When we are unable to work, we can work at the work of getting ready to work. Writers can lay in supplies of paper and enticing pens, notepads that plead “Please write on me.” Painters can prepare their canvases, clean their brushes, neaten their studio space. Potters can acquire a new lump of cool clay […]
Drought
I want to say something about droughts: as painful as they are, they deepen us. When we feel we have “nothing to say” as artists, we are grappling with what it is we do want to say. In struggling to find our sources of inspiration, we find ourselves. Another thing: drought doesn’t disqualify you as […]
Communication
Art is an act of communication, and if we are constantly communicating our smallest thoughts, how will we have time for big ones? Cell phones miniaturize your life, breaking it down into tiny sound bites. I think we call them “bites” for a reason. They tend to devour our time and attention. There’s no room […]
Leaping into the dark
Agnes de Mille put it this way: “Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.” I like that […]
Originality
It is all too easy to think of art as something we aspire to, an ideal by which to measure our efforts and find them falling woefully short. Well, that is one way to think of art, and God knows we have bludgeoned ourselves with it pretty thoroughly. Our concepts of “great art” and “great […]
Staying Stuck
As blocked creatives, we often sit on the sidelines, critiquing those in the game. “He’s not so talented,” we may say, and we may be right about that. All too often, it is audacity and not talent that moves an artist to center stage. As blocked creatives, we tend to regard these bogus spotlight-grabbers with […]
The “Magic Teacher”
I’d like to say a word or two about having a “magic teacher.” For the most part, I think such figures are fantasy, a little like having a personal Obi-Wan Kenobi. On the other hand, humans do what they can for each other. Most of us can cite a teacher who made a difference. It’s […]
Negative Beliefs
Much of our fear of our own creativity is the fear of the unknown. If I am fully creative, what will it mean? What will happen to me and to others? We have some pretty awful notions about what could happen. So, rather than find out, we decide to stay blocked. This is seldom a conscious […]
Beginning
I have begun piano lessons in Santa Fe. My teacher is Charles Tichenor. He is gentle but demanding. I still miss my New York teacher, Chaim Freiborg, but I feel like I will quickly bond with Charles. I am trying to practice a half an hour a day, and so far I thoroughly enjoy it. My […]
Still Counting!
Counting, which is one of the bedrock tools of The Prosperous Heart, is very simple: record all money in and all money out. I keep a small notebook in my purse and I write down every penny. Coming back to this tool over and over, it is always helpful. Recently I found that it’s not […]
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