What will the new year hold for me? I eagerly desire to consume or experience more art, and even better to create art.

In the library I found “What is Art?” by Leo Tolstoy. It’s not an novel, not like his epic War and Peace or Anna Karenina. The was an academic exploration with careful and tortured sentences—poor miserable academics!

I discover this conclusion that art is how a person can share a feeling with others. When I feel alone, stuck with the feelings, thoughts and experiences I long for connection with someone else. 

Tolstoy concludes that when a person shares a story, for example, and the audience feels what the story teller felt, that spark of transfer is the connection that makes it art.

One answer to the question

“What is art?”

Is that what you are sharing with me, Leo? Maybe your convoluted sentences gave me the thrill you got when you arrived at this definition. I can carry around this answer like a gemstone in my mind.

Can I be pleased with my art if it meets this specification? There is a warm feeling in my heart as I accept it.

Is that enough? And also, how can I do it even better?

That’s what this blog is about, to share my ideas, thoughts and feelings. To do it to the best of my ability.

In my isolation, I’m not alone. Tolstoy called it, and other artists must feel it:

I don’t know how I’m doing. Did I arouse that feeling in my readers?

If it is read, it must have achieved a bit of that. Interest is the lowest rung. Stronger feelings are higher up the ladder.

And a response!

In this digital landscape, a like or even better a comment back, is an indication

I plucked a resonant string.

This is me realizing and appreciating the connection I have with my readers, as we make this together.

Also, it’s me asking:

If you read it, click the heart.

If it made you think or laugh, I’d be very interested to hear it.

We don’t have to be alone in this human experience.