Thanks for commenting Ric. Yeah, it took me years to figure out that you have to make your creative life the center around which everything else is arranged and prioritized. It really helps for finding wasted time and space just because you are not clear about what is actually the most important to you.
I enjoyed reading this one today. It gives me some good things to think about how I would fare given a complete change in circumstances. I hope I'd be as adaptable as you. Thanks for sharing your perspective.
I always keep in mind that things can change on a dime as they say. That has happened to me many times. I think a lot about the modernist artists Like Picasso and Miro who had to keep working through the depression, through wars and somehow keep going and they did. I often wonder how they did it. Even artists who have suffered through debilitating physical catastophies have picked them selved up even when they couldn't pick themselves up, adjusted and kept going. Take Chuck Close as an example.
My mom was an artist, who created art as a young person into high school. But she did not really delve into it until she was fired (yes, fired) from her job as a bookkeeper (today, CFO) of a small, but well-known construction company in Houston. These were the days where very few women worked unless they had to. Women in the construction world were rare, save for a secretarial position. She was telling the leaders of the company that if they continued to run the company in the vein they were running it, they would go broke. She was fired. She filed an age-discrimination law-suit, and won the lawsuit (which took years as well as a tremendous strain on her), but by the time the lawsuit was settled, the company was broke, so she did not win a dime.
She never worked again, as she had MS from an early age, and pursued her art, even studying under Lajos Markos, a famous artist that came into her life. My mom never created her art to be famous; she created it because it was who she was. In those days, there were not many, if any, ways for artists to showcase their work, outside of the Westheimer Art Festival that was held for many years, once a year.
But, like you Cecil, she found a way to create her art. She even convinced my father to build a fairly large studio on the back of my childhood home (which still exist today) and that was her happy place. (Prior to that, for years, she made our living room her studio. Our living room had a very large window and was at the front of the house. Anyone walking or driving by would see my mom painting.
Thanks for writing Lynn. That is a very interesting story. She told them they would go broke and they did. The irony! Sorry your mom has to suffer through that. Yes if there is an artist in the family the artist needs to own that and make their family into an art family where art activity is accepted as a part of everyday life just like sports fans are accepted in a sports family. If art is an important element of a family member everyone else in the family has to accept that as a fact. Then life goes much better for everyone. Becuase if an artist's creative flow is thwarted in their own house they will feel unfulfilled and gradually become unhappy and that works against everyone in the family.
Of course this means that the artist has the self confidence to accept and claim their nature as an artist and becomes committed to that path and its practice not as a part time hobby but a way of life. Then there is clarity. Being clear, everyone adjusts to it.
Really the same is true for anyone, musicians, poets, writers, people interested in health, fitness, antiques, literature, movies, anthropology, nature, gardening, people who love any topic that is deeply important to them that they feel compelled to pursue in depth.
Of course, I am just talking about artists or creatives in general, their path is often more ambiguous and often takes longer to identify and commit to. And is often discouraged by those closest to them becuase it doesn't seem practical as a pursuit and most people seem to believe in being practical as the main goal in life. Get through school, get a job, set up household, pay your bills, entertain yourself, play around on your phone all day, get through the grind, save some money, prepare for retirement. Along the way find someone you love and is willing to love you back or something close to it. Avoid suffering and sorrow as much as possible. You know, the basics to get as comfortably as possible from cradle to grave.
Am I am sounding cynical? Maybe just curt.
Let me think on it a bit. I see an article in there...
To me this all boils down to that profound absolute NEED to create one's art. That HAVE TO, the thing that one is SUPPOSED to be doing no matter what is going on around you. It's almost as necessary as breathing and eating to stay alive. It's part of our soul of who we are, how we're made, or whatever brought us into this world to do. Basic needs are essential for well being........a roof over our heads, income to pay for required needs etc. And as Maggie Davis stated in her comment, (my paraphrase) one must do what they have to do in order to survive so that they can get to where they can create their art and hopefully even make some sort of living to do so.
You make it sound so simple. That is not how my 50+ years of making art have developed.
It has been through persistence, patching together income from bartending to puppeteering, and putting myself through art school, BFA, MFA. A windfall from the sale of large paintings enabled me to pursue coursework toward a PhD in the philosophy of art until the money ran out. I worked full-time as an art teacher and maintained a full-time studio practice each day, after school, and on weekends. My employment enabled me to make art that was free from market demands and in pursuit of my own voice. You shortchange the struggle many artists face in making art only when conditions allow, especially women who also choose to have families. Courage, persistence, determination, and authenticity are what make an artist stay the course. I know there is more to your story than you imply.
Hi Maggie, Good to hear from you! In the end it is that simple if you are sticking to your core as you do. Intention and commitment must outweigh circumstances. For many of us, and what I encourage, is accepting that you are an artist and orchestrate your life around that core. Bend everything to it. Man or woman, it makes no difference. I raised two stepkids, seven fosterkids and three of my own kids from my studio in my 20's and 30's. I am still there for my adult kids. and we are there for each other.
Yes, I had to get up at 4:00am every morning to work in my studio before everyone else woke up and late at night after everyone was in bed sleeping. Maybe I would get a little nap in with the babies in the afternoon. Yes, I have lived in abject poverty wondering how to pay the rent or keep the utilities on in the winter. But we always ate and always had fun. Was I perfect at it? Never. Often I was emotionally distant or distracted. My only hope was go to sleep at night without regret for my actions or neglects and if I did have a regret, to resolve to do better the next time.
you said: Courage, persistence, determination, and authenticity. Yes, absolutely and also intention, commitment and relentlessness. That goes unsaid. Side lining your own nature is not an option. Life must bend around you as much as we bend around life. It is simple but I did not say easy! and we have to learn how to make it stupid simple.
I enjoyed this. It really made me determined to see myself as an artist first. This is going to be very helpful for me going forward. Thanks.
Thanks for commenting Ric. Yeah, it took me years to figure out that you have to make your creative life the center around which everything else is arranged and prioritized. It really helps for finding wasted time and space just because you are not clear about what is actually the most important to you.
I enjoyed reading this one today. It gives me some good things to think about how I would fare given a complete change in circumstances. I hope I'd be as adaptable as you. Thanks for sharing your perspective.
I always keep in mind that things can change on a dime as they say. That has happened to me many times. I think a lot about the modernist artists Like Picasso and Miro who had to keep working through the depression, through wars and somehow keep going and they did. I often wonder how they did it. Even artists who have suffered through debilitating physical catastophies have picked them selved up even when they couldn't pick themselves up, adjusted and kept going. Take Chuck Close as an example.
https://www.brainandlife.org/articles/dyslexia-paralysis-face-blindness-nothing-comes-between-legendary-artist-chuck
Artists who have no other purpose in life except to be an artist, figure it out somehow. What else can you do if being an artist is who you are?
Great article.
My mom was an artist, who created art as a young person into high school. But she did not really delve into it until she was fired (yes, fired) from her job as a bookkeeper (today, CFO) of a small, but well-known construction company in Houston. These were the days where very few women worked unless they had to. Women in the construction world were rare, save for a secretarial position. She was telling the leaders of the company that if they continued to run the company in the vein they were running it, they would go broke. She was fired. She filed an age-discrimination law-suit, and won the lawsuit (which took years as well as a tremendous strain on her), but by the time the lawsuit was settled, the company was broke, so she did not win a dime.
She never worked again, as she had MS from an early age, and pursued her art, even studying under Lajos Markos, a famous artist that came into her life. My mom never created her art to be famous; she created it because it was who she was. In those days, there were not many, if any, ways for artists to showcase their work, outside of the Westheimer Art Festival that was held for many years, once a year.
But, like you Cecil, she found a way to create her art. She even convinced my father to build a fairly large studio on the back of my childhood home (which still exist today) and that was her happy place. (Prior to that, for years, she made our living room her studio. Our living room had a very large window and was at the front of the house. Anyone walking or driving by would see my mom painting.
Thanks for writing Lynn. That is a very interesting story. She told them they would go broke and they did. The irony! Sorry your mom has to suffer through that. Yes if there is an artist in the family the artist needs to own that and make their family into an art family where art activity is accepted as a part of everyday life just like sports fans are accepted in a sports family. If art is an important element of a family member everyone else in the family has to accept that as a fact. Then life goes much better for everyone. Becuase if an artist's creative flow is thwarted in their own house they will feel unfulfilled and gradually become unhappy and that works against everyone in the family.
Of course this means that the artist has the self confidence to accept and claim their nature as an artist and becomes committed to that path and its practice not as a part time hobby but a way of life. Then there is clarity. Being clear, everyone adjusts to it.
Really the same is true for anyone, musicians, poets, writers, people interested in health, fitness, antiques, literature, movies, anthropology, nature, gardening, people who love any topic that is deeply important to them that they feel compelled to pursue in depth.
Of course, I am just talking about artists or creatives in general, their path is often more ambiguous and often takes longer to identify and commit to. And is often discouraged by those closest to them becuase it doesn't seem practical as a pursuit and most people seem to believe in being practical as the main goal in life. Get through school, get a job, set up household, pay your bills, entertain yourself, play around on your phone all day, get through the grind, save some money, prepare for retirement. Along the way find someone you love and is willing to love you back or something close to it. Avoid suffering and sorrow as much as possible. You know, the basics to get as comfortably as possible from cradle to grave.
Am I am sounding cynical? Maybe just curt.
Let me think on it a bit. I see an article in there...
To me this all boils down to that profound absolute NEED to create one's art. That HAVE TO, the thing that one is SUPPOSED to be doing no matter what is going on around you. It's almost as necessary as breathing and eating to stay alive. It's part of our soul of who we are, how we're made, or whatever brought us into this world to do. Basic needs are essential for well being........a roof over our heads, income to pay for required needs etc. And as Maggie Davis stated in her comment, (my paraphrase) one must do what they have to do in order to survive so that they can get to where they can create their art and hopefully even make some sort of living to do so.
You make it sound so simple. That is not how my 50+ years of making art have developed.
It has been through persistence, patching together income from bartending to puppeteering, and putting myself through art school, BFA, MFA. A windfall from the sale of large paintings enabled me to pursue coursework toward a PhD in the philosophy of art until the money ran out. I worked full-time as an art teacher and maintained a full-time studio practice each day, after school, and on weekends. My employment enabled me to make art that was free from market demands and in pursuit of my own voice. You shortchange the struggle many artists face in making art only when conditions allow, especially women who also choose to have families. Courage, persistence, determination, and authenticity are what make an artist stay the course. I know there is more to your story than you imply.
Hi Maggie, Good to hear from you! In the end it is that simple if you are sticking to your core as you do. Intention and commitment must outweigh circumstances. For many of us, and what I encourage, is accepting that you are an artist and orchestrate your life around that core. Bend everything to it. Man or woman, it makes no difference. I raised two stepkids, seven fosterkids and three of my own kids from my studio in my 20's and 30's. I am still there for my adult kids. and we are there for each other.
Yes, I had to get up at 4:00am every morning to work in my studio before everyone else woke up and late at night after everyone was in bed sleeping. Maybe I would get a little nap in with the babies in the afternoon. Yes, I have lived in abject poverty wondering how to pay the rent or keep the utilities on in the winter. But we always ate and always had fun. Was I perfect at it? Never. Often I was emotionally distant or distracted. My only hope was go to sleep at night without regret for my actions or neglects and if I did have a regret, to resolve to do better the next time.
you said: Courage, persistence, determination, and authenticity. Yes, absolutely and also intention, commitment and relentlessness. That goes unsaid. Side lining your own nature is not an option. Life must bend around you as much as we bend around life. It is simple but I did not say easy! and we have to learn how to make it stupid simple.
https://www.touchonian.com/p/kiss-keep-it-stupid-simple
and thank you Maggie for being a rare contributing subscriber!