When color is spilled unintentionally, does it still count as Art? Or is it particularly then that inspiration kicks in, rising above our most labored efforts?

"The Memory of Pain": She is here, and yet she is not. Eyes closed, the present is no longer in existence. Swept away by a memory, she is in a different place, a different time, fighting off the pain.

(To see more come visit Art by Uvi http://uviart.home.att.net )

It is good question, some people say - "Some
of what we consider art today was looked at with
horror a hundred years ago"

Your painting is art, in my opinion, but what is art?

In my opinion everything is art. The tiny accidental splash of paint can be the starting of a masterpeice that begins only what that certain artist feels at that particular moment.

the original question, aside from "what is art", is does the artist dictate the course of creation or does the material (limitations and possibilities) dictate? Of course we find that it is both. Those of us who are control freaks seek to more perfectly design and plan our creations yet must at times compromise with Fate as the material does what it does, paint spills, or dries to a different hue, etc.
Happy painting and sculpting!

I seem to have a nack on finding statements, here is another, one:

"Modern artist is more a philosopher than a craftsmen"

(Eastern Europe)