Fernando Del Paso

Venus de Milo
Ancient Greek Statue

"Literature and music exist in time: they have a beginning and an end.  Painting and sculpture exist in space. . . . Where does the Venus de Milo begin: in her navel, in her breasts, or in her head?  Where does an abstract painting begin: in the lower left corner, or in the center?"

— Fernando Del Paso

Mexican Novelist, Painter and Poet

1935 -

Back of
Venus de Milo

De Paso has raised a very interesting question:  where does a painting or a sculpture begin?  When analyzing a painting, people often identify at what point the eye is drawn into the painting.  At what point do we the viewer enter into the picture?  But that point of entry is not the beginning of the painting.  In fact, paintings and sculptures have no beginning.  They just are here and now.

The flip side of this question is:  where does the novel exist?  In the head of the writer?  On the pages of the book it is printed in?  In cyberspace somewhere?  Or in the head of the reader?  And what novel are we talking about?  Is the novel that is in the writer's head the same as the novel on the page?  Is the novel that is in the reader's head the same as what is in the writer's imagination?  

Fernando Del Paso

How many times have you as a reader altered the novel on the page by changing the looks of a character or the physical location of the story.  Unlike the painting which is concrete and visual, the novel is nebulous and changing.  Yes, we can impose our stories upon the painting, but the painting still exists outside of us.  We change the novel as soon as it enters our brain.  We have altered the story as imagined by the novelist.

Have you ever wished that a novel would not end?  You may even have slowed down your reading so that the ending would be delayed?  Novels exist in time and have a beginning and a ending, but we can continue to revisit them through our memory. 

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?

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.

Joan Miro

The Garden 2

Joan Miro

"More important than a work of art itself is what it will sow.  Art can die, a painting can disappear.  What counts is the seed."

Joan Miro

Spanish Painter/Sculptor

1893 - 1983

Joan Miro

Growing up in a conservative Mennonite family, I was not exposed to art as a child.  My maternal grandfather even discouraged photographs.  My first exposure to art came my freshman year in college where in one of my classes we had to choose an artist to study.  I chose Miro and his paintings planted in my soul a love of art.  Artists, musicians and writers all plant seeds with their works of art.  A great novel stays with you long after you have read it.  When you fall in love with a painting, you come back to it again and again for it to refresh your soul.  How many times do you listen to the same piece of music over and over.  And each time you hear it years later, it brings back waves of emotion.  

What seeds are you planting with your writing, your painting or your music?  How is your art impacting your audience? What seeds have you planted in their souls?  

I am curious.  Please share with me who were the first artists, writers and musicians to touch your life.

Joseph Conrad

"I don't like work — no man does — but I like what is in work: the chance to find yourself."

— Joseph Conrad

Polish Novelist

1857 - 1924

Unlike Conrad, I do like to work.  I find that if I don't work I become bored and more tired than when I work.  Although, I do from time to time find myself procrastinating, particularly with creative work.  The creative side of me doesn't want to sit down and do the work.  But I strongly agree with the second half of the quote.  Work does give me a chance to explore who I am as an artist and writer.  Work helps me to understand myself better and to appreciate my talents and gifts.  Work also challenges me and pushes me to go farther than I thought possible.

I believe we ought to celebrate work.  All work is honorable if approached with the right attitude.  Housework and housekeeping is very important work.  So is child-rearing.  Raising and educating the next generation is probably the most important work of all.  I am in awe of people who are knowledgeable about the work they do.  When I meet a sales clerk in a store who knows his product, I compliment him.  I love to listen to the sales pitch of great sales people.  Sometimes I buy and sometimes I don't, but I enjoy the ride.  I celebrate people who work their hands — carpenters, farmers, mechanics.  I am not good with my hands because I am too slow.  Some people have the gift for gab.  I have heard some fantastic speakers in my life.  Work for me is both an art and a skill.

The work that creative leaders do should also be celebrated.  Sometimes people don't understand the creative process and so they don't appreciate the working habits of artists and writers.  Painting, sculpting and writing are not 9 to 5 jobs.  You may work for an hour here and an hour there, but your mind is always working both consciously and unconsciously.  In fact, the unconscious work for a creative leader is probably the most important work and the most difficult.  So celebrate and appreciate the work you do.

Ursula K. LeGuin

Photo by Eileen Gunn

"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end."

— Ursula K. LeGuin

American Novelist

1929 -

We all need a sense of purpose, a goal of what we want to accomplish, but we must not lose sight of today and what we are doing.  Stay focused on the current moment while keeping the dream of what you want to accomplish in your mind.  We must enjoy the creative journey because the achievement fades quickly.  When the first novel is written, you need a new goal, a new creative journey.  When the painting is finished, we need to start another.  When the play is over or the film finished, we must find another part to play.  Are you enjoying today or are you dreaming of tomorrow?

Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist

"Don't give in to your fears.  If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart."

— Paulo Coelho

Brazilian Novelist

1947 -

Fear causes us to lose touch with ourselves.  When we let fear win, our art will not reflect our heart.  Although fear is a natural part of being human, we need to stand strong and not let fear dominate us.  Listen to your heart and it will teach you how to conquer your fears.

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.

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?  

Albert Camus

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."

— Albert Camus

French Novelist

1913 - 1960

My wife and I were sitting on the back porch today enjoying the autumn morning.  Autumn is my favorite month.  If I had to rank the seasons from most favorite to least, here is my ranking:  Autumn, Spring, Winter, Summer.  What is your favorite season?  As artists, writers and creative leaders, we are affected by the seasons.  I studied and wrote exclusively haiku for seven years and the key to understanding haiku lies in the seasons.   Many of us have lost touch with the seasons.  We live in heated and air-conditioned buildings where the environment is controlled.  The further we get from the farms and the fields, the more we lose touch with the individual nature of each season.  I like winter because it cleans the cobwebs out of my brain.  I love spring because of the renewal and rebirth.  Summer with its heat overwhelms me.  My brain melts once the temperature gets above 75 degrees.  Autumn, though, brings me back to myself and I reflect on the importance of life.

This quote from Camus, the French novelist, caught me by surprise this morning.  The phrase, "Every leaf is a flower," makes me see the world anew and I find it to be true.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

"Two important things are to have a genuine interest in people and to be kind to them.  Kindness, I've discovered, is everything in life."

— Isaac Bashevis Singer

Polish Novelist

1902 - 1991

Are you curious about people?  Are you interested in their stories?  Novelists and storytellers need to have a strong interest in people.  To tell a great story, a novelist has to understand people and their motives.  I think the same is true of a portrait artist?  In order to paint someone, an artist needs to see inside the person.  An artist is painting more than the surface.  An artist must paint the heart and soul of a person.  So again, my question:  Do you seek people out and listen to their stories?

The second part of this statement is even more important — being kind to others.  The world is in need of a lot of kindness today.  Kindness must start one person at a time.  I must first be kind before I can expect others to be kind.  Am I kind to those around me?  To family, friends and strangers on the street?  How should I demonstrate my kindness?  How do I show my caring?  Can you be kind without loving the person?  What is the demonstrable difference between love, caring and kindness?  Or are they cut from the same cloth? 

George Elliot

"What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?"

— George Elliot

English novelist

1819 - 1880

When it comes time to knock on those pearly gates and you look back across your life, what are you going to remember?  For most of us, it will be the people we've known and had some relationship with.  Will you have left this world a better place?  Will you have left the lives of those you love better?  Creative people, whether writers, painters or actors, often are known for their art, not their relationships.  I recently was reminded of this by the Jackson Pollock movie.  In his relationships with people, Pollock was a disaster.  I believe that an artist can be both creative and emotionally stable, but it takes working on relationships as much as we work on perfecting our art.

Rainer Maria Rilke

"This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love; the more they give, the more they possess."

— Rainer Maria Rilke

Austrian Poet

1875 - 1926

The creative journey is about love.  We must be passionate about what we do.  If you don't love painting or writing or playing music, you won't do the work necessary to overcome the obstacles you face.  Painting a picture, writing a novel or composing music requires a lot of solitary time.  You have to love what you do and want to do it more than anything else in the world.  The more you give to your art, the more you will receive in return.

Pam Shaw

"If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you'll find you've done it."

— Pam Shaw

When I graduated from college, I wanted to be a writer.  It took me four years to find employment as a writer.  My first job was writing policy and procedural manuals for a nursing home company.  I was very frustrated in those early years because I could only spend an hour or so every day writing poetry.  I wanted to be a full time writer of novels and poetry.  When I turned fifty, I realized that I had been writing my whole life and that I was a writer.  I may not be rich or famous or able to spend all day writing, but I still had written thousands of poems.  I believe that in the end we all end up doing what we are supposed to do.  At 61 I have spent 35 years working in health care and I know in my heart that is where I am supposed to be.  Yes, I am a writer.  I am a speaker.  And I touch people's lives.  So my advice to others is not to worry if you are not doing what you think you should be doing.  In the end we all do what we should do.  Pam Shaw, the author of the quote, was a school teacher before she became a top salesperson at Mary Kay Cosmetics.  I would change the quote to read:  Whether you are doing what you think you want or not, you are doing what you are supposed to be doing.

Henri Matisse

"One gets into a state of creativity by conscious work."

— Henri Matisse

French Artist

1869 - 1954

I have heard many want-to-be writers and artists say they are waiting for the creative inspiration.  They can only write or draw when they are inspired.  Unfortunately, that is not the real world.  If we wait for our muse to come, she may never arrive.  The key to finding your inspiration and creativity is to work every day.  Maybe it is for a half hour or an hour, but one must work.  And you might feel that what you did was terrible.  But let it sit and come back to it later and you will see it in a different light.  Creativity is a process.  To produce great work, one must produce junk.

Henri Matisse

"The character of a face in a drawing depends not upon its various proportions, but upon a spiritual light which it reflects."

— Henri Matisse

French Artists

1869 - 1954

Like an artist or a novelist, we all need to see beyond the surface characteristics of the human face.  We need to see the individual person who lives within.  We have been taught not to judge a book by its cover, yet how many times do we still do it.  Inside every person, beyond the hair and the clothes, is something very special.  Sometimes it takes work to find that person because the person has hid himself behind so many masks that he does not even know who he is.  And the same can be said of ourselves.  How many masks would you have to take off before the light within you would shine through?