Great art is simple. My universe is great art, for it is simple.
Great art is balanced. My universe is consummate art, for it is balanced simplicity.
My universe is one in which many things have majestic measure; and again another many have measure too fine for sensing. Yet I have not one law for majestic things, and another low for things which are beyond the sensing.
I have but one law for all My opposed pairs of creating things: and that law needs but one word to spell it out, so hear Me when I say that the one word of My one law is Balance. And if man needs two words to aid him in his knowing of the workings of that law, these two words are Balanced Interchange.
If man still needs more words to aid his knowing of My one law, give to him another one, and let those three words be Rhythmic Balanced Interchange.
(Walter and Lao Russell, Home Study Course in Cosmic Consciousness, Unit 4, Lesson 13)
Showing posts with label quotes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quotes. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Monday, September 07, 2009
CUZIMTHEBOSSAME
I can do what I want “BECAUSE I’M THE BOSS OF ME.”
I remind myself of this often. When I am painting and pause to question a color choice I’ve made I remind myself that I can do what I want - CUZIMTHEBOSSAME. When I say it I love to run it all together like that. It feels good coming off my tongue and makes me smile. It reminds me how clever I am and that I am responsible for my life and my choices.
So, if I want to paint late into the wee hours of the morning I can – CUZIMTHEBOSSAME. And if I want to sleep in the next morning I can - CUZIMTHEBOSSAME.
This morning while rummaging through the frig looking for good stuff to add to a breakfast burrito, I spied celery. Hmm, would celery be good in the burrito? I’ve never heard of anyone putting celery in their eggs but why not? I don’t see any reason it wouldn’t be good. I could sauté some celery with the onion, pepper, and bits of steak. Sounds good to me.
Sure, I can do whatever I want - CUZIMTHEBOSSAME! Then I smiled a quirky little smile of satisfaction. What a clever girl am I.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Exasperation
I find painting and the act of making art exasperating.
It is such a lonely path and yet so totally fulfilling.
Shouldn’t all great art just happen and be a process of great joy and ease?
Until just recently these contradictory feelings have haunted my artist soul. My burdens were eased with the discovery of a catalog of art quotes, http://www.painterskeys.com/quotations.asp . I quickly went to the subject of frustration and found the writings of such noted masters as Monet and Piscassro like scripture before me.
The ideas expressed in these writings confirm that I am not alone in my frustration and hardship. Even the great and honored Michelangelo stated that his life might have been so much easier if he had taken a simpler path early in life.
There have been times that I have also secretly wished that this burden to create and express had not been laid on my heart. Often another will express how they wish that they had my talent and that they would give anything to be able to paint as I do. “Ha, I think to myself, you think this is all fun? It is agony!” Painting is a process of great problem solving. I am always struggling to express the idea in my head and heart, pushing into uncharted territory, not being able to step back and relax until all of the problems I have created are solved. I never had a special interest in math or science in school. In fact I hated them. I just wanted to draw and paint. Now, as I stand in front of a blank canvas I often rethink my choices. At least in math and science there are right and wrong answers along with certain commonly known formulas to achieve the solution.
That is not the way in art. The artist must express his own ideas and forge his own path to resolution. The fact that there is no one right solution makes the path even more challenging, and mentally tasking. Even with all of the exasperation I just expressed, there is another side that is ultimately prevails in the heart of the dedicated artist. The deep need to create, to express unspoken thoughts, to release oneself from the daily reality of life and delve into a deeper reality almost on a spiritual level with ones ideas and chosen materials of expression. I live to create and I create to live.
Although the process can be exasperating it can also be a Zen like experience, as if I am being used by some greater force as a means of expression and I am letting the idea into a new reality through my act of creation. When a painting flows like this it is an awesome magical experience. I had expected all my work to flow gracefully from my heart to the canvas, but alas it doesn’t and most paintings are struggles.
After discovering the writings of other artists whose work I admire, and hearing the same thoughts of frustration and exasperation as well as the constant deep need for creation and expression, I felt great comfort. I felt a new closeness to those who walked this walk many years before me. I am not alone, this is they way it is supposed to be – not easy. Last week I had the joy of sharing my art and process with a new acquaintance. He had admired my work from afar for sometime. I also shared a bit about my trials and doubts. He was quick to admonish those thoughts in my head. “You have to paint! What a shame if a talent like this was wasted!” Those are the same thoughts I had after finding the quotes of Monet and Pissarro. Their persistence and determination has now become part of my inspiration. Alas, I can move on.
It is such a lonely path and yet so totally fulfilling.
Shouldn’t all great art just happen and be a process of great joy and ease?
Until just recently these contradictory feelings have haunted my artist soul. My burdens were eased with the discovery of a catalog of art quotes, http://www.painterskeys.com/quotations.asp . I quickly went to the subject of frustration and found the writings of such noted masters as Monet and Piscassro like scripture before me.
The ideas expressed in these writings confirm that I am not alone in my frustration and hardship. Even the great and honored Michelangelo stated that his life might have been so much easier if he had taken a simpler path early in life.
“Painting and sculpture, labour and good faith, have been my ruin and I continually go from bad to worse. Better it would have been for me if I had set myself to making matches in my youth. I should not be in such distress of mind.” (Buonarroti Michelangelo)
There have been times that I have also secretly wished that this burden to create and express had not been laid on my heart. Often another will express how they wish that they had my talent and that they would give anything to be able to paint as I do. “Ha, I think to myself, you think this is all fun? It is agony!” Painting is a process of great problem solving. I am always struggling to express the idea in my head and heart, pushing into uncharted territory, not being able to step back and relax until all of the problems I have created are solved. I never had a special interest in math or science in school. In fact I hated them. I just wanted to draw and paint. Now, as I stand in front of a blank canvas I often rethink my choices. At least in math and science there are right and wrong answers along with certain commonly known formulas to achieve the solution.
That is not the way in art. The artist must express his own ideas and forge his own path to resolution. The fact that there is no one right solution makes the path even more challenging, and mentally tasking. Even with all of the exasperation I just expressed, there is another side that is ultimately prevails in the heart of the dedicated artist. The deep need to create, to express unspoken thoughts, to release oneself from the daily reality of life and delve into a deeper reality almost on a spiritual level with ones ideas and chosen materials of expression. I live to create and I create to live.
Although the process can be exasperating it can also be a Zen like experience, as if I am being used by some greater force as a means of expression and I am letting the idea into a new reality through my act of creation. When a painting flows like this it is an awesome magical experience. I had expected all my work to flow gracefully from my heart to the canvas, but alas it doesn’t and most paintings are struggles.
After discovering the writings of other artists whose work I admire, and hearing the same thoughts of frustration and exasperation as well as the constant deep need for creation and expression, I felt great comfort. I felt a new closeness to those who walked this walk many years before me. I am not alone, this is they way it is supposed to be – not easy. Last week I had the joy of sharing my art and process with a new acquaintance. He had admired my work from afar for sometime. I also shared a bit about my trials and doubts. He was quick to admonish those thoughts in my head. “You have to paint! What a shame if a talent like this was wasted!” Those are the same thoughts I had after finding the quotes of Monet and Pissarro. Their persistence and determination has now become part of my inspiration. Alas, I can move on.
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