The artist utilizes many tools in their trade, limited only by their imagination. In the eyes of a sculptor, a block of marble appears to them in the form of a goddess, given time and a well-placed chisel. True, technique is a factor. A piece of art should have evidence of skill, pleasing lines, use of color and form to delight the eye and stir emotion, but in the hands of the true artist, the medium used is only part of the piece. Be it paint, stone, clay, it doesn't matter. The material is transformed into something beautiful and imbued with meaning which it did not have before. In a way, the artist takes inert matter and gives it purpose. Art is life.