February 2012
18 posts
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January 2012
38 posts
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Art on a Cloudy Day
Some days we forget who we are.
Things are cloudy.
Our minds are littered with debris of forgotten dreams, unmet goals, uncertain desires, misguided priorities. Not to mention everything to be done between the start of the day and its end.
Some people call these days a “funk.”
I’ve noticed something in my new practice of doing the work (writing) every day : it’s helping me work...
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The Blank Page, my Friend
White. Space.
My fingers rest on the tops of the keys, feeling a little clamy, wanting to lift from the keys and do something else.
I continue to stare.
My eyes wander.
I turn my head to look out the window.
The page calls me back and I know I must face it again.
It will not remain empty.
There is work to do today.
The page is a wise friend. At times a harsh friend, at...
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Low Hanging Fruit : Self Sabotage and the Making...
A friend said something interesting to me recently.
He said the dream of being an artist that he grew up thinking would be such a difficult task was really “low hanging fruit.” All he had to do was reach out and - take it.
“Making it” in terms of engaging in money making projects, making the right connections, making the time to create, even achieving a fair amount of success, all that...
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Loneliness my Teacher, my Friend
Today, I wrote a journal entry. It was meant to get me started writing, and air out the emotions stirring in me.
I wrote about loneliness. I thought about posting it publically, but deemed it too personal.
I thought getting out my feelings might help me focus on what I wanted to write about art. There are several topics I’ve been wanting to touch on lately. None of them are really about this...
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Happy Birthday to Me
Nature has a way of calming me down.
I love the feel of the wind in my hair.
The sound it makes as it moves from here to there.
Carrying things from far away and gently grabbing my own scent and energy with it.
As it sweeps across the land to another place, another time.
I know not where it comes from or where it goes.
But I know that it will always be there, changing things.
It’s...
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Say Hello to Your Feelings : How Work + Fuel =...
I recently wrote about checking in with myself.
There’s another practice I’ve been able to form into habit quicker than anticipated. It’s called saying hello to your feelings. In Peace is Every Step, Thick Nat Hahn talks about sitting with your feelings and acknowledging them instead of berating yourself for having them.
A mother holding her baby is one with her baby. If the mother is...
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Staying On Task : How Monthly Check-Ins Can Keep...
Yesterday, I spent the evening checking in with myself.
To start, I went for a walk. At about .2 miles an hour, I moseyed around my section of the city, following the sun beams that streaked through the buildings of downtown. I live on the northeast side, which makes it difficult to find a patch of warm rays to blanket me as I peer into myself.
When I did find some, the light and shadows were...
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The Force is Strong in This One : Art as Legend
I have a small theory. Are there small theories and big theories?
Either way, I have one.
It has to do with your Personal Legend.
If you’ve read The Alchemist, you’re familiar with this term. A Personal Legend is that one thing in the universe that only you can do. It’s not destiny, because plenty of Personal Legends are not realized. It’s what results when one decides to take his...
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Art School : The Key To Success or an Excuse?
In yesterday’s post, I considered some of the most common misconceptions of life as an artist, many of these held by artists themselves. Included in the list is going to art school.
I wanted to post an elaboration on that point, because I think it merits some clarification. I don’t believe going to art school is necessary for an artist to learn to make a living from her art. This doesn’t mean...
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RE Aligning the Artistic Life :: 10 Common...
An artist’s work need only land, at first, with one or two people who receive inspiration and value from it. That’s enough to keep us going.
We know the people exist who will appreciate our work. The name of the real game is finding them. Or helping them to find us. It’s exposure. It’s showing up where the conversations are taking place and engaging. It’s intentional representation.
The more...
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Short Post :: Defining the Truly Artistic Life
“The sheep had taught him something even more important: that there was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired”
When I read these couple of...
