Winston Churchill — Responsibility

Demosthenes — Small Opportunities

Mark Twain

"A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out of it."

— Mark Twain

American Writer

1835 - 1910

Do you tell everything in your stories or do you leave somethings to the readers imagination?  The best writing does not tell everything.  The best writing allows the readers to read between the lines.  The same is true of art.  A painting shouldn't tell everything.  Some things should be left to the imagination.  What are you leaving out of your creative work?  Do you know what should and what should not be left out?

Georgia O'Keefe

"It is very hard work to turn out anything that looks like a good painting."

— Georgia O'Keefe

American Artist

1887 - 1986

What is quality?  Or beauty?  Or greatness?  Most of us make judgements about what art we like and what art we hate.  The younger generation rejects the elders.  And the elders look down their noses at the young.  What is popular today may be forgotten tomorrow.  What is rejected today may inspire others tomorrow.  Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, but often we don't act that way.  Each of us thinks we know what is good, what is great and what is best, but it is only an opinion.  How can one judge if a work of art is great?  What makes a work of art great?  The fact that it is still in museums 200 or 300 years after it was created?  


Let's turn this question around.  What makes a work of art a failure?  How do you know when something fails — when something is no good?  Do you destroy your work because you feel it is no good.  Do you paint over your paintings?  Do you burn your manuscripts?  (I don't throw away anything I create even if I feel it is no good.) Why do people criticize a work of art?  What does the criticism say about the critic?  Who makes the critic the authority?  Can we trust that the critic is correct?  Do critics make mistakes?  I believe critics often make mistakes.  History proves them wrong.  Have faith in your work.  Don't accept the criticism of others.  They are human and often make mistakes.


Enjoy some of O'Keefe's paintings and become inspired.

Diego Rivera

Woman Grinding Maize
(1924)

"Looking back on my work today, I think the best I have done grew out of things deeply felt, the worst from a pride in mere talent."

— Diego Rivera

Mexican Artist

1886 - 1957

The old saying is that pride goeth before a fall.  And there is some truth to that statement.  There are two sides to pride — bad pride and good pride.  If we are vain and arrogant, pride is a negative and should be cast out of our lives.  But I believe there is a good side to pride.  You need to have pride in yourself and what you do.  A better word might be self-confidence, but I think pride works as well.  

But Rivera is right to say that art that is not based in feeling and only in technique and skill will never be as powerful or as great as art that is inspired by emotion.  When you deeply feel about what you are painting or writing, you will do a much better job.  If you have no feeling for your subject, you are simply going through the motions.  You are not connected to the subject so it doesn't matter  what you paint.  Technique is the only thing of importance to you.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

Paint what you are connected to.  Write about what matters to you, not what you think the publishers want.  Sing songs that touch your heart.  Have pride in the work you do.  Believe that what you do is important.

Walt Whitman

"To have great poets there must be great audiences too."

— Walt Whitman

American Poet

1819 - 1892

I have been listening to a biography of the singer, Marvin Gaye, and one of the emotional struggles he faced was whether to write and produce the kind of songs that he wanted to and his muse demanded or to write songs for his audience.  Gaye apparently vacilated back and forth.  He felt guilty when he pandered to his audience and the money they gave him.  He felt he was betraying his musical vision.  Every artist, writer, actor and singer has experienced similar frustrations.  We want our work to be accepted by the public, but we don't want them to dictate what we create.  It is a fine balancing act.

Every artistic work requires an audience whether it is an audience of one or a thousand.  The great artists, writers, poets are fortunate to find great audiences, even though it may be after they die.  And sometimes great audiences will push the artists to create even greater works.  Actors and musicians will tell you that live audiences impact their performances positively and negatively.

Who do you create for?  Yourself?  Or your audience?  Are you frustrated by having to create what people want to buy?  How do you balance the demands of your muse and the expectations of your audience?

David Frost

"Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally."

Sir David Frost

British Journalist, Writer

1939 -

There is a paradox here.  If you seek success, you rarely find it.  If you do what you love, you will be successful even if it is not in the way that you imagined it.  As I grow older, I begin to define success less as money and fame and more as loving relationships.  The same is true of my artistic work.  It becomes less about the money and fame, then it is about the process of creating.

What is your passion?  What is your love?  Are you following your passion?  Are you doing what you love even if it is for only five minutes a day.  I dreamed for years of writing full time, but it was not to be.  But I have spent lots of hours writing.  The value is in the writing, the creating, not in doing it full time.  I challenge you to find 15 minutes every day to do what you love.  Don't wait until you can do it full time because it might never happen.  Do it now and success will follow.  Just be ready for the unexpected.  If life throws you a wrench when you are making other plans, just tighten the bolts and keep going.

Giorgio de Chirico

"To become truly immortal, a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere.  But once those barriers are broken, it will enter the realms of childhood visions and dreams."

— Giorgio de Chirico

Italian Painter

1888 - 1978

The Disquieting Muses (1916)

The way we see the world impacts our ability to be creative.  Logic, reason and even common sense can hold us back from where as an artist and creative leader we need to go.  Logic and reason can be chains around our wrists and ankles, preventing us from escaping the boundaries of human existence, forcing us to paint what is, not what is meant to be.  Logic and reason are the tools of the editor in our head telling us that we are not good enough, that the words we write don't make sense, that the sentence structure is wrong, that the story is unrealistic.  Logic and reason are the tools of the judge in our hearts telling us that the work we have created is not good enough.  We must break the chains that bind us and become as little children — able to see the world with eyes of wonder.

Maya Angelou

"If you don't like something, change it.  If you can't change it, change your attitude.  Don't complain."

— Maya Angelou

American Poet/Writer

1928 -

One of the easiest things to do is to criticize, to complain, to find fault.  It is a trap that many creative people fall into.  The world doesn't always recognized our creative genius so we put others down.  Complaining becomes our defense mechanism, the way to protect ourselves from the onslaught of the world around us.  What we need to learn is that complaining is not productive.  It does not help us create great works of art.  If we don't like something about the world, we need to either change it or change ourselves.  And what I have found over the years is that it is much easier to change yourself than it is to change those around you and it requires a lot less energy and time.

So ask yourself: "What did I complain about yesterday?" Then ask yourself if you can change it and if not, then change your attitude."  I teach people that they have little or no control on what happens to them.  The only thing they have 100 percent control of is their attitude.  If you don't like where you live, then change your attitude.  If you don't like your boss, then change your attitude.  We need to develop an attitude of gratitude.  We need to appreciate what we have, not complain about what we don't have.

Piet Mondrian

Self-portrait, 1900

"The position of the artist is humble.  He is essentially a channel."

— Piet Mondrian

Dutch Painter

1872 - 1944

Sometimes creative leaders let their egos get in the way of their painting, their writing or their art.  They believe they know all and are all powerful.  They berate others and often are hostile to the ideas of others.   An artist needs to be humble and realize he or she has been given a gift.  Pride and ego will ruin the gift.  Like Piet, many artists and writers talk about simply being a channel for something greater than themselves.  Have you ever created something and afterwards wondered where it came from?  When we learn to let go of the conscious egotistical self and become a channel for creativity, we will surprise and amaze ourselves with the gift we have been given.  Don't seek to understand the source of this gift.  Simply accept the gift with humility.

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman

"I was an avid reader of history and particularly the lives of great men and women.  I found that some were born to greatness, some attained it by accident, and some worked for it."

— Harry S. Truman

American President, Author

1884 - 1972

As creative leaders we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before.  What do you know of the lives and works of these earlier artists, writers, musicians and storytellers?  What were the challenges they faced and the difficulties they overcame?  What creative ideas did they have that have made our work easier?  What knowledge did they have that has now been lost to the dustbins of history?  Which painters, writers and musicians are your heroes?

Most people are not born to greatness.  They usually work hard to achieve what they desire, but in the end the fame they find is often by accident.  So my advice is to work hard every day and enjoy what you do.

Michelangelo

"Your greatness is measured by your horizons."

— Michelangelo

1475 - 1564

Our progress is depended on our vision and the goals we set for ourselves.  If my goal is to own a house in the small town where I live, then I may never achieve the greatness I was meant to achieve.  If you want to achieve great things, then you need to set goals that will take you there.  Many of us underestimate our potential.  Set bigger goals for yourself.  See yourself bigger than you are today.  As an artist or writer, don't limit your opportunities.  Stretch yourself.  Shoot for bigger magazines and larger galleries.