The imagination has no limits.
The physical world does.
The work exists in both.
The ability to look deeply
is the root of creativity.
To see past the ordinary and mundane
and get to what might otherwise be invisible.
No matter what tools you use to create,
the true instrument is you.
And through you,
the universe that surrounds us
all comes into focus.
It’s not unusual for science
to catch up to art, eventually.
Nor is it unusual for art
to catch up to the spiritual.
Look for what you notice
but no one else sees.
Living life as an artist is a practice.
You are either engaging in the practice
or you’re not.
It makes no sense to say you’re not good at it.
It’s like saying, “I’m not good at being a monk.”
You are either living as a monk or you’re not.
We tend to think of the artist’s work as the output.
The real work of the artist
is a way of being in the world.
There’s a reason we are drawn
to gazing at the ocean.
It is said the ocean provides
a closer reflection of who
we are than any mirror.
The person who makes something today
isn’t the same person
who returns to the work tomorrow.
Art creates a profound connection
between the artist and the audience.
Through that connection,
both can heal.
Sometimes disengaging
is the best way to engage.
Beware of the assumption
that the way you work
is the best way
simply because
it’s the way you’ve done it before.
Talent is the ability to let ideas
manifest themselves through you
Thoughts and habits not conducive to the work:
Believing you’re not good enough.
Feeling you don’t have the energy it takes.
Mistaking adopted rules for absolute truths.
Not wanting to do the work (laziness).
Not taking the work to its highest expression (settling).
Having goals so ambitious that you can’t begin.
Thinking you can only do your best work in certain conditions.
Requiring specific tools or equipment to do the work.
Abandoning a project as soon as it gets difficult.
Feeling like you need permission to start or move forward.
Letting a perceived need for funding, equipment, or support get in the way.
Having too many ideas and not knowing where to start.
Never finishing projects.
Blaming circumstances or other people for interfering with your process.
Romanticising negative behaviours or addictions.
Believing a certain mood or state is necessary to do your best work.
Prioritizing other activities and responsibilities over your commitment to making art.
Distractibility and procrastination.
Impatience.
Thinking anything that’s out of your control is in your way.
Create an environment
where you’re free to express
what you’re afraid to express.
The work reveals itself as you go.
Failure
is the information you need
to get where you’re going.
Taking a wrong turn
allows you to see landscapes
you wouldn’t otherwise have seen.
Art is choosing to do something skillfully,
caring about the details,
bringing all of yourself
to make the finest work you can.
It is beyond ego, vanity, self-glorification,
and need for approval.
Is it time for the next project
because the clock or calendar
says it’s time,
or because the work itself
says it’s time?
A river of material flows through us.
When we share our works and our
ideas, they are replenished.
If we can tune in to the idea
of making things and sharing them
without being attached to the outcome,
the work is more likely
to arrive in its truest form.
How can you tell when you’re moving in the right direction?
What does forward motion look like?
You could say it’s a feeling. An inner voice. A silent whisper that makes
you laugh. An energy that enters the room and possesses the body. Call it joy,
awe, or elation. When a sense of harmony and fulfilment suddenly prevails.
It is an arising of the ecstatic.
In the end,
the sum total of the essence
of our individual works
may serve as a reflection.
The closer we get
to the true essence of each work,
the sooner they will somehow,
at some point in time,
provide clues as to our own.
We are dealing in a magic realm.
Nobody knows why or how it works.
It’s helpful to work as if the project you’re
engaged in is bigger than you.
If you are open and stay tuned
to what’s happening,
the answers will be revealed.
Living in discovery is at all times preferable
to living through assumptions.
Sometimes the mistakes
are what makes a work great.
Humanity breathes in mistakes.
Many people may seem walled off.
But sometimes walls can provide
different ways of seeing
over and around obstacles.
Do what you can
with what you have.
Nothing more is needed.
Maybe the best idea
is the one you’re going to
come up with this evening.
Sometimes,
it can be the most ordinary moment
that creates an extraordinary piece of art.
When the work has five mistakes,
it’s not yet completed.
When it has eight mistakes,
it might be.
Think to yourself:
I’m just here to create.
What we say,
what we sing,
what we paint—
we get to choose.
We have no responsibility
to anything other than the art itself.
The art is the final word.
The best work
is the work you are excited about.
A work of art is not an end point in itself.
It’s a station on a journey.
A chapter in our lives.
We acknowledge these transitions
by documenting each of them.
Whether the work comes easily through play
or with difficulty through struggle,
the quality of the finished piece is unaffected.
Anything that allows the audience
to access how you see the world
is accurate,
even if the information is wrong.
Being an artist
means to be continually asking,
“How can it be better?”
whatever it is.
It may be your art,
and it may be your life.
The reason we’re alive
is to express ourselves in the world.
And creating art may be the most
effective and beautiful method of doing so.
Art goes beyond language, beyond lives.
It’s a universal way to send messages
between each other and through time.
However you frame yourself as an artist,
the frame is too small.
The universe
never explains why.
