Henry Miller

Self-Portrait
(1943)

"Paint what you like and die happy."

— Henry Miller

American Novelist, Painter

1891 - 1980

The message here is simple and direct:  do what you like.  Too often we don't do what we like.  Nor do we learn to like what we do.  And then people become unhappy with their lives and they spend their time complaining.  Don't let others dictate what is important for you.  

And I am not telling you to run away from your spouse and children and join an artist colony where you spend every day either painting or writing.  We all have responsibilities and we should not shirk them.  If you get married, you have made a commitment and you need to live up to it.  If you bring children into this world, you have a responsibility to raise, educate and care for them.  Doing what you love does not mean avoiding your responsibilities.  Doing what you love means finding 30 minutes or 60 minutes where you do what you want to do — where you do what you love to do.  Then you can die happy.

Deepak Chopra

"The most creative act you will ever undertake is the act of creating yourself."

— Deepak Chopra, M.D.

Indian Author, Speaker

1946 -

The life we live is a work of art and we must continuously be creating and recreating it.  The choices we make in life determine the person we become.  And the person we become is reflected in the life we live.

Are you living the life you want to live?  Have you become the person you dreamed of becoming.  To create your life you want requires vision, hard work and persistence.  If you think painting a picture or writing a novel is a challenge, creating your life is a bigger challenge.  

Sometimes creative leaders become so caught up in their creative work that they lose sight of themselves and the person who they wanted to become.  They lose sight of the people they love.  We must learn to take care of ourselves — our physical, mental and emotional natures.  If we let our work devour us, we can become addicted to drugs, alcohol or sex.  We can become paranoid, fearful and anxious.  We must learn to love ourselves and those nearest to us.

Pierre Auguste Renoir

Self-Portrait

(1875)

"It is not enough for a painter to be a clever craftsman; he must love to 'caress' his canvas, too.

— Pierre Auguste Renoir

French Artist

1841 - 1919

For some people the process of creation is painful and difficult.  They struggle to put words on paper or paint on the canvas.  They let their fear of failure or their drive for perfection prevent them from working.  Others love to work.  They are happiest standing before a canvas or sitting before a computer.  Work comes easy for them.  Which person are you?  Do you love your work?  Do you enjoy painting?  Can you get lost in process of painting?  Do you enjoy writing?  Can you write for hours and suddenly stop and realize how fast the time has flown by?  Or do you procrastinate and look for ways to avoid working?  Do you tell yourself that you have to clean the house, wash the dishes or pay the bills instead of working on your art or writing?

Umbrellas

(1981)

Read my poem, Indecision, inspired by Renoir's painting, Umbrellas.

St. Francis of Assisi

"He who works with his hands is a laborer.  He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.  He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist."

— St. Francis of Assisi

Italian Friar and Preacher

Founder of the Franciscan Order

1181 - 1226

What makes a great painting, poem or novel is the heart of the artist.  Great art grows out of the heart, not the mind.  A person can perfect his technique and think new ideas, but if the work he produces does not have heart, it ultimately will fail.  Yet a work of art that has heart will be able to overcome poor technique and weak ideas.

Emotion is what connects one human being to another.  Emotion is what connects a work of art with the audience.  Emotion is what artists must put into their work.  Have you connected with your heart?  Do you create from the heart?  Do you feel as your heart feels?  Or are you lost somewhere in your mind, thinking up new thoughts and new ideas?  Ideas are not enough. We must feel the emotion behind what we create.

Robin Moore

"To truly own a story, you must fashion it and shape it, as you would a garment, to fit your frame."

— Robin Moore

American Storyteller, Writer

1950 - 

 

Do you own the stories you tell with your art?  Do the stories you tell touch your heart?  Do they bring tears to your eyes?  Art is about communicating emotion through the stories we tell.  Reach deep inside your soul and touch the power of who you are.  Show us the love you feel.

During the last thirty years there has been a rebirth of oral storytelling in the United States.  Robin Moore has been one of the leaders of this storytelling movement.  For me, there is a lot to be said about the oral tradition.  Prior to the invention of the printing press, storytelling was how people shared information and entertained each other.  And while I love the printed word and average reading about two books a month, I find something exciting about listening to a well told story that makes me laugh and cry.

In the final analysis when we look back across our lives all we have are our memories and our stories.  The jobs we hold and the money we make have little value when our days on the planet are coming to a close.  As a creative leader, you should mine your experiences for stories to share in your paintings, your poetry and your novels. 

Here is Robin Moore talking about story and community.

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.

David Frost

"Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally."

Sir David Frost

British Journalist, Writer

1939 -

There is a paradox here.  If you seek success, you rarely find it.  If you do what you love, you will be successful even if it is not in the way that you imagined it.  As I grow older, I begin to define success less as money and fame and more as loving relationships.  The same is true of my artistic work.  It becomes less about the money and fame, then it is about the process of creating.

What is your passion?  What is your love?  Are you following your passion?  Are you doing what you love even if it is for only five minutes a day.  I dreamed for years of writing full time, but it was not to be.  But I have spent lots of hours writing.  The value is in the writing, the creating, not in doing it full time.  I challenge you to find 15 minutes every day to do what you love.  Don't wait until you can do it full time because it might never happen.  Do it now and success will follow.  Just be ready for the unexpected.  If life throws you a wrench when you are making other plans, just tighten the bolts and keep going.

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.

Mother Teresa

"It is not what we do, it is how much love we put in the doing."

— Mother Teresa

Catholic Nun

1910 - 1997

Do you put love into what you do?  As creative leaders we should love the process of creating.  The more love we put into our work; the more creative the end product is.  If you don't enjoy the process, then why do you do it?  Are you doing it for the wrong reasons?  For money?  For fame?  For sex?

Some writers and artists struggle to produce work.  I once read about a writer who published his first novel in his thirties and didn't publish his second until he was in his eighties.  For some people the creative process is difficult work.  I suggest you put love into your work and you might find it more enjoyable and less painful.  The journey we take is often more important than the destination.  We find out who we are and why we are here through the process of creating.  

The process of creating is a form of prayer — a connection to a power beyond ourselves, to a purpose bigger than us.  When we lose connection with this creative force, we stumble and struggle to create.  Writers and painters both talk about being in the flow — of something greater than themselves actually taking control and doing the creating.  They are only the instrument in the hands of the creative force.  They connect through love.

Carl Rogers

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."

— Carl Rogers

American Author / Psychologist

1902 - 1987

Have you ever had a desire to change who you are?  Have you ever dreamed of waking up and being somebody different?  That is one of the fun things about being a novelist or an actor.  Novelists and short story writers can become the characters inside the stories they tell.  I once wrote a short story, Bath Day, in which I inserted my real self as a minor, minor character seen through the eyes of the main character.  Actors take on the character of others.  They play heroes and villains.  They experience death, love, sorrow and laughter in the skin of imaginary characters.

Most of us have struggled with our self-identity.  We may not like our physical looks or the bill-paying work that we do.  We may think that we are poor husbands, wives or parents.  And yet, if we learn to accept who we are and what we have done, then we can begin to change into who we want to be.

Have you ever tried to change your habits?  Stop smoking?  Lose weight?  Start exercising?  Learn another language?  Leave the toilet seat down?  Some people say it takes 21 days to form a new habit.  Personal change is never easy.  We need to learn to be more forgiving of ourselves and those with whom we share our lives.  None of us are perfect.  And if change is difficult for us, don't you think it is just as difficult for those you love.  Learn to be gentle with yourself and those you love.

Katharine Graham

"To love what you do and feel that it matters — how could anything be more fun?"

— Katharine Graham

American Publisher

1917 - 2001

Do you love to paint?  Do you love to write?  Do you love to act?  Do you love to draw?  What is your passion?  If you do not enjoy writing or singing or painting, then maybe it is time to get out of the creative business and find something you love to do.   The creative world is difficult and if you don't have fun being creative, you will feel like you have been hit by truck. 

What we as creative leaders do is very important.  We touch people's lives and help them feel better about themselves.  We solve problems and show the world a better way.  We bring beauty and ideas into the world.  We help people escape their mundane worlds for a short time.  We inspire people to be better than they are.  We give hope where there is none.  We help people visit new worlds and experience new places.

Ivan Albright

Self-Portrait
Ivan Albright
(1981)

"A painting is life and a painting is death . . . the picture is our own legacy left by tomorrow's dead for tomorrow's living."

— Ivan Albright

American Artist

1897 - 1983

The Picture of Dorian Gray
Ivan Albright
(1943)

What will your legacy be?  What is your reason for being?  Why are you here?  We will all reach the end of the road one day.  What will you be remembered for?  As creative leaders we have an opportunity to leave the legacy of our work — our paintings, our poems, our songs and our stories.  And for some of us, we may be remembered for years and even centuries, but most of us will be forgotten except by those who loved us.  And for me, the most important legacy is the lives we have touched, the people we have met and the people we have loved.  Don't get me wrong.  Our creative work is very important, but the people in our lives are even more important.  Unfortunately, some of us sacrifice one for the other.  We need to learn balance.  To give to each what is needed.  What will your legacy be?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak a few reasonable words."

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

German Author

1749 - 1832

While the art we create is important, the life we live is even more important.  Every day as the saying goes, we need to smell the roses.  What do you do to keep you grounded?  To keep your spirit alive?  To fill your soul with peace?  Do you sing in the shower or a choir?  Do you read for 15 minutes or more every day? Do you view the paintings of others?  Do you complement the people around you?  Do you tell someone you love them?  

What have you done today?  Have you hugged someone?  Have you taken a walk in the park?  Did you enjoy the sunrise?  Did you eat a ice cream cone?  Did you say thank you to someone?  Did you help a stranger?  Did you kiss your spouse?  

Take care of your soul.  Nourish it.  Fill it with love.  

Henry Miller

"The one thing we can never get enough of is love.  And the one thing we never give enough of is love."

— Henry Miller

American Novelist/Painter

1891 - 1880

We all need to feel loved, but what we often fail to understand is that in order to get love we must also give love.  Love is a two-way street.  Artists and writers sometimes work in isolation and have little human contact.  The act of creation almost demands we work alone.  So it takes extra effort for us to develop and maintain our relationships and give love to those around us.  Our creative work takes so much effort that we sometimes forget about the people in our lives.  As creative leaders, we must learn to balance our need for isolation with our need to love and give love.

Robert Frost

"A poem . . . begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. . . . It finds the thought and the thought finds the words."

Robert Frost

American Poet

1874 - 1963

Does your art grow out of your emotions?  How often does your pain find expression in your painting, your poem or your story?  Does your joy find the words to express itself?  Many times we forget the original emotion that triggered the thought that ultimately finds its expression in our art.  Some art begins in anger, some in love.  And if we paint or write well, our audience feels the emotion.  




Here is my favorite Frost poem.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear, Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

e. e. cummings

"most people are perfectly afraid of silence"

— e. e. cummings

American Poet/Artist

1894 - 1962

e. e. cummings

1933

Writers and artists require silence to focus on their work and, yet, many people are afraid of silence.  Silence helps us find our way through the maze of life.  Silence opens like a flower in the morning.  Take time to enjoy the silences of your life.  The hardest silence to find is the silence of the mind.  We are constantly talking to ourselves even when we have silenced the voices around us.  Learn to slow your mind down and quiet the voices talking inside your head.    Rid yourself of your mother's voice.  Your father's voice.  The voice of the critic.  The voice of the editor.  Learn to love silence. 

Mother Teresa

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

— Mother Teresa

Catholic Nun/Humanitarian

1910 - 1997

In my experience, I have often found writers and artists to be judgmental and critical of each other's works.  I have participated in writing groups where a writer would present his work and then the others would proceed to tear it apart under the guise of constructive criticism.  Beginning writers and artists do not need criticism.  They need support and encouragement.  For established writers, every new book is a new beginning.  For established artists, every blank canvas is a new beginning.  Both need encouragement and support.  Constructive opinion even at its best is only opinion and often the opinion is way off base.  At its worst, criticism can be vicious and absurd.  As critics we often bring our own prejudices to the table and attempt to impose them on others.  In the words of Mother Teresa, we need to criticize and judge other creative leaders less and love them more.  Look for the good in the creative work and praise the good.  

Zelda Fitzgerald

"Nobody has ever measured, even the poets, how much a heart can hold."

— Zelda Fitzgerald

American Novelist, Artist

1900 - 1948

The heart is stronger than we think and able to recover from some of the most painful sorrows.  People through the centuries have seen and heard some of the ugliest behavior of mankind from starvation to murder to genocide.  And writers and artists have produced great work out of this pain.  When I was in college in the midst of the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement, I thought the world would explode within five years.  More the forty years later the earth still circles the sun and men and women continue to suffer and survive.  How much can your heart hold?  How much pain have you suffered?  How much love have you given?  How much of your heart can you see in your work?

Mother Teresa

"We can do no great things — only small things with great love."

— Mother Teresa

1910 - 1997

Each painting we paint, each poem we write and each story we tell is an act of love.  Don't try to do great things.  Try to create small things with great love and you will accomplish great things.  It is important to love what you do and to feel that it matters — to know that you make a difference each day you paint or write.

Han Suyin

"There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness."

— Han Suyin

Chinese novelist

1917 -

Are you gentle in your relationships with others or do you run over people with a Mack truck?  The myth about creative leaders is that they are temperamental and self-centered.  They abuse themselves and others.  I think true strength comes in being gentle with others and in being gentle with ourselves.  As artists and writers, we can be most abusive with ourselves.  Our art never lives up to our expectations.  The product is never as good as we saw it in our mind's eye.  We should learn to accept the gift that we have been given and not compare our work to that of other people.  We are not them.  We are each unique in the gift that we have been given.