Fresh Horses
Are you held captive by others’ expectations?
When I first moved in with my present husband Bill 35 years ago, I found a new job on a US military base. As graphic illustrator, I was to make signs for military exercises, and I was given a mechanical “lettera set” for making them.
Though it meant I could be with my new man, after [...]
Will one surprising success stop you in your tracks ?
One painting a friend made almost by accident, moves her profoundly. Since then, none of her paintings even come close. After completing a milestone work, have you ever thought you’d lost your way, unable to produce an encore?
British scientist, Alexander Fleming was working on diseases caused by bacteria. One day in 1922 he happened to [...]
No Superman energy left to make art ?
You’re overwhelmed with too many demands: a house to clean, kids to raise, a living to earn. Seems there’s always something more important than indulging yourself in making art.
A New Yorker cartoon shows Superman, the disguise of his everyday suit stripped off and flung over a deckchair. There he lies on a tropical beach [...]
Imagination as a blueprint blinds creative intelligence.
My friend, Bill Allen, used to be a school principle in California. One day, he decided to hold the weekly fire drill at recess. To his utter horror, all the kids followed instructions to the letter and ran back into their classrooms, because that’s where the fire drill map started !
You may have been taught [...]
How words can 60% impair or 300% enhance perception.
Have you ever talked so much about a work of art you were just starting that you lost most of your enthusiasm before it was even finished? You can stop berating yourself for letting your enthusiasm run away with your juice. It’s all a matter of timing.
Salaam is the Arabic word usually translated into English [...]
How impatience can destroy great creations.
“Once I discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree, just as the butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out,” confessed a friend. “I waited a while, but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over and breathed on it to warm it.
“I warmed [...]
Are artists flaky by nature ?
Can you afford to be an artist in this age of global warming, insanely rising gas prices, ever expanding technology, and the constant need to keep on top of your own life’s details in an orderly fashion ?
Has art become a frill for the flaky ?
I was sideswiped by this prejudice recently: “Of course you’d [...]
Art illiteracy - Could be your saving grace.
“All children are born artists,” said Picasso.
The problem is we grow out of it - or more often we’re educated out of it, as we grow up. We educate kids progressively from the waist up, then we concentrate on the head and slightly to one side.
Does creativity equal academic ability ?
All intelligence tests are [...]
How to turn a sabotaging inner critic into an ally.
If you have an inner critic, you probably know how judgment can debilitate creativity. You could tell yourself many stories of why you’re blocked in creative work at times, but the real reason may lie in your past experiences.
Whatever the cause, the automatic response to fear is avoidance. And who could blame you [...]
Giving birth to art has to be a gamble.
What will she say about her husband’s insanity, Jack wonders. . . then he marvels at her stunning choice of words. He couldn’t have made it up himself ! Yet, Jack sits at his word processor, and watches to see what will come out of the mouths of his characters in the book [...]
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