Robert Henri

Self-Portrait
(1903)

"Let a student enter the school with this advice:  No matter how good the school is, his education is in his own hands.  All education must be self-education."

— Robert Henri

American Painter

1865 - 1929

I believe that each of us is in charge of our own education.  We choose what we want to learn and what we don't want to learn.  Even in the best of schools, students fail because they don't apply themselves.  And in the worst of schools, students still graduate and go on to accomplish great things.  Yes, a teacher can inspire you and mentor you, but in the end you are responsible for your own education.

And I believe learning is a life-long process.  When a person stops learning, he stops living.  What are you doing to further your education in your chosen field?  What are you exploring outside your field of expertise?  When was the last time your read a new book?  Or talked to a stranger?  Or developed a new habit?

Tam Gan
(1914)

This week while traveling, I met a minister who had lived for fifteen years in Japan.  I learned about his life as a minister and living in Japan.  He shared how he had witnessed the cremation of a dead person.  The Japanese custom is to wash the body and then have it cremated.  The family gathers at the crematory to witness the burning of the body.  Then the family is given a portion of the ashes and bones in a small box and the remainder are buried in the ground.  I learned something new by listening and asking questions.  And who knows, maybe some day the material will appear in a short story. 

Creative leaders need to be constantly learning new things.  What have you learned recently that you can incorporate into your writing or painting or acting?  

Robert Henri

"Develop your visual memory.  Draw everything you have drawn from the model from memory as well."

— Robert Henri

American Artist

1865 - 1929

Philosophers have long said that we experience the world through our senses.  The ability to see is one of our dominant senses.  The question that Henri is raising here is about our memory of what we see.  Both painters and writers need strong visual memory in order to put detail into their work.  Painters often work from observing models, but they also need to be able to work from the memory of that model.  The same is true of writers.  We must be able to describe our characters, the setting and the physical world.  Often the physical world tells the reader more about the nature of a person.

Bernadita (1926)

Visual memory is something I struggle with both as a writer and a reader.  When I come to a long descriptive passage in a novel, I will skim through it quickly so as not to be bored.  When I write I struggle to put in visual detail of the person and his surroundings.  As a speaker I can be in a room for eight hours with a group of people, but at the end of the day I could not describe the clothes they were wearing.  The only place where I have discovered that I have a strong visual memory is when I am driving.  I can have driven through a city once and come back five years later and I will remember visual elements and be able to find my way around without getting lost.  Somehow subconsciously, my brain picks up the physical clues and I remember them when I am back in the same place, but if you asked me to describe the place I could not.

For the past ten years I have been cultivating my visual memory through the study of art.  If your visual memory is weak like mine, I would encourage you to find ways to improve your visual skills.  Most creative leaders need a strong visual memory.

Robert Henri

"The real artist's work is a surprise to himself."

— Robert Henri

American Artist

1865 - 1929

Are you surprised by some of the things that you write or paint?  Or do you feel like you are in a rut?  As artists and writers we need be willing and open to change.  We need to surprise ourselves by what flows from our pens.  Sometimes it is too easy to paint the same thing over and over.  Or to write the same prose again and again.  Picasso was an artist who reinvented his art again and again.  He never clung to one style or technique.  Some novelists are the same way.  No two novels are the same.  Where as, genre writers tend to create the same person, the same story over and over.  Once they have achieved success they stop growing and changing.  Ask yourself this question from time to time: Am I surprised by what I create?