Creativity Archives - Page 19 of 94

December 2, 2012

The genius of simplicity

I have been pondering the genius needed to reduce something, anything down to the most important elements.
In art and relationships and every aspect of life it is the reduction that makes communication possiible.
To communicate is our main function on earth.
And to communicate in a simple pure clean way is a gift.
things do not have to be complicated.
Learning how to reduce the noise of what you are looking at or being with and see the essential is really quite mind blowing.
Confusion and stress and convoluted discussions all lead to zero communicating.
This very morning I had a revelation about this through looking at an illustration. A japanese artist did this work and her name is Sato Kanae.

That is when it occured to me that noise is my biggest problem.
So in a flash the connection between all the ideas I have been having about painting sort of congealed into this one thought. It is a gift to be simple.

September 30, 2012

Go Be Fabulous

How does a person become fabulous? It has nothing to do with innate skill, or fame or money or anything like that. Being Fabulous is this.
Fabulous people are generous with their lives. They give whatever they have. They share.
Fabulous people dress in a way that gives joy to everyone who see them. You do not have to be a millionaire to do this you just have to be creative. A fabulous person might wear a hat just to be jaunty.
That makes everyone who sees them smile and that is a gift.
A fabulous person wears lots of jewelry. You don’t even have to be young and beautiful . You can be an old lady but you should always wear lots of jewelry so that anyone who looks at you will get a little sparkle in their eye.
If you are a fabulous man wear a vest or cufflinks or a scarf or a hat or something clever. Everybody loves that and it adds an air of importance to you just being alilve.
A fabulous person is not lazy
A fabulous person joins committees and h as lots of ideas and does them
A fabulous person does not get offended for any slight.
A fabulous person lets that go well, because they are so fabulous.
A fabulous person walks into a room full of people and looks for someone who needs some fabulous attention and gives it to them. A fabulous person does not care just about how comfortable they are but tries to make others comfortable.
When a fabulous peson falls down or has some other difficulity in their life well they look at said obstacle in the eye and says” Well then how can we be fabulous here?”
I know fabulous people and I have seen them be fabulous in all circumstances.
they know that being fabulous is a powerful and wonderful thing.
So I say to you dear reader. Go forth and be fabulous!

September 28, 2012

A twin

White noise is sometimes used to allay fear. If there is chattering around you feel like you are not alone.
but you are alone. Everyperson is basically alone in their own body. they might have friends all around but you are alone to make up all the decisions of the day.
Nobody likes to be alone. It is too quiet. Your mind turns up the volume on old tracts that replay in your head.
Too bad this the the only enviroment that works for getting art done.
But I have a trick that might help get over the aloneness.
Pretend you have a secret twin. Crazy as that sounds it works to have someone to discuss things with even if it is only an imaginary other side of your mind.
the other side of your mind usually knows all the answers and can always help you if you let it.
I think the Queen uses this method and that is why she always says ” We are not amused”
My twin has a life of her own. She is the exact opposite of what I am. Where I am weak she is strong. She is way more serious than me.
she keeps the checkbook straight.
She cleans up the house when I am done painting.
she has red hair. she always is up for an adventure.
Wouldn’t you like a friend like that . Well it is right there in your right brain.
conjure one up for yourself.
It is pretty fun do.
Oh yes my twin is named Zorro. and she is 34.

September 21, 2012

making up your life

I like to play the imagination game of what if anything your hands touched was successful and you knew that , what would you do.
I would invent an art library where you could check out art for a month and then bring it back or keep it. But all the art available was always in constant circulation so nothing was ever just stuck in a closet. It always lived and breathed somewhere.
Would that change anyones life to be able to get something that spoke to them and have it just like that. If art was not just for a small group who could afford it.
Books are for everybody. Isn’t art just as important as books.
I imagine the art IQ of a town that was doing this would be pretty high.
Does art have any value intrinsically. Is beauty just a nice thing but not as important as books.
What if I told you that seeing a lot of art would change you on a molecular level/ What if there were studies to prove that.
Here is my philosophy about art. The more you are expposed to it them more sensitive to beauty the more refined you will become. The more civilized you will become. The more ciivilized you become the less likely you will be to tolerate uncivility. You will learn to abhor crudeness.
I cannot see how that wouln’t be better for society.
the desire to seek refinement is like a plant leaning toward the light to grow.
It is in us to lean toward the light. You just have to have a lot of light available.

August 6, 2012

Dance

There was a time when I thought to do good paintings I had to dance for half a day and then paint. Something told me that was true but I never did it. I kept them separate/
The first idea is right. I was instinctively right the first go round.
Well it is never to late to do what you know you should have done in the first place.
The mind connection between painting and movement is simply it gets the cobwebs out so you can just paint and not fret.
The more tense you are are the more you will struggle to get something good out. And the more you struggle you will just dig your own grave.
But dancing before is a cure for that/
Moving through the air will make you slice through your mind blocks.
If I had a business I would insist everyone take a half hour dance break for every four hours worked. Rythmn is involved in feeling where you have to go/
You know why Woody Allen has such great jokes/// it is his timing. you know why he has great timing. He plays the clarinet.
He feels the timing in his bones.
Your head bone is connected to your arm bone and your arm bone is connected to your heart bone.
We have seasons and waves and day and night. Everything sort of has its own dance. its all connected.
Not working for an artist would be like the earth standing still. everything gets out of wack. You gotta go with the flow. Ride the wave. Move.