Eric Fischl

"If you worry about how good the art is, you're never going to make your own art."

— Eric Fischl

American Artist

1948 - 

For many of us we have a need to be perfect and  we punish ourselves when we don't live up to our expectations.  Some people go so far as to stop creating.  Their fear of not being perfect gets in their way and they give up.  If you create from your heart, stop worrying about technique and accept the fact that you will never be perfect.  And who says that you are a good judge of your own work.  There are many examples of creative leaders being remembered for some minor work that they dashed off in a very short time.  Do you really think that Charles Dickens thought that Christmas Carol would be his most famous, reproduced again and again in film and television?  Many times what the author loves does not sell well and is poorly received by the general public.  So don't worry about how good your art is.  Just paint, write and compose.  The public will do the rest.

Ten Breaths: Damage
(2007)

Charlie Parker

"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom.  If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn.  They teach you that music has boundaries.  But, man, there's no boundary line to art."

— Charlie Parker

American Jazz Saxophonist, Composer

1920 - 1955

Our art comes from our experiences, our thoughts, our wisdom and our dreams.  If we don't live life, art won't pour out of our brushes, our pens or our voices.  We need the experiences from life to generate our art.  We need to have loved and had our hearts broken.  We need to face failure and survive.  Art comes from our imperfections, not our perfections.  If the world was perfect, we would never create.  There would be no reason to create.  We would be happy and satisfied.  Art comes from our discontent — our unhappiness, our loneliness. 

So if you have been fired from your job, write a story about the experience of being fired.  Paint a picture of the boss that fired you.  Recreate the world the way you wish it would be.  If angel of death visits those you love, find a way to turn your grief into art.  If the person to whom you gave the best twenty years of your life leaves you for a younger person, create a painting of your feelings.  Anything that happens to you is fodder for your creativity.  Absorb the experience and re-imagine it happening to one of your characters.  Did you have an unhappy childhood?  Alter the past by changing the story.  Your life is the fuel for your art.  So live life to the fullest.

Take a few minutes and listen to Charlie Parker and be inspired.

Leonardo da Vinci

Self-Portrait
in red chalk
(1512)

"Art is never finished, only abandoned."

— Leonardo da Vinci

Italian Artist

1452 - 1519

Do you have paintings laying around that you have not finished?  Or stories that you can't seem to finish?  I have one such story.  No matter how many times I have rewritten it, I am never satisfied with the ending.  I put it away and and come back to it again and again.  I have a long eighty page poem about the life of my mother that I have never finished.  

Unfinished painting of
St. Jerome in the Wilderness
(1480)

But I think da Vinci is driving at something even deeper.  No art is ever finished.  Sure we may sell a painting or publish a novel, but if we could we would go back and change it.  And some artists do.  I have read of writers making changes even as the novel is going to the printer.  

And sometimes a writer spends a lifetime rewriting the same story.  He may publish 10 novels, but each is a variation of the others.  And artists may paint the same subject over and over.  Each time trying to perfect what they missed before.  Are there certain themes that reappear in your writing and your paintings?  Are there certain personal issues that you are working out in your art?  

George Bernard Shaw

"When I was young I observed that nine out of every ten things I did were failures, so I did ten times more work."

— George Bernard Shaw

Irish Playwright

1856 - 1950

How do you respond when you fail?  Do you give up and quit?  Do you work harder at becoming better?  The difference between winners and losers is that the winners keep going long after the losers have quit.  What failures are holding you back today?  What expectations do you have about success?  When you try to do something new, how many times are you willing to fail before you find success?  Once?  Twice?  Five time?  A hundred times?

Why are we as a society obsessed with success and failure?  Many of us desire fame and fortune and will work hard to achieve it.  And some of us are destroyed when we fail.  We can't stand to fail.  When we reach the end of our lives will our failures and successes matter?  Or will the people we love be more important?

Colette

"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm."

— Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette

French Novelist

1873 - 1954

Humans are not perfect.  We make foolish mistakes.  We behave in ways that we know we shouldn't.  We make choices that we later question.  We take the wrong turn in the road and find ourselves at a dead end.  We run out of gas and find ourselves stranded at the edge of the road.  We trust someone when we should have been wary.  Even the most rational of beings can make foolish decisions.  And creative leaders are not immune from this disease of foolishness.  Read the biography of any writer, artist or musician and you will find story after story of mistakes.  

Are you enthusiastic about your mistakes or do you try to sweep them under a carpet so no one finds out?  Do you celebrate your foolishness with a toast?  Are you able to laugh at your foolish mistakes?  Do you find humor in your imperfections?  Do you learn from your mistakes or are you doomed to repeat them again and again?

Salvador Dali

"Have no fear of perfection — you'll never reach it."

— Salvador Dali

Spanish Artist

1904 - 1989

Are you a perfectionist when it comes to your art?  Are you obsessed with crossing every T and dotting every I?  During much of my life I have been a perfectionist and there are still moments when perfectionism will raise its ugly head.  The older I get the more mellow I become.  I don't have as much need to be sure that everything is perfect. 

Where does perfectionism come from?  I think it comes from the need and desire to please others.  We don't want to disappoint those we love.  We fear if we make a mistake we might lose the love of others.  

Learn to let go of your desire to be perfect, because as Salvador Dali says: "you'll never reach it."  Learn to accept imperfection.  Imperfection has its own beauty.  Everything in this world is flawed.  Nothing is perfect or permanent.  Mistakes are okay.  Failure is a chance to begin again.  

Denis Waitley

"Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker.  Failure is delay, not defeat.  It is a temporary detour, not a dead end."

— Denis Waitley

American Author, Speaker

1933 -

How do you view failure?  When you feel you have failed at something, do you stop doing it?  Failure for many people is a dead end.  They don't view it as a detour on the road of life.  How you respond to perceived failure says a lot about who you are and what you will accomplish in life.  

Every failure is an opportunity to learn something new?  To increase our understanding of the world around us.  What have you learned from your failures?  Do you use your failures as inspiration to work harder?  Or do your failures become your excuse to quit and give up?  Failure is a test of your character and your determination.

Playing sports taught me a lot about failure.  In baseball, no batter gets a hit every time he comes up to bat.  In fact, if a batter gets a hit three out of ten at bats, he is considered to be an great hitter.  In Little League, I was not a very good hitter despite my size.  My best game was two weeks after appendix surgery.  I played three innings and had 2 singles.

In basketball, no player makes every shot he takes.  In fact, if a player makes 50% of his shots, he is considered to be a good shooter.  When I was a freshman in high school, I dreamed of playing in and winning the state high school championship my senior year.  And while my team had a record of 28 wins and 1 loss, we never made it to the state championship.  That final loss and failure to play in the championship became a symbol for my loss of religious faith.  And for years I held onto that symbol and let it guide my life.  What I saw as a failure was actually a very successful year.  To play 29 games and only to lose the last one is a fantastic record.  Many teams would love to have that kind of winning record.  But in my mind's eye I saw it as a failure.

What failures are you holding onto?  What failures do you need to let go?

Harley King

Self-Portrait

Oil Pastels

(2011)

"Sometimes we fight who we are, struggling against ourselves and our natures.  But we must learn to accept who we are and appreciate who we become.  We must love ourselves for what and who we are, and believe in our talents."

— Harley King

American Poet, Speaker

1949 - 

I have struggled much of my life to find myself and my place in this world.  I have never been satisfied, always wanting to do more, to accomplish more.  I wanted to be a famous writer.  But instead, my success came through my speaking.  While I have published 14 books, my readership is small and my paycheck is even smaller.  Yet, somewhere a long the way I learned to accept who I am and to trust that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing.  I touch people's lives with my words.  

I wrote the words above when I turned fifty.  Today I turn 62 and I feel that I have learned not to struggle against myself, and have accepted who I am as well as my strengths and limitations.  I have learned to hug myself and to love who I am.

Have you learned to love yourself and to believe in your talents?  Do you appreciate the life you live and accept your strengths and weaknesses?  None of us are perfect and the lives we lead are not perfect, but we are leading the life we have chosen through our thoughts and actions.  




Here is a link to my reading of my poem, Indecision, inspired by the Renoir painting, Umbrellas.  Click on Indecision and it will take you to a page on my website.

A. S. Neill

"Take from others what you want, but never be a disciple of anyone."

— Alexander Sutherland Neill

Scottish Educator, Writer

1883 - 1973

Life is about learning and everyone we encounter, whether in the virtual world or the physical world, has something to teach us, but no one is the master of all knowledge and wisdom.  No one deserves our devotion or discipleship.  We need to each independently investigate truth for ourselves.  We need to come to our own conclusions.  If we choose to blindly follow one person, we have failed ourselves.  We have let ourselves down.

From time to time in my life, I have wished I knew someone who had all the answers and I could sit at his feet and soak in his wisdom.  But I have never encountered that person and I have had to depend on my own thoughts and wisdom.  I have had to learn to investigate what truth is for myself.  And sometimes I make mistakes and sometimes I get it right.

People often feel they need heroes and gurus.  They keep looking for THE answer.  We put people on a pedestal and when we discovered their actions don't match their words, we tear them down.  We punish them for leading us a stray.  What we fail to realize is that there are no perfect people — no wise men sitting on a hill, only fools trying to get by.

As artists and writers, we must be careful not to worship other artists and writers, not to put them on pedestals.  We need to independently investigate what they have to teach and then make our own choices.  Truth is a slippery slope.  What we believe to be true today we may discover tomorrow was an illusion.

For your listening pleasure, here is one of my favorite Beatles song:  Fool on the Hill.

Robert M. Persig

"To live only for some future goal is shallow.  It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top."

— Robert M. Pirsig

American Writer

1928 - 

Those of us who set goals sometimes get so caught up in the goal that we live only in tomorrow's world and forget about today.  We think that when we publish our first book or sell our first painting that everything will be perfect.  The future that we imagine is never what we thought it would be.  We still carry the negative baggage that we have today into the future.  If we have marital problems today, we probably will still have them tomorrow.  We need to learn to live with ourselves no matter what our living conditions are.  Whether we are poor or rich, we are still the same person.  If we are unhappy when we are poor, we will be unhappy when we are rich.  Learn to be happy now.  Enjoy the moment.

Have you stopped to smell the roses today?  Spring is just around the corner and the hard winter of 2011 is sliding out the door.  Are you finding joy in the moment?  Have you seen the first robins or the red-wing blackbirds?  Have you given those you love a hug and told them that you love them?  Take a walk today.  Taste the wind on your lips.  Smell the fresh air.  Dance with the rain drops.

Goals are important but they should not dominate our lives to the point that we ignore the beauty around us.  Don't live in the future because it has not come yet.  Don't live in the past because it has already gone.  Live in the moment where you are.  Love yourself for who you are now.

Marc Chagall

"The role of the artist is tragic today because, while the world's horizons have been extended, the human heart is as small as ever."

— Marc Chagall

Russian Artist

1887 - 1985

The Prophet Jeremiah
1968

In the last 150 years the world has known many technological and scientific advances.  We have put men on the moon and invented thousands of items that make life easier for human beings from the light bulb to the iPad.  But the human heart has not changed.  We remain selfish, angry and territorial.  We kill, murder and steal.  We still break the Ten Commandments as well as the laws of man.  We are cruel, mean and unforgiving. 

Artists create beautiful paintings that inspire us all, but are abusive to their wives and girl friends.  Writers create powerful stories that touch the heart, but are rude, crude and demeaning to those around them.  Actors may explore the emotional depths of characters they play, but are unaware of their own self-destructive tendencies.

Stained Glass Windows
in Saint Stephen Cathedral,
Metz, France

Human beings have two natures: a violent one and a compassionate one.  And both often reside in the same person in varying degrees.  And we have not changed in thousands of years.  Every time we take a step forward and seem to be improving, we take a couple of steps backward.  Consider all the greed that helped create the latest financial recession.  

I learned years ago that I can't change the world.  The only person I can change is myself.  I ask myself, "What can I do today to make myself a better person tomorrow?"  And every day is a struggle.  Some days are better than others.  And some days I slip back into old habits and behaviors that are destructive to myself and to others.  Each day is a new beginning.  A new opportunity to be a better person than I was yesterday.  All I can hope for is that I am able to make a difference in somebody's life.  That I can touch one heart today.  Give hope to one soul.

Stanley Kunitz

"The poem in the head is always perfect.  Resistance begins when you try to convert it into language."

— Stanley Kunitz

American Poet

1905 - 2006

This statement by Stanley Kunitz sums up one of the key challenges that every creative leader faces.  What we create in the physical world never is as good as what we imagine in our minds.  Most artists, writers and performers are never satisfied with the end product because we see something different in our mind's eye.  And we have to learn to accept that it is okay to be imperfect.  Perfection is unachievable.  In fact, as humans what makes us interesting is our flaws.  And the same thing is true of our art.  It is the mistakes that make our art unique.  If the work we created was perfect, then every piece of art would look the same.  It is our flaws and weaknesses that make our art uniquely ours.  Our imperfections help make the art perfect.

Here is a poem by Stanley Kunitz.



Passing Through



By Stanley Kunitz



     -- on my seventy-ninth birthday



Nobody in the widow's household

ever celebrated anniversaries.

In the secrecy of my room

I would not admit I cared

that my friends were given parties.

Before I left town for school

my birthday went up in smoke

in a fire at City Hall that gutted

the Department of Vital Statistics.

If it weren't for a census report

of a five-year-old White Male

sharing my mother's address

at the Green Street tenement in Worcester

I'd have no documentary proof

that I exist.  You are the first,

my dear, to bully me

into these festive occasions.



Sometimes, you say, I wear

an abstracted look that drives you

up the wall, as though it signified

distress or disaffection.

Don't take it so to heart.

Maybe I enjoy not-being as much

as being who I am.  Maybe

it's time for me to practice

growing old.  The way I look

at it, I'm passing through a phase:

gradually I'm changing to a word.

Whatever you choose to claim

of me is always yours;

nothing is truly mine

except my name.  I only

borrowed this dust.