over tons of blogs and postings just to get to the pretty pictures. I used to do the same with art books too, skipping over all the texts--with USEFUL information, I might add--just to look at the pictures. I guess I'm more a visual person than I am a reader. But once I realized that hey, this stuff actually contains really useful information, I find myself digging for more blogs, more journals, more books, more and more things to read. I love seeing other people's ramblings or reminiscings (is that a word?).
Over time this blog will contain sketches, artings, ramblings, perhaps even some dream logs. I have TONS of crazy dreams, and have wanted somewhere to share their weirdness and their details. I generally dream in great detail. Sometimes I can wake up, and draw you a map of a house I was in, or paint you a picture of the forest I was romping through. I really should sketch up some of the scenes I find in dreams sometimes. Ever since I can remember I dreamed with vivid detail--perhaps that's the artist in me imagining detailed worlds with extensive flora, fauna and odd dramatic situations that entire books could be written about.
What I would greatly enjoy is to hear thoughts from others, feedback and critique, and best of all some blogging friends. :)
More to come soon. <3
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