Reflections on Creativity and Life

I am teaching little kids art. I am making up lesson plans as I go and am just reading what everyone else says and mulling it over and adapting it to little kids,
I look at their little faces full of beauty and wonderment and think how incredible it is to be able to spend time with them.
I did not know I was going to do this till I was doing it.
Then I realized if little children can invent how their lives will so can adults.
You can reinvent yourself by doing these three things.
Make it up, Start doing it small and then start doing it big.
You don’t have to know everything in advance.
I have visions of my little art class painting murals in a playground without any help. I envision my little kids writing and illustrating their own books, and I also envision them teaching their parents new skills they have learned.
they are fresh and not full of doubt yet so the sooner they get some major project under their belts the better.
I was sitting in the studio this morning a couple of hours  early for the kids to get there and decided to do some imagination work for the class.
One way is to look around and project what yo would like to see. What I thought would be great for me and the kids is to have a dance studio in conjunction with the art side. What if there is a connection between moving your body and getting an abstract concept. what if dance and art could be smushed together. Well you need quite a bit of space for that so I was thinking that half the entire floor space would be great.
If I could do anything I would do that.
I think adults would enjoy this too as most people never do anything like this and if they do they only do one or the other.
The best thing could be if it helped them grow and the worst thing would be that it would be enjoyable.
It is better to learn to to enjoy yourself in a natural healthy way then just do be passively watching something or someone else do something.
I want the two hours I have with them to be the best of the week and a time they can call their true time being way way alive.

Did you ever notice how to get bathwater cooler it takes just a little cool water but to get it hotter takes so much that you have to basically start over or literally put a lot of boiling water in. It is also easier to roll a ball downhill than to get it up the same hill.
The energy needed to get things started is so much more than to put things out.
Why is that?
If it is like that in the natural realm then it is even more so in the mental arena.
To get yourself motivated is the hardest step from inactivity. It is like starting with a bath of cool water and adding eyedroppers of warm water to it.
If you know this you can avoid letting the water get too cool.
You want hot water to cook and clean and think. You want it hot,
The old saying “you are pouring cold water on that” is so easy to do that you might not even be aware of it.
A slight slip of the thought that was going in a good direction and now is spiraling downwards into depression.

This is especially true in the incubation stage of new ideas. How many times have you had a great idea and then two seconds ,(yes I literally mean two seconds ) into it you thing Nahhh, That won’t work because bla bla bla.
Then three seconds later you have a monument to how terrible of an idea that was.
How do you know your idea is terrible till you try it. You don’t!

I am an impulsive person and that has been my saving grace my whole life.
When I have an idea I usually play it out.
I have failed more times than not but at least the impulsivity overrides negative thoughts.
Failing at something is not the worst thing. Failing proves you are brave to even try.
I say don’t even be afraid to fail miserably And if you get in hot water, well that is where we all want to be anyway. creatively. So here is to getting soaked getting baked, getting stoked, and getting on fire. Its all about the heat.

It is possible to make art and not have anyone to sell it to. Most work you do will not get sold. Unless you know a lot of people that are looking at your work and love what you do and fall in love with it.
Art buying is a love story.
You don’t need art like you need to pay the phone bill or get a car to get to work. You dont need art to live.
But I would rather buy art than pay the phone bill or put gas in the car or pay the electric bill. I hate paying those things and if I could think of a way to live off the grid in the woods somewhere I would but in the meantime I have to pay them.
But art makes life wonderful and exciting and it is the gift that never stops giving. Everytime you look at it is pay off time,
So art buying is a super treat.
That is why artists are so fortunate to be artists. They can fill their house with their own work.
Artists are never poor.
Even if you never sell anything you r whole life, it does’t matter. You can make art and fill your life with it and so you are like a king.
When you are an artist you might think that it is no big deal but most people do not have an art filled house and you do.
And here is what else I think. You don’t have to be an artist really.
If you have any inkling of desire to produce art yourself I recommend that you do.
Any art on the walls is better than no art.
I think there should be a rule that you should just
go out a buy a canvas and do something. Even if it is not that great, it is fun to make what you want on your own walls.
Walls are not sacred holy shrines that only masterpieces can go on.
If I was king I would make it a law that everyone has to paint one painting a month and put it up on the wall whether you want to or not. What would happen to the whole world if that law went into effect. The only fun law in the world,

Sometimes you have to throw a good idea under the bus for a better one. You can’t be too in love with your creative ideas because it might not be forever. Also you can’t take it personally. It is not about who had the idea, it is about the idea, Great ideas trump good ideas every day of the week.
Ideas are sometimes not good enough for one thing but they might work for something else.
Everything is like painting a picture.
Ideas are only alive in the creative stage . all things are possible in the creative stage.
When things get concrete you are not able to quick change anymore. You are committed.
And as I said earlier in a blog. it is good to make a choice and go on to the next thing.
But in the inception stage all bets are off and you can go in any direction that is smartest.
I totally changed the name of my store.
Il loved Baboo but thought of something way way better and now I have a clearer concept in mind too.
Driving down to the ocean I was taking with my friend via text about the store name and I thought I made my mind up but she said something that made sense so off we went picking new and improved names.
So I changed lanes while we were changing lanes on the freeway.
Creativity is the most powerful thing we have at our disposal and you better use it often or your creative powers will shrivel up and die. And you don’t want that!

There is a four year old girl that is on you tube who is painting abstract paintings and they are selling in a gallery in New York for 20 thousand dollars each.
I watched the video of her and she did seem to have an eye. Then I got to thinking what would my four year olds do with a canvas on the floor that was bigger than their tiny bodies. What if there were tons of paints sitting right by the canvas. What if I left them in a room for a couple of hours and told them just have fun. Would they be able to produce anything worth looking at.
That is the question because how many four year olds have unlimited access to paint and canvas and freedom to just do it.
I think that is a good question.
Is this little girl genuinely a gifted artist with a sensitive eye even at her young age or could anyone do it.
We will find out because I have to ability to do this with my kids that I teach.
Here is my deeper question. Is it possible to do something knowing nothing.
My contention is maybe so.
Does talent sometimes get in the way of creativity. Maybe so.
I have that experience myself. I cannot draw very well. I never could. But I still felt driven to paint so I do simple paintings that were pretty childlike looking back. But I still like them for their simplicity. Then something happened . I somewhere down the road learned to draw just through repetition . Now I can draw and now I rely on it to do a painting.
I have another question , was it better before I had skill.
There is a documentary about Matisse that showed him creating the chapel that he had built and then did all the art in it for this friend of his that was a nun.
It was the last thing he did on this earth.
He did some of the most simple abstract work of his life for the chapel. To me it is charming and wonderful work but some people disagree.
He put is lifetime of skill aside and went for pure
emotion. It was important to him to get it right.
So without thinking about someone having to buy the work this is what he did.
His stations of the Cross look like a four year old
did them.
Is an artist born that way. Are we all capable of being artists if we choose?? That is the question.

I have a space for a store in my studio building. In the usual creative style that I have I was just letting it sit there a bit while I made my mind up what to have there and what to call it.
this morning I decided on calling it Baboo.
Let me tell you why. I used to have a friend in San Francisco that was Jewish. She would always call her baby Baboo for a nickname. She would sing the sweet Baboo song and I thought it was the most wonderful thing. So to me Baboos are all the wonderful things in the world.
The sweet wonderful things.
that is what I want to sell in the store. I know so many artists of course as they are my species, and so I want to support them in making some money so they can do more art. that is what we artists live for. sell art to do more art. We are kind of art junkies but that is the nature of the beast, but it is a nice beast. It is a sweet beast. it is a Baboo beast.
I will make it the kind of store that you don’t want to leave… ever because it feels so good to be there. I will always have some delicious treat there and always have tea. not just any tea but art tea. special tea. and not just any noshie thing. art noshes. Baboo will become a verb too and mean a very special way of doing something that is unique. This store is a super creative project and will be my class fleshed out. I figure I better walk the walk.
I can’t tell kids they can do anything and then not do some big fat project myself.
Yup[, this year is the year to fly away into the outer limits of my ability which I teach the kids is endless.
Baboo is a super delicious creative wonderful thing.

this is what I experienced in school when we did art class. Here is a project now do it now lets see how yours stacks up to mine and everyone elses work. You can draw or you cannot draw, Oh you are an artist and you are not.,
Grade one.
you are 6 years old and your artistic expression is decided for you..
This is against everything that is creative in life.
You do art to enhance that part of your life and the big question is how does one do that.
When I was 6 the rage inside me had begun. By some fortunate stroke my first grade teacher thought I was a good artist and that was that. Who knows why she said that when I knew nothing.
But what she did not tell me was what to do with all this energy that I had to be creative. Without an outlet a creative personality will go crazy. Literally.
Sometimes the crazy looks like anger, sometimes it looks like temper tantrums. sometimes it looks like a bad child.
In my art class I will attempt to teach the children how to channel that energy in a positive way. Make the rage into a raging river on a canvas. Make the tantrum turn into a mural. You have to spend that creative energy or it will spend you.
Believe me I wish someone had shown me at a very young age what to do with the storm of energy in me.
I also have seen the result of a quiet child being quiet because he was thinking. You can think things out better through art.
Art can be your lifeline .
All I know is a lot of years of working as an artist.
I could have done so much more if I started earlier.

The great thing about the end of all things is that it is the beginning of the new thing.
Have you ever noticed how good it feels to clean up the house after Christmas and get on with the new year.
the end is always the most hopeful. We think well that is that.
That is the show, that is the year, that is my life.
Till we get to the last one of those we always can start again.
I have been listening to Mere Christianity on you tube. There is something comforting in C. S, Lewis’ voice. He calmly says what we all have thought one way or another.
He merely states the end of all the conclusions you might have thought of.
All the possibilities, wishes, hoping, assuming but never really examining.
Dear reader it is my greatest wish for you to consider this. In the end of it all, what does it matter what we have accomplished in this world if there is even the remotest possibility that there indeed after this life a new one that we must live. And if there is even the remotest possibility that there is Someone we must give an account to , because in the end if there is a new beginning then what will it be for you.

In the army, they do not give you options to do what you want. I was thinking how freeing that is in a way.
We give ourselves options to do lots of things that we really should not.
We say Oh I will do this today but then again I have the option not to. So do you think that thing gets done. NO!
Options just are another word for procrastination.
Life goes better with few options.
I like how the army gives you no options about keeping your room clean. zero options. You do it they scream at you and maybe even kick you out. Even if you were messy before you learn real quick to not be messy anymore.
We give ourselves options to fail.
If this does not work out I can always bail out. Yup. options are also another word for not trying hard enough.
The more I ponder it I think the fewer the options you give yourself the better you will be.
We eliminate a lot of stress by having no choice about matters that count. marriage. passing a test, getting fat, being lazy etc. I am sure you can think of a thing or two that would be great to have no options about.
The pioneers were not people of a lot of options. Live or die was pretty much the only one they got. Even if it was so so so hard they did not turn back and say “Hey I did not count on all this pain involved with moving across country in a cruddy wooden wheeled  trailer going over horrible non roads and all these people trying to kill me not to mention all the dirt and where oh where is a bathtub. I really was not thinking how cold is cold with only canvas for a house. NO this is not what I planned for.
They said.l” We go forward or we die.”
No options.
I don’t even know what grueling means.They did.
Wouldn’t you like to see how it would be if they came back in this time and saw us quitting over such a minimal amount of pain. Don’t you think they would think we were the weakest of all Gods creatures.
NO options equals good!