Tag: art

At last!

I have spent the last three hours searching for this freaking poem, going through scrapbooks and albums and journals and trying to find it online through the dimmest memories of certain words and phrases from it. Had the poem, in the book where I originally found it about twenty-six years ago, been titled “To Coleridge” instead of “To _________,” my search would have been made a lot easier.

Now that I’ve found it, I’m putting it here so at least the next time I want it, I’ll have a sensible place to look. Other than that, I have nothing to say about it, except this is one of my favorite poems of all time. Oh, and that if I could find that poem by Erica Jong that I barely remember, and my wooden lion pushpuppet from the fourth grade, and my friend Bobby, all the gears of my universe would be meshing properly.

To Coleridge
poem behind cut

Dreams unwind, love’s a state of mind

I figure a quote from Stevie Nicks’s “Rhiannon” is as good a title as any for a post about mysterious things. You’re going to hear more from Stevie in this post, which is a response to questions from David and Mark.

In fact, an exchange with Mark yesterday made me think of the Brancacci Chapel in Florence. I told him that it’s one of my favorite places to study and think about. That’s because some of the faces that the various artists (mostly Filippino Lippi) painted in the frescoes are familiar to me.
you can read if you want to

The best combination: art, friends, and coffee

Today’s coffee cup is actually Tim’s. He left it over here a couple of days ago, Tom washed it, and I grabbed it this morning because it’s big and I NEED COFFEE.

On one of Jim’s visits to Houston, we went to a jewelry exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts. Afterward, in the museum’s gift shop, Jim bought this cup for Tim.

Gaping Void

gapingvoid offers this list on “How to Be Creative.” If you want to see Hugh Macleod’s cartoons and read more about his thoughts on creativity, you can find that here. Entertaining and thought provoking. He releases his drawings to the Internet at no charge, and says if you want to repay him, you can buy a bottle of Stormhoek wine.

So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. Here are some tips that have worked for me over the years:

1. Ignore everybody.
2. The idea doesn’t have to be big. It just has to change the world.
3. Put the hours in.
4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being “discovered” by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.
5. You are responsible for your own experience.
6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
7. Keep your day job.
8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.
9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.
11. Don’t try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.
12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.
13. Never compare your inside with somebody else’s outside.
14. Dying young is overrated.
15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.
16. The world is changing.
17. Merit can be bought. Passion can’t.
18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.
19. Sing in your own voice.
20. The choice of media is irrelevant.
21. Selling out is harder than it looks.
22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.
23. Worrying about “Commercial vs. Artistic” is a complete waste of time.
24. Don’t worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.
25. You have to find your own schtick.
26. Write from the heart.
27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.
28. Power is never given. Power is taken.
29. Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually.
30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.
31. Remain frugal.

Edit: Those 31 bits of wisdom are from Hugh Macleod.

From back home

I was researching something for a book proposal the other night when I stumbled into a new place on Google and found the photography and paintings of Gene Black. He hails from my little corner of the world, North Alabama, and we’ve struck up a correspondence. I’m delighted, because I really fell hard for his art and have returned to the sites where I can see it several times over the past few days.

Tonight, I was looking at his painting, “Passages”:


c. Gene Black

and it made me think of my photo of the wonderful ceiling at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas:

Whether the artist was working in glass, as at the Bellagio, or acrylics, as Gene did, the colors are stunning, and I find them inspiring.

Lisa’s City

Years ago, my friend Lisa was commissioned to do a mural of the Houston skyline in a corporate building. Sadly, that building has since been renovated, and the mural is gone.

Before she began the mural, she did some rough paintings on canvas to work out her vision. I asked for one of those canvases and recently used it to paint what I titled “Lisa’s City.” Although the edges are somewhat cropped and lost in this photo, if you click on it and get the larger size, you can see the outlines of Lisa’s buildings from the original painting.

I sent her a photo of the work when it was in progress, and it made her happy. Which makes me happy. I’ve been somewhat creatively-impaired lately, so this (unplanned collaboration) was a good experience.