Replies: 27 Comments
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on Monday, April 30th, jose said
Very interesting idea you’ve brought up Lynda, linking creativity with the universe and how it goes about its business. I quite agree. I’d even go as far as saying it is probably a characteristic of the DNA we inherit as humans… we have been given tools that allow us to reshape our surroundings and our lives. We come to this planet with a tremendous creative potential but it is instantly thwarted by society and its morals, even [organized] religion which is supposed to help us find that lost link with the Absolute becomes reluctant when we discover the thrill of creativity. We are built to be creative surfers but our waves are often cut off by walls of fear, misunderstanding and indifference that wipe most of us off our surf-boards. Creativity is an essential aspect of our beings - not just the artistically gifted but every human being, from the rocket scientist all the way down to the lowest paid job we can conceive of. Artists are simply more fortunate than most because we are allowed to stay longer on our waves - that in itself is sufficient reason to rejoice. If ever we think our lives as artists are tough just let us stop for a moment to think of all the others who were made to give up on the surfing in early childhood or who would like to put in the tiniest of creative contributions in their respective line of work and are crushed or ignored for their daring.
on Wednesday, April 25th, Lynda said
Jose, I feel the same way! Perhaps shifting values are at work, as we feel more and more that our time on Earth is limited? (Time certainly has a way of speeding up as we get older; it FLIES when we're in flow...)
I told an artist friend yesterday that in most aspects of my life, I'm not particularly compulsive. But once a painting is started, I'm hooked--can't bear to tear myself away.
Maybe the increasing involvement in our work is just the nature of the beast? The creative process evoking more of the same? The generative impulse seeking outlet and feeding itself? Maybe our need for/expressions of creativity are an offshoot of the self-ordering nature of the universe?
Your blogs are always thought-provoking!
on Wednesday, April 25th, jose said
Ah, Andrew, but I wasn’t thinking of setting myself completely apart, though it may have sounded like it. Those encounters and meals with like-minded people are part of the work and the fun, and like you say, when you get back to the studio after such moments you really feel charged. As for life, the normal life and the life during travel the best is to let it flow and see what it yields, and I agree again, balance is good… I’m just finding it harder and harder to enjoy situations that keep me away from my creative self and that ultimately rob me of my time and the time that I get to have with my family - things that keep me away from my inner rhythm and make it difficult to find it again: because if I can’t get things done in the time I have at the studio, the thoughts about work take control more intensely when I am at home. Christine, I still find enjoyment away from the studio but it isn’t necessarily in the fun things the José of the 70’s and 80’s needed.
on Tuesday, April 24th, Lynda Lehmann said
Thanks, Paul! I still am the quintessential "aesthetic escapist!"
Ellen, funny you should mention New Hampshire. I love that state, and we go to Maine every summer! My husband is building a teeny cabin into a house there, with his own two hands! Maine is my tonic and joy, New Hampshire as well! We know people who live by Mt. Washington and quite a few folks in Maine, but like you, I live in N Y!
If you feel like it, email me, and we can compare notes. I just looked at your paintings on your site and I think I see a view of Crawford Notch among them, and your subjects all resonate with our familiar mountain-girded roads and wooded haunts.
Yes, pristine, compared to the rest of the country!
Your orchid photos are lovely!
on Tuesday, April 24th, Christine said
I say- divide time- you won't want to miss out on the fun and then realise it's too late. Your fun might be different to my fun so use it as you please. But roll the red carpet when inspiration arrives- catch a hold of it and don't loose it. Andrew uses dialogue- anything may inspire us- I say-get creative with it. Jose- you are doing that from within. That's what makes us individual aspiring artists.
on Tuesday, April 24th, Andrew said
There is the dialogue with other artists, or people interested in art, which is fun because often you get something out of it that you can use later in your work. A person once said a single sentence to me, and from that I worked for more than three years, and made a huge step forward in the kind of work I did. Without that, perhaps I would have taken much longer.
That dialogue sometimes takes place over a meal, or a few drinks, in the realm of fun. It's great when you reach a kind of peak moment, which happens so rarely, when everything and everyone just seems to be in synch. Carry that with you into the studio, and you're motivated by it. Working without thinking of anyone but myself seems too closed a circle. I'm a performer, and I know it, the sending of a message and seeing it get received are very stimulating to me. I don't need to shut the world out, but rather, invite it in.
I have friends in the 'normal' lifestyle, with their two weeks a year of vacations, and their inability to break the pattern of what they do the rest of the year. And some can do it easily, without missing a beat. I had a friend come to Rome who was so busy micro scheduling his vacation that it wasn't any different from what I assume his work routine was. And probably his family life. "It's Sunday, so I've got to be at the tennis court at two." Another came for more time, and didn't have any plans...he just let things develop, and enjoyed them as they did.
Someone up here said it ought to be an equilibrium of some fun, and some work. For me, it's all one. An attitude.
on Monday, April 23rd, Ellen said
Lynda-
You must come to New Hamshire! Northern New Hampshire is almost completely unspoiled. There is little pollution because there is little industry. Of course the economic situation there is bleak.... But the forests are magnificent: huge protected tracts of pristine lands were federally reserved in the early 1900's. Lakes and streams are crystal clear. There are numerous trails and boating, skiing and golf. I did an Artist in Residence for the Appalachin Club near Mt. Washington...fabulous! When I was not demoing, I was enjoying the extraordinary scenery. Not as touristy as Vermont, NH is less expensive and far less traveled. I do not work for the tourist board! I did inherit a tiny house from my parents who were transplanted Brooklynites. Painting in NH is literally a breath of fresh air as opposed to my studio near Kennedy Airport, NY. There I aesthetically escape!
on Sunday, April 22nd, Paul S said
Best statement of the page:
Since I was a teenager, I've recognized the "escapist" aspect of making art. When I was eighteen, I rather derisively named myself an "aesthetic escapist."
on Sunday, April 22nd, lehmannart@yahoo.com">Lynda said
Ellen, now that you have mentioned "disappearing into the woods," I'll say that that's the only place I'd really rather be (than in my studio). For me, to be deep in the woods by a pristine mountain stream, is heaven. Or on a lake, canoeing at sunset. If ever the day comes that the forests and waters are again unspoiled, and every human can have access to un-polluted, unrazed green places, "heaven" will have come to Earth. But it won't be in our lifetimes...
on Sunday, April 22nd, Ellen said
RIGHT, Jose!!! To paraphrase: "There's no place like the studio" or "Be it ever so humble, there's no place on earth that I'd rather be than my studio"....90% of the time.
Keep painting & having fun doing it, Jose! Write some more blogs, too!!
on Sunday, April 22nd, jose said
Folks forgive my lack of response, I had my workshop to tend to and didn’t get back till late.
Lynda, I agree, it is a blessing [though a few in the past on aa have tried to convince us that it is more of a curse]; Walt, amigo, I really like how you refer to your academic responsibilities as fun, very few people can see it like that. Hope your show went well. Ellen, believe it or not my daughters love it when we revisit the days of pasta and egg… it still happens, especially when I get carried away at the studio and get home too late forgot to look into the fridge before I left in the morning. My problem is similar to yours, I feel guilty going off to a movie or sitting at the café for longer than is actually necessary to have a meal and that was what prompted this blog.
We get something from our work very few can afford: inherent satisfaction. That is something that is there for us even when we are going through the rough bits when creativity blocks or sales aren’t happening and the bills and responsibilities grow. Maybe that is the ‘drug’ that has us in its grip. We’ve found something that grants us pleasure and we’ve found that it is within us.
But I was also trying to bring across that there should be no shame in admitting that there is Fun in our work as artists. I am aware that sometimes people look at us with scepticism when we admit to it, as if enjoyment and fun somehow lessened the quality of the hard work that we put in everyday. A strange mentality we sometimes also feel inclined to perpetuate. People like statistics, they like asking us how many hours of work were put into such and such a piece, where did we get the inspiration, was it hard work [implying, of course, was it a disagreeable experience]? The more impressively you respond to these questions the more you impress the potential buyer – tell them you enjoyed it and chances are the conversation will falter slightly until you’ve managed to redress the balance in your favour and regain some leverage… that is the hard work, the unpleasant bit.
We get the chance to work for nobody other than ourselves, at the end of the day the benefits of the problems we have to solve and the hurdles we overcome revert to us not to someone else. There is no beating that luxury. There are down moments, sure, both inside and outside the studio. But still, for most of us the studio is where we would rather be, right?
on Sunday, April 22nd, Ellen said
Jose-
That which you have written about is constantly in my head. I truly thought I was antisocial or that I was alone in these thoughts of forever wondering why I shun "fun." Thank you for this blog!!
Years ago, on family vacations, my husband and I would take our kids to the lake. I would disappear into the woods with my sketch pad or watercolors. In Coney Island, I would sketch while the kids went on the rides (I did go on a few). Whenever I leave the house, I loaded up the car or my tote bag with sketching and art reading material. I have always felt time breathing down my back!
Recently, we had diner with old friends. I was asked why I worked so hard. Worked!! at art. My friend concluded that I worked very long hours and with such conviction because I was having "fun with my art." I assured him that creating art was not fun, but hard work. He refused to get it. I tried explain the great fulfillment and energy I feel when I begin to work. Also the intense lows. The times I get up during the night and a tricky problem in my work resolves itself. The gratification at doing what I set out to do with my life and seeing that through despite "living on a shoestring." [As a matter of fact I thrive on cheap living. I digress to remember a time about 20 years ago when I had $5 to feed a family of 4 for a week. We ate a lot of pasta and eggs.] Managing to balance my family with art is at my personal core. I'd call being an artist numerous things, but "fun" is far from one of them. My friend keep persuring that idea of workaholism vs fun. I wondered why I had made the social commitment in the first place. It was nice to go to a restaurant and have a few drinks and a delicious meal with people who are meaningful to me, but the social interaction was exhausting and tedious. I would have rather been drinking at my easel, metaphorically. Personally, I long to read a book, go to the movies, RELAX. I used to do those things years ago (when I was not sketching in the woods). But I literally have no time. The course I set for myself might be like yours, Jose. I am an art workaholic. You do write about your family and the time spent with them.
Fortunately I take time almost every day to see my daughter and two and a half-year-old granddaughter who live nearby. I don't have to explain myself to them, especially the little one. When I tell her it's time to go to work, she says "Then GO!"
on Saturday, April 21st, Lynda Lehmann said
I like that, Walt. "In May I will be a new garden."
Sounds like you are super busy, and maybe even keeping a good balance in all the aspects of your life! Good luck with your Opening tonight!
on Saturday, April 21st, walt said
Lynda, I like the term 'aesthetic escapist'. There is a lot of ideas of aesthetics to escape these days. I tend to go in cycles. Times when I am called by some internal voice to the studio with a very regular and disciplined rigor. And other times, like recently, when I have a number of what I might call outside responsibilities like teaching, the end of the year festivities, the opening of a new show or some other event...and those become my break in the action when I have 'fun'. Lately the fun has become a bit too overwhelming so it is time to get back into the studio. Everything is prepared and waiting for me. It is the least I do when on the fun track...that is to make sure when I am ready I have canvas and paints and ideas. Tonight I have an opening. Next weekend a closing with classes inbetween. The first two weeks in the middle of May will take up most my time with the end of the year festivities at the college, the annual student show must go up, end of year meetings and parties, grading and other paperwork, a friends wedding which will take up three days of my evening life. Once school is out I'll take a few days to a week and go fishing, maybe camping as well. Then its studio time.
This is not to say I haven't done anything in the interum. I've added about 10 new works to my website done during the last few months. Filled page upon page in my sketchbook inbetween, written the poem for a book project I've been thinking about, and made preparations for a trip to Argentina in July for another exhibition there. But the real time, the dreamtime if you like, will begin the middle of May. In May I will be a new garden.
on Saturday, April 21st, Lynda Lehmann said
Hi Jose.
In the context of Western culture, especially here in the U.S., we are conditioned to commercialism and consumerism. I don't know of anyone who would argue that point. We are taught to seek diversion and to consume on every level. From houses, cars, clothing and friends, to what we eat and use for entertainment. We always want more. And to a great extent, we achieve our sense of status from the externally sanctioned values of conspicuous consumption and ownership.
Form childhood, we are taught to answer to every kind of authority: that of social convention, political correctness, government, religion, and the like. But no one teaches us to look inward, to be or grow into being, in touch with ourselves. When religions exhort us to turn inward, towards "conscience," even then, we are doing it in the name of whatever definition of God we subscribe to. Books on the subject of growth and self-realization are available in libraries and stores, of course, but they are often at least peripherally connected with pushing some particular slant, ideology, or technique.
The artist abandons all this "other-oriented" activity, and learns to answer to her/himself.
Jose, I relate to what you have said because it is only in the confines of my little studio, a small room in our suburban house, that the world comes most alive for me. The paradox is that in the most singular of human activities, I feel the most related to the stream of human experience. Because I feel whole within myself, I also feel in harmony with the universe. When I paint, I own myself. I create my joy as I go, and because it's my own process, I have no one to answer to on how I go about it.
I know a lot of people who put the emphasis on having "fun," by which term I think, they are usually referring to forms of pleasure, entertainment, and external stimulation. I prefer to derive these from the inside. For me, the creative experience is far more powerful than just going some place for entertainment or socializing. Though I have to admit, I love to eat in restaurants!
Since I was a teenager, I've recognized the "escapist" aspect of making art. When I was eighteen, I rather derisively named myself an "aesthetic escapist."
Now that I'm many decades older (chuckle), I see this tendency in myself as a blessing. Turning inward has been my pathway to joy. And "joy" to me, is a better feeling than the satisfactions of "having fun." If I had to choose one over the other, I would take the joy.
Where would civilization be without art in all its forms? I'm thankful that throughout the centuries. other artists have apparently made this same distinction. They sought to create instead of seeking to have fun. I guess the apex is to strike a balance between the two.
on Friday, April 20th, olivier said
10 and 13 they are still at home. I kind of imagine what you said Walt even if I throwed the underwear a long time ago. They getting used to it and they love my paintings too. So there is still hope under the roof. LOL
on Friday, April 20th, walt said
Jose,
everything changes when the kids grow up and step out on their own. The first thing you notice is that once again you have money to spend on yourself. You can walk around the house in your underwear and there is no one to complain about it. You can stay out later and not have to worry about the baby sitter. Problem is that as the weeks get shorter so do the weekends. They are over before you know it.
Time stands still, or so it seems, in the studio. It is the only place where I feel truly myself.
on Friday, April 20th, jose said
Ouai! Exactly what I felt, Olivier, time stopped or even reversed as you say. It was quite amazing. This type of fun actually has a regenerative effect.
on Thursday, April 19th, olivier said
Whaou I love that vision of our world and do share it so much with you. Just wanted to express it before I get back to a second reading. So much is said here. I experience much of it and do beleive paintings, as frustating as it is, to be an act of FUN. In my case time reverse since I went out of the business world, and I feel younger days by days.
On another note, Jose, seriously you should writte a book for us, at least I will be your reader
I had never given much thought to the matter until somebody pointed out that they seldom see me in the usual hangouts – the ‘insider’ ones I used to go to in the wilder years and the IN ones I barely know the names or locations of today. I guess I have to discipline myself a bit more for fun. This isn’t normal, right? Normal is needing to discipline yourself to keep focused on work. Not me, I have a hard time finding the time to put aside for all the fun everybody seems to be having, although the definition of fun may differ greatly and what some conceive to be having a great time might actually end up being a waste of time depending on the perspective.
