| I am now 55 years old. Like a lot of people in middle age my late-night thoughts bend to contemplations about how short my remaining time is. Even with increasing longevity there is not enough time to do all that I want. Nowhere close. My friend Stewart Brand, who is now 69, has been arranging his life in blocks of 5 years. Five years is what he says any project worth doing will take. From moment of inception to the last good-riddance, a book, a campaign, a new job, a start-up will take 5 years to play through. So, he asks himself, how many 5 years do I have left? He can count them on one hand even if he is lucky. So this clarifies his choices. If he has less than 5 big things he can do, what will they be? ~ Kevin Kelly on making life count |
Have you heard the 1% rule? If you improve by 1% every day, within a year you will have improved 37.78%. If it helps to think about it in terms of money: if you start with $100 at the beginning of the year and were able to increase what you have by 1% every day, at the end of the year you would have $2,778.34.
- This week’s artist is – Kasiq Jungwoo – whose work I stumbled across a few weeks ago. He’s an illustrator who loves to create for the fun of it. His advice for how to get better is to “just keep doing and practicing.” That’s pretty good advice! He also follows that with the very important, “You do paint not only when you get inspired but also when you are in ordinary mood too.” Be sure to check out his website and instagram for even more!
- If you haven’t visited Create Art and Tea in it’s new location, they’ve moved to 1015 Main Ave. Check out their beautiful new building and all the new artist works. They have an event calendar so you can see what’s upcoming. They’re still looking for artists, if you know someone who’s interested.
- Here’s some quick advice on how to begin a drawing.
- One of the superpowers that creatives have is editing the world through our artwork. Think powerlines are boring in landscapes? Skip the boring parts.
- Yes, everything has already been done in some way. But there’s still more life to get.
- Unison Fest is coming up soon. They’re looking for artists to share their work. If you’re interested, here’s more info.
- Are you an artist or art lover? Tired of being stuck at home? Check out the meet-and-greet on Sunday from 3-4:30 at Create Art and Tea. If you’re interested, RSVP (they’re capping it at 30 people) to butterflyranchartist@gmail.com
- Intimidated by oil paints? Here’s a video “crash course.”
- Prefer acrylic paints? Here’s a video on varnishing your finished painting.
- I haven’t played chess in a few years. Maybe I should head over to Guild House Games (upstairs in the Main Mall) for Monday night’s free chess club, from 6:30-9.
- It’s that time of year – the Fruit Glean Happy Hour is starting up. Join in every Thursday from 5:00-7:00 for our FREE Community Fruit Glean Happy Hour to harvest excess fruit from Durango’s backyard trees. Spots are limited, so if you’re interested, RSVP on their website.
- PlayFest is this weekend, starting on Thursday. Free, but a ticket is required. Check their website to see what all of the viewing options are (places, plays and times).
- Friday is another free Movie in the Park at Buckley Park. This week they’re featuring Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. Bring your blankets, chairs, family and friends to enjoy a movie together under the stars. Popcorn and beverages will be available for purchase, but feel welcome to bring your own meal and snacks. Movies begin 15 minutes after sunset and seating begins at 7:45.
- The Durango Botanic Gardens’ bulb sale stars on Saturday and runs through the 17th. Here’s their website.
- Have you visited the Art Market at 11th Street Station? Swing by Sundays from 10-2 to see a variety of local artists selling their work.
- There is also a lot of live music scattered around town. See who’s playing where here.
- Don’t want to come in to town? Head out to Fox Fire Farms from 6-9 on Friday for live music. Pack your own picnic meal – purchase wine at the winery. Or swing by on Saturday from 4-7 for their Picnic Concert series.
- Looking for a hands-on activity? Check out the DAC’s Ceramic Saturdays.
- We unveiled our new Acrylic Inks on Saturday. Here is Kristen describing them: These new Acrylic inks add versatility to your art supply entourage. Not only are they packed with vibrant pigment they are great in so many applications. These acrylic inks can be used in dip pens, air brush applications, refillable paint pens, and (of course) with a simple paint brush. Because they are acrylic they work on many surfaces. My personal favorite is wood. They dry to a satin finish, lay down flat, and are great for layering or creating washes. Get fine line details because of the high fluidity or cover a larger area.
The possibilities are endless!
ng paragraph is really talking about the Japanese concept of kaizen – which means “continuous improvement.” Can you increase by 1% every day? Just in a specific area – can you improve your art by 1% every day? Perhaps not, especially when it’s interwoven between other parts of our daily lives. Let’s pretend that we “only” get 1% better each week. At the end of the year we’ll be just over 1.5 times as good as at the beginning. After 5 years, we’ll be over 13x as good as when we first started. The progress doesn’t compound as fast, but it is still a huge improvement in a relatively short period of time.
Perhaps 13x improvement doesn’t quite get you to Rembrandt’s level (maybe Picasso 😛 ). It could certainly get you from stick figures to realistic portrait drawings. No matter what your goal is – regular, incremental steps will help you to get there. You don’t have to be a Rembrandt to change the world with your art. Art makes the world a better place, and the world needs yours!
Cheers!
Matthew & the Art Supply House crew