Artist and creators have more in common than we realize. Whether it’s a musician, painter, photographer, or designer, their mindset and train of thought go through the same process. After all, they’re all considered under the creative category. This was something I had never thought about before starting my college education. At home, these were just considered as hobbies, not as jobs.

Keith Richards, guitarist of The Rolling Stones, is “the literal definition of a legend” (Matt Sweeney). During this interview with Matt Sweeney, he mentioned three key points I want to emphasize: how every story has two sides, the need of an artist to cover a canvas completely, and having a semi-conceived idea of what your piece will be or look like.

To begin with, Richards mentioned how there’s two sides to every story. With the guitar, it’s not only the frets but also making every chord sound clean. Relating this to me, there’s two sides to every artwork: the materials you’re using (such as a canvas, paint or pencils) and you as the artist. If one buy expensive gouache paint, it won’t ensure the piece comes out perfect. Giving this to someone with no experience at all, wouldn’t have a magic power to create an amazing painting. Someone can create an amazing piece of art without having access to expensive materials.

Secondly, Richards mentioned how artists usually feel like they need to cover the entire canvas of paint. For example, a painter starts with a blank canvas. Once he starts painting, he is faced with the need to cover the entire canvas with paint, without leaving any white spaces. Richards talked that it’s the same thing when writing songs. There’s no need to completely fill a song entirely. It can vary, from slow to fast paced, as necessary.

Thirdly, Richards talked about going into the studio and having a semi-conceived idea of what the song was going to be like. However, once they started discussing the song it changed. I can relate to this, when I started making my collages I had a semi-formed idea of what I was planning on doing. Although, once I began it changed completely. At the end, I ended liking all of my collages except for one, simply because it looked too boring. Starting a project like this can be beneficial because it gives your mind the opportunity to explore and venture out.

To conclude, watching this interview was helpful because of how much I related it to the work I’m doing. I used to think about needing to cover the entire page and not leaving any white spaces. I also felt the need to control my collages, and when things didn’t go the way I wanted them to, I got frustrated. When I began the third collage, I started it with an open mind, which in turn helped me be satisfied with what I’m doing. Also, it’s good to hear other artists talk about their process of creating art.