Category: creating

Categories
Artists creating motivation

What is it for?

Why am I taking voice lessons if I’m not a singer?

Why am I taking ballet classes every week if I’m not a ballet dancer?

Why did I study high level math if I’m not an engineer, physicist or astronaut?

If it gives fulfillment, is time well spent, connects me with others or more deeply with myself, gives a needed outlet or a needed place to hide, feels right or enhances other areas of life, that’s all that matters.

Likes, shares and comments are temporarily satisfying. The joy derived from doing things ‘just because’ stays with us so much longer.

Categories
Artists creating rejection

The Go-Tos

When I feel like I’m running out of time: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/23/arts/dance/alessandra-ferri-american-ballet-theater-romeo-juliet-kenneth-macmillan.html

When I need a reminder that success is very far from a straight line: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/movies/ethan-hawke-blaze-foley-first-reformed.html

For great music with a mix of esoteric, mainstream and in-between: https://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/eclectic24

When it’s time to work out: https://www.sweat.com/

Selected inspiring books I’ve loved reading: You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero & Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham

When I need something comfortable and predictable, for background while I work on other things: Gilmore Girls [substitute any show that you’ve seen all the episodes of that don’t make you think too hard]

Find what keeps you going every day.

Categories
Artists creating

Be simple

The most memorable pieces of art are those with one simple concept that is brought to vivid life.

No matter our differences, we feel the same emotions. Love, loss, joy, anger…

I remember a piece titled “What Was Left”, because at the end there was one dancer left on stage.

Members of a Dutch ballet company performed a duet about the painful, awkward, uncomfortable moments before the end of a relationship. She brushed against his body as they exited opposite sides of the stage. That was 14 years ago but it seems like yesterday.

In simplicity we find the relatable, and in the relatable we capture our audience.