An Artist’s Life Rules
There is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception. James Thurber, writer
That said, an artist’s life is full of rules and exceptions. Some may seem outrageous; others may be outrageous. But all offer guidelines to help us stretch our imagination, to help us think and see “out of the box.” Artists find their own paths which are usually not straight as a string but meandering like a country road.
People are always making rules for themselves and always finding loopholes. Artists live by their own rules from necessity. As outrageous as they may seem to some, their rules offer an invitation to imagination’s palace. Artists live simple lives; they thrive on concentrating on things outside themselves. They have their own laws.
1. Be willing to kill your babies. Artists “babies” are the fruit of their imaginations. Artists need to abandon those that are inferior without hesitation. This, in order to create more and better. You chuck the second rate in order to embrace the better idea, better art work, better career goal, more rewarding personal life style. Besides, anyone creative has ideas to spare.
2. Creating a series of anything perfects skills and instincts. Each move forward, repeating the goal with different paths to it, grows our mind’s vision of the better concept. Isn’t that the same way with our lives? Doesn’t today’s idea grow on the back of yesterday’s?
3. Have fun working … it’s all a process, not a demand for perfection. Creating art – or art-like environments, relationships, shaped lives – is not a destination; it’s a journey that strings out until suddenly, there it is, our inner image all of a piece.
4. Listen to your own voice . . . and others. Trust your own instinct but don’t close your mind; research, research, research. Listen to suggestions even when you feel they won’t be anything interesting to you. Feedback before completion is the path to perfecting the product – and a way to avoid wasting time or money. After you’ve considered improvements or suggestions, put your feet down and move.
Meditation for the Day
Life is an adventure: trust your final instincts and have fun.
Action for the Day
Today, I’ll consider listening to my own voice, chucking the mediocre, and having the patience to perfect my concepts, and/or product before I consider it a done deed.
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