“Inside you there’s an artist you don’t know about… say yes
quickly, if you know, if you’ve known it from before the beginning of
the universe.” --Rumi
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
creative tension
I have a shelf with 28 years worth of journals on it. (The shelf is full)
It's over 50 books. Sometimes I wonder about my life work, other times I know it was not really a choice, it was what I had to do. In a month an artist rep is taking some of my work to a trade show in New York. This feels like a nice validation after years of work. I wonder what will happen? and I also wonder why do I need that thing that happens to feel like I have accomplished something?
I'll let you know.
"I don’t know how you reconcile the two sides of the creative spectrum
(idea generation and production), but I know that it never goes away.
If you are an artist, you have to learn to live in this tension. You have to keep releasing your work into the world, and it has to be good. If it’s excellent, and nobody sees it, it doesn’t count. If it’s on display for the world to see, but ordinary, it’s irrelevant.
The path to compelling work lies somewhere in between the two extremes of genius-but-invisible and ordinary-but-in-your face. Only the artist knows the true balance; only she can find the harmony. This is the person with the taste and passion to make meaningful work. She’s the ones with enough gumption to create change."
--Jeff Goins
http://goinswriter.com/world-needs-artists/
It's over 50 books. Sometimes I wonder about my life work, other times I know it was not really a choice, it was what I had to do. In a month an artist rep is taking some of my work to a trade show in New York. This feels like a nice validation after years of work. I wonder what will happen? and I also wonder why do I need that thing that happens to feel like I have accomplished something?
I'll let you know.
If you are an artist, you have to learn to live in this tension. You have to keep releasing your work into the world, and it has to be good. If it’s excellent, and nobody sees it, it doesn’t count. If it’s on display for the world to see, but ordinary, it’s irrelevant.
The path to compelling work lies somewhere in between the two extremes of genius-but-invisible and ordinary-but-in-your face. Only the artist knows the true balance; only she can find the harmony. This is the person with the taste and passion to make meaningful work. She’s the ones with enough gumption to create change."
--Jeff Goins
http://goinswriter.com/world-needs-artists/
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Blue Jays and Branches
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer by Walt Whitman
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
Cool app to use for sharing information
My brother told me about an online app that is a template for presentations, called Prezi. I made a one to show you:
Becoming an Artist
and here is what it says, if it doesn't load on your computer:
The hardest part is getting started.
To find enough inspiration and belief in yourself that you go to that eisel, pick up some paints and paper and pens, or pick up those collage materials and your journal, and just begin. Becoming an Artist You've heard this before But first you have to believe in yourself.
Rumi said: "You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?" If you put in the time, your art will soar.
Jack Kerouac said "Something that you feel will find its own form."
What touches you?
What gets your attention?
What in the world draws you in mysterious ways you might not even understand?
Start there.
Don't strain. Plotinus said: "We must not run after it, but we must fit ourselves for the vision and then wait tranquilly for it, as the eye waits on the rising of the Sun which in its own time appears above the horizon and gives itself to our sight."
Rumi also said this: "Who could be so lucky? Who comes to a lake for water and sees the reflection of moon."
If we trust ourselves, look for the mystery, and then do what comes naturally, our work will become authentic. Our yearning to create will be satisfied. You do have a vision, and if you long to create it visually (or musically, or with your body, this can be applied to all the arts), your work will SING.
and last, I want to leave you with this: "In the language of the Tewa Indians, the three syllable term that is translated as "art" or "creativity" actually means "water-wind-breath." This is a beautiful evocation of the creative process. It's about catching the current, about breathing in and breathing out. In-spiration is literally breathing in Spirit; exhalation is releasing it into the world." --Robert Moss
Becoming an Artist
and here is what it says, if it doesn't load on your computer:
The hardest part is getting started.
To find enough inspiration and belief in yourself that you go to that eisel, pick up some paints and paper and pens, or pick up those collage materials and your journal, and just begin. Becoming an Artist You've heard this before But first you have to believe in yourself.
Rumi said: "You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?" If you put in the time, your art will soar.
Jack Kerouac said "Something that you feel will find its own form."
What touches you?
What gets your attention?
What in the world draws you in mysterious ways you might not even understand?
Start there.
Don't strain. Plotinus said: "We must not run after it, but we must fit ourselves for the vision and then wait tranquilly for it, as the eye waits on the rising of the Sun which in its own time appears above the horizon and gives itself to our sight."
Rumi also said this: "Who could be so lucky? Who comes to a lake for water and sees the reflection of moon."
If we trust ourselves, look for the mystery, and then do what comes naturally, our work will become authentic. Our yearning to create will be satisfied. You do have a vision, and if you long to create it visually (or musically, or with your body, this can be applied to all the arts), your work will SING.
and last, I want to leave you with this: "In the language of the Tewa Indians, the three syllable term that is translated as "art" or "creativity" actually means "water-wind-breath." This is a beautiful evocation of the creative process. It's about catching the current, about breathing in and breathing out. In-spiration is literally breathing in Spirit; exhalation is releasing it into the world." --Robert Moss
Thursday, April 11, 2013
If you are creative, this might help you:
I read this on an article in the Harvard Business Review on how to treat creative employees, and I thought it would be nice to treat myself this way!
"Few things are as aggravating to creatives as boredom. Indeed, creative people are prewired to seek constant change, even when it's counterproductive. They take a different route to work every day, even if it gets them lost, and never repeat an order at a restaurant, even if they really liked it. Creativity is linked to higher tolerance of ambiguity. Creatives love complexity and enjoy making simple things complex rather than vice-versa. Instead of looking for the answer to a problem, they prefer to find a million answers or a million problems. It is therefore essential that you keep surprising your creative employees; failing that, you should at least let them create enough chaos to make their own lives less predictable."
and here is a peek at my portfolio on my iphone, I love technology!
"Few things are as aggravating to creatives as boredom. Indeed, creative people are prewired to seek constant change, even when it's counterproductive. They take a different route to work every day, even if it gets them lost, and never repeat an order at a restaurant, even if they really liked it. Creativity is linked to higher tolerance of ambiguity. Creatives love complexity and enjoy making simple things complex rather than vice-versa. Instead of looking for the answer to a problem, they prefer to find a million answers or a million problems. It is therefore essential that you keep surprising your creative employees; failing that, you should at least let them create enough chaos to make their own lives less predictable."
and here is a peek at my portfolio on my iphone, I love technology!
Monday, April 1, 2013
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