Francis Bacon — Mystery

Life is mysterious and full of questions with few answers. The job of the creative leader is not to provide the answers but to help his audience to explore the questions at even deeper levels. 

Life at its core is spiritual in nature. The artist connects the spiritual with the mysterious and fills the heart with joy. Our challenge as writers, artists and creative leaders is to reach deep within our spirits and share the magical mystery of the heart.

What spiritual questions are you exploring in your art? Your writing? Your acting? Your dancing? What is the mysterious hidden within your creation? What is the song sung from your heart?

John Ruskin

John Ruskin
Painted by John Everett Millais
1853-54

"The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get by it, but what they become by it."

— John Ruskin

English Author / Art Critic

1819 - 1900

The pursuit of the arts is not about what we get but what we become.  While we realize that we create the paintings and the poems, what we don't realize is that the act of the creation has an impact on whom we become.  Painting changes the artist and writing changes the writer.  The art of creation allows us to workout our demons and our angels.  Some writers give too much to their writing and are destroyed by what they create.  Others find themselves in their writing and become better people.  Which are you?  Has your creative work made you a better person or has the creative process destroyed the humanity within your spirit?  Are you better today than you were a year ago?  Ten years ago?  How will you be different tomorrow?

Mary Frank

"There are times when I can't work, can't do anything.  I can't concentrate, I get scattered, feel I'm dying . . . ."

— Mary Frank

English Artist

1933 -

Being a creative leader is very challenging and many times we work against ourselves.  Our minds find excuses why we can't work.   What we don't realize is that this down time is actually good for us because it helps us create.  We need the down time even if we feel guilty about it.  For a five year period after I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I was very productive, often writing two poems a day or more.  The last two years I have seen my productivity dwindle.  There are days now where I don't write a single poem, but that is okay because my mind and heart need to replenish themselves.  Sure, sometimes I feel guilty, but I know one day I will return to work.  I have had years where I have written 700 - 800 poems and other years where I write 40 - 50.  Am I being lazy?  No, I am recharging my creative batteries.

Francis Bacon

"I want a very ordered image, but I want it to come about by chance."

— Francis Bacon

British Artist

1909 - 1992

Life is a paradox.  We want order but desire chaos.  We like the world to be logical but seek  the thrill of the unexpected and the unexplained.  We are not satisfied with what we have and desire more.  We are not happy with who we are and desire to be someone else.


Are your work habits chaotic or orderly?  Are your creative works orderly or chaotic?  Are you living a chaotic life or an orderly one?  Is the order imposed from within or without?  

Mary Frank

Photo by Kate Joyce

"Decisions are like butterflies.  Their tongues are like springs, coils.  Butterflies go from one flower to the next looking for nectar, extending their coils, testing every flower.  I'm looking for nectar, too."

—  Mary Frank

British Artist

1933 - 

Do you have decisions that you have delayed making?  Are you riding the fence, not sure which path to take?  Making decisions is rarely easy.  Most of us struggle to make the right decision.  Yet maybe, we should be like the butterfly, flitting from one flower to next, testing every decision and not worrying about whether we make the right one or not.  Every decision will take us somewhere; and I believe that no matter what decision we make, we arrive where we were meant to be.  So be off with you now.  Go seek the nectar of the flowers.

Edward Calvert

"Only paint what you love in what you see...."

— Edward Calvert

English Painter/Printmaker

1799 - 1883

Sometimes we put too much into our creative work. Simplicity is often best.  One way of reducing the clutter in our creative work is to focus only on what we love and ignoring everything else.  Think about what you can cut from your work without destroying its meaning and purpose.  What is extra?  What do you need to let go of so you can clarify the meaning of your work.?

Roger Fry

Self-Portrait
(1928)

"Art is a passion or it is nothing."

— Roger Fry

English Artist

1866 - 1934

Are you passionate about your creative work?  Do you love what you do?  If you are not passionate about your work, then I suggest you look for another line of work.  Creative leaders need to be passionate about what they do.  There are plenty of naysayers in your way who will keep you from succeeding if you are not passionate.  Passion is one of the key ingredients to your success. 

River with Poplars
(1912)

Stanley Spencer

Self-Portrait
(1959)

"I love to dwell on the thought that the artist is next in divinity to the saint.  He, like the saint, performs miracles."

— Stanley Spencer

English Painter

1891 - 1959

Do you perform miracles with your art?  I think creativity is a miracle of the highest order — to be able to create something that previously did not exist.  Creative leaders are rare people who generate new worlds and variations on existing worlds.  Creativity is composed of spiritual energy.  Every time we put brush to canvas or pen to paper, spiritual energy flows through us.  We are in touch with a power greater than ourselves.

Thomas Cole

(1846)

"The sky is the soul of all scenery.  It makes the earth lovely at sunrise and splendid at sunset.  In the one it breathes over the earth a crystal-like ether, in the other a liquid gold."

— Thomas Cole

English Painter

1801 - 1848

Arch of Nero
(1846)

Have you stopped to look at the sky lately?  There is so much to see.  So many stories to hear.  So much beauty to enjoy.  The sky changes how we see the world.  On a cloudy day people feel down.  When the sun breaks through, our hearts take a leap.  

Have you ever stared at the white fluffy clouds and imagined various creatures.  Have you ever been above the clouds looking down?  Wouldn't it be fun if we could actually ride on the clouds?  How about those storm clouds that light up the sky with lightning and thunder.  Maybe the angels are crying or having a fist fight.  

How about a clear blue sky without a cloud to be seen!  And the various shades of blue.  I love a winter sky, especially at sunrise.  The colors seem so brilliant.  Or the sky as seen from a farm on a cold winter night with the stars glittering and no city lights destroying your view.  The sky is truly the soul of the world.  A place we long to call home.  

David Hockney

"No matter what the illusion created, it is a flat canvas and it has to be organized in shape."

— David Hockney

English Painter

1937 - 

All art is illusionary.  Whether we are talking about a painting, a novel or a film, we are talking about the art of creating reality out of nothing.  For the painter, the canvas is blank.  For the writer, the page is blank.  For the actor, the character is blank.  Out of nothing the artist creates the illusion of reality.  The better the illusion, the more likely we are to believe that we are experiencing reality.  Creative leaders are masters of illusion, magicians of mystery.

William Holman Hunt

Self-portrait
(1867)

"Art is love."

— William Holman Hunt

English Painter

1827 - 1910

Do you love what you do?  If you can't answer yes to this question, then you need to find something else to do or learn to love what you do.  Failure to love what we do brings about despair and unhappiness.  Creative leaders love creativity and their chosen medium of expression.  Creative leaders have a deep, burning passion for their art, their writing or their dancing.

Life is too short to waste time doing something you don't enjoy.  Yes, we all have a need to make money and we may not make money from our chosen artistic endeavor, but we need to find a way to love the job that pays the bills.  We need to pay the bills so we can do what we love to do.  

Do you have an attitude of gratitude?  Do you say thank you every day for the gift of self-expression that you have been given?  Do you say thank you for being alive?  For breathing the air?  For family and friends?  For your health?  For the food on the table?  For the muse on your shoulder?  We have so much to be thankful for?

Isabella and the Pot of Basil
(1868)

Lucian Freud

Self-Portrait
(1985)

"A painter's taste must grow out of what so obsesses him in life that he never has to ask himself what it is suitable for him to do in art. . . . The painter's obsession with his subject is all that he needs to drive him to work."

— Lucian Freud

British Painter

1922 - 2011

When I graduated from college in 1971 with an English degree and no job, I wanted to be a writer, but I didn't know where to start or what to write about.  In college, I had written poetry but no short stories or fiction.  I wanted to write but I had not subject.  I had no obsessions.  During a four month trip through western United States and Canada in 1972, I came up with an idea for a novel.  I decided to write a historical novel about John Kaufman, a Mennonite sleeping preacher in the early 20th century.  Kaufman would go into a trance and preach a coherent sermon.  People stuck needles in him to see if he would wake up.  While in Oregon I did some research.  When I returned in early November to Goshen I continued the research.  When I reached my hometown of Roanoke, I tried to interview some people who knew Kaufman and I was told to cut my hair and find a job.  I let the novel slide into my subconscious. 

Sleeping Head

I have taken years to figure out what my obsessions are.  In looking back over the more than 5,000 poems that I have written, a key subject stands out:  my relationship with God.  I write to understand God.  Even forty years ago when I wanted to write a historical novel, my subject was God.  I have been told by atheists and non-believers that I should not write about God.  And conservative Christians are often offended by what I have to say about God.  Yet write I must.  I am obsessed.

What are you obsessed with?  What drives you to paint and to write?  What wakes you up and inspires you to pick up your paint brush or pen?

Here is a video showing several of Lucian Freud's portraits and includes interviews with some of the people who had their portrait painted.

Francis Bacon

Self-Portrait with Injured Eye
(1972)

"You know in my case all painting — and the older I get the more it becomes so — is an accident.  I foresee it, yet I hardly ever carry it out as I foresee it.  It transforms itself by the actual paint."

— Francis Bacon

British Artist

1909 - 1992

Even when we plan our creative work and think we know where we going, we often don't end up there.   The creative muse has a mind of her own and chooses to go where she wants to go.  Often what we set out to create is changed and molded through the process of creating.  Forms and shapes evolve and are reborn.  Words shift and transform themselves into something other than what they are.

Do you believe the creative work that you do to be an accident?  Or do your creative works turn out as you imagined them?  Do you work along side your muse or do you hide her in the closet and tell people she does not exist?  Do you ever surprise yourself by what you create?  Or does one plus one equal two?

Beatrix Potter

"There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story.  You never quite know where they'll take you."

— Beatrix Potter

English Author, Illustrator

1866 - 1943

Few things can be more exciting than starting a new project whether that is a painting, a poem or a story.  I get caught up in the excitement of the moment and want to know where the story is going.  I follow it down a crooked path, through the woods, and into a meadow of wild flowers.  And there sits Peter Rabbit laughing at me.   Some people struggle with the blank page or the blank canvas, afraid to put down that first word or that first brush stroke.  I find that the easy part.  I am eager to get started.  I can't wait to put my words down on paper and see where the story leads me.  The same holds true for painting.  I have some picture in my mind and I want to see what happens to it the pastel or the ink touches the paper.  Beatrix said it beautifully: "There is something delicious about writing the first words...."  So what new project are you starting today?

Have you seen the movie, Miss Potter?  If not, I encourage you to do so.

Dorothy Dunnett

"Facts are the soil from which the story grows.  Imagination is a last resort."

Dorothy Dunnett

Scottish Novelist, Portrait Painter

1923 - 2001

A story should be rooted in reality.  The reader needs to be able to relate the characters to the world that he knows.  Consider the novel, Watership Down, by Richard Adams.  The story is about rabbits and yet, we identify with them because of their human characteristics.  Dorothy Dunnett was a writer of historical novels who did immense research to place her stories in historical reality.  But facts are never enough.  It is in the imagination that the story takes wings and flies far from the facts to spin a story that touches the minds and hearts of the readers.

Have you rooted your stories in the reality?  Have you used your imagination to carry the stories to the heavens?  How about your paintings?  Is there something in the work with which we can identify?  Does the painting carry us beyond the facts into another world?

Winston S. Churchill

Churchill, Age 26

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."

— Winston S. Churchill

British Artist, Historian, Writer and Statesman

1874 - 1965

Churchill painting (1946)

Churchill was a man who faced both failure and success multiple times throughout his life.  He did poorly in school, had a speech impediment, grieved the death of a child, smoked Havana cigars, and was captured and spent time as a prisoner of war in South Africa.  He wrote a novel, two biographies, three volumes of memoirs and several books of history.  He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.  He painted hundreds of paintings and several now hang in museums.  He served as the Prime Minister of Great Britain twice.  So when Churchill speaks of failure and success we all should listen.

We all face both failure and success in our lives.  How we respond to what life hands us will tell others a lot about our character.  When you suffer the humiliation of defeat and rejection, how do you respond?  Do you become angry?  Do you seek revenge?  Do you withdrawal into depression?  When you receive some honor and are applauded by everyone, how do you respond?  Does the recognition go to your head and you become arrogant?  Do you act like a diva and expect everyone to do your bidding?  How we deal with the successes and failures of life tells us a lot about ourselves.

Daybreak at Cassis, near Marseilles
(1920)

Henry Moore

"Between beauty of expression and power of expression there is a difference of function.  The first aims at pleasing the senses, the second has a spiritual vitality which for me is more moving and goes deeper than the senses."

— Henry Moore

British Sculptor

1898 - 1986

Which is more important the beauty of what is said or the power of what is said?  I agree with Moore that the impact of what is communicated is more important than the beauty with which it is communicated.  It doesn't matter whether you are talking art, literature or music.  Too much emphasis in our culture has been put on beauty.  Form often wins out over substance.  For me, the substance of the art matters more.  The spiritual aspect of the communication is more important than the surface beauty.  Some works of art have both beauty and substance.  But if I must choose, I choose substance over beauty.  When you look at a painting, listen to music or read a novel, what is more important to you:  what is said or how it is said?

Ralph Steadman

"What I used to do with a passion, foolishly and vainly imagining I would change the world for the better, I no longer tolerate in myself or anyone else.  But draw, always draw — and WRITE."

— Ralph Steadman

British Artist, Writer

1936 -

Have you ever dreamed of changing the world — making it a better place?  Unfortunately, most people have very little influence on the world at large.  And with the one person that we do have influence over — ourselves — we usually lack the discipline for long-term change.  Have you ever tried to change a spouse or a significant other?  It rarely works.  I have often heard of wrecked marriages resulting from one person trying to change the other.

The Sheriff
1995

Revolution is often said to be the passion of youth.  And if one does not die in the revolution, one grows wiser with age.  If you study history, you will realize that even when the evil empire is overthrown, it is usually replaced by another empire that eventually becomes evil itself.  And the cycle continues.  The young want power and the old are unwilling to relinquish it.

And what you might add does all this have to do with art and writing?  Every generation or two there are revolutions in artistic taste and style.  The younger generation of artists challenges the older generation.  Today abstract expressionism is giving way to a resurgence of realism.  And tomorrow?  I won't even begin to predict.

I think Ralph Steadman has hit the nail on the head.  Stop worrying about changing the world, your spouse or even yourself.  Just create:  draw, paint and write. 

Francis Bacon

Self-Portrait
(1971)

"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery."

— Francis Bacon

English Artist

1909 - 1992

The Study After
Velazquez's Portrait
of Pope Innocent X
(1953)

Life is mysterious and full of questions with few answers.  The job of the creative leader is not to provide the answers but to help his audience to explore the questions at even deeper levels. Life at its core is spiritual in nature.  The artist connects the spiritual with the mysterious and fills the heart with joy.  Our challenge has writers, artists and creative leaders is to reach deep within our spirits and share the magical mystery of the heart.  


What spiritual questions are you exploring in your art?  Your writing?  Your acting?  Your dancing?  What is the mysterious hidden within your creation?  What is the song sung from your heart?

Henry Moore

"The observation of nature is part of an artist's life."

— Henry Moore

English Sculptor

1898 - 1986

How much is your art connected to nature?  Do you spend time observing the shapes and patterns within nature?  Do you study nature and learn from it?  

When I spent seven years writing and studying haiku, I spent time connecting with the physical world around me — listening to nature.  I would take walks and write haiku.  Even those of us who live in cities are a part of nature.  Here is a haiku that I wrote while walking around Chicago.

downtown Chicago

     a squirrel buries apples —

          warm autumn sun

As creative leaders, we must look for inspiration in nature whether we write novels, paint abstract paintings or compose music.  Nature has much to teach us about ourselves and the world in which we live.  Watch the rabbits playing in your backyard.  Enjoy the beauty of a sunset.  Take a walk and feel the snowflakes on your cheeks.

Oval With Points
(1968 - 1970)