Whistler’s mum (five more thoughts on art, mindsets and creativity).
Relationships over networking.
Form relationships, not connections or networks. What’s the difference? Relationships, at their best, are genuine and sincere bonds between individuals over something shared. Interests or mindsets or personalities or blood.
They’re not transactional. They’re not opaque. They’re not full of quid pro quo. They exist out of joy, pleasure, and mutual appreciation for one another.
Form those and stop worrying about the right connections or networking mixers.
Don’t chase trends.
Have the courage to make trendless art. Most trends start as a reaction against a previous trend. It’s one thing to pay attention to what others are doing. It’s another to get caught up in the new. Pretty much no artist is going to ever describe themselves as being caught up in a trend. But many, many of them are.
That’s why one of my modern-ish artistic heroes is James McNeil Whistler. He painted the classic Whistler’s Mother. His mum. He made art for art’s sake (that was one of his big things). His work was sometimes popular and sometimes out of step with what was cool (in the late 1800s, that would be Impressionism). He used what was around him, including his mother, as subjects, and treated them as subjects worthy of respect, attention, and the greatest of his creative skills. He went through trends of being on top, and not being on top. But he kept doing what he did, changing, evolving, but also not chasing.
Change and evolve, but don’t chase trends. And be honest with yourself about what a trend is in the present.
Me and me mum; a vibrant teacher, learner, and subject.
The unknown and the trivial as gasoline.
What can the present do for the future? Pay attention to the little things happening now.
What can you do with them? The little moments, the little happenings, the little observations and interactions? If you’re a parent, or surrounded by children, you’re especially fortunate: you have an infinite supply of evolving unknowns to serve as catalysts for creation.
Reject perfection and pride, embrace chaos and chance.
Like what everybody does, like what nobody does, like what you like.
Like what you like. Do not apologize. I still love Norman Rockwell’s paintings of America; those scenes of family life and childhood and small town living that get dissed by many as nostalgia and kitsch. Stop throwing around the phrase ‘guilty pleasure.’ If you like it, own it. Know what show makes me laugh and laugh? MacGruber. I love it.
Frame and articulate your reality : is your weakness a weakness?
Do not apologize for your perceived weakness. I am colorblind. My wife has given me courage over the years in happily responding to my sketches and doodlings; observing that I put colors together in combinations one might not see elsewhere. Skin tones can be tough for me. Matter of fact, realistic color depictions can be difficult for me, period. But there’s something good about it.
It’s this: I’m also a fairly poor draftsman. I don’t draw realistically well. I’m more of a gestural sketcher who splays a little bit of color on top of messy gel ink strokes and calls it good. The more I try to draw good noses, the worse I get. So I’ve embraced my style. I keep evolving and trying new ways of rendering the reality I’m trying to translate from eyes (or imagination) into strokes. But my weakness is my strength. I crank out little pieces quickly. And they’re mine. Unlikely to be mistaken for others.
