Sometimes all you need for exceptional results is average effort repeated for an above-average amount of time. ~ James Clear I recently read this conversation thread about someone who started playing chess 2 years ago and has gotten pretty good. They’re looking for advice to get even better. My primary takeaway from reading through it is […]
Category: Artspiration
These posts were weekly emails and are archived here for any sort of future reference
False Comparisons
The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday. ~ Anonymous I’m in the middle of testing and comparing different brands and lines of oil paints. For each one I’m painting a color chart and a fast portrait. A friend recently watched me finish one of those portraits. […]
Only You can be You
To this day, no one has come up with a set of rules for originality. There aren’t any. ~ Les Paul Last weekend I went up to Fort Collins to visit friends and family. While there we went to their Center of Discovery and had a lot of fun. I saw the Les Paul quote […]
On the shoulders of giants
We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. ~ Ernest Hemingway I recently read an email that Steve Jobs sent to himself, remarking on how much we all need each other. Here is what he said: I grow little of the food I eat, and of the little I […]
The personal is universal
The moment that you feel, just possibly, you are walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind, and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself…That is the moment, you might be starting to get it right. ~ Neil Gaiman I always find it interesting to think […]
Mastery as a journey
Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect. ~ Raymond Joseph Teller, one half of the magic duo Penn & Teller, on the process of mastery I was recently watching a world class guitar player being interviewed. During the conversation they handed him an 80ish year old […]
Creating gives back your time
In the attitude of silence, the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. ~ Mahatma Gandhi I recently read an article by someone who runs every day, and cherishes the processĀ – because that time running is time purely for themself. I loved that […]
Visual Engineer
The world is but a canvas to our imagination. ~ Henry David Thoreau Over the last couple of weekends I’ve helped neighbors with a few different projects. At least twice I was asked if I was an engineer after I made a suggestion. I had to chuckle. Nope, I’m an artist. Not all artists have […]
Still Making Space
You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. ~ Maya Angelou In last week’s email I shared a bunch of artists and their projects, in addition to a few fun links. I made it through about half of (one of) my artist-to-share lists and thought that I would do the […]
Making Space
Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. ~ Vincent Van Gogh In last week’s email I mentioned “creative debt” and the collection of projects and materials that build up over time. In each week’s email I share an artist or two’s work… but each week I add somewhere between a […]