art nurture
  • Home
    • about
    • kind words
    • contact
    • blog
  • Join Art School
  • my book
    • the simple guide bonuses
  • Work with Court
    • Book your FREE Creativity Call with Court
    • Join Art School
    • 1-on-1 Creativity Cultivation Sessions
    • 1-on-1 Visual Arts Mentorship
    • book club >
      • Log In to Book Club
  • FREE Creativity Call

The Dirty Work of Inspiration

8/14/2012

0 Comments

 
“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you're sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that's almost never the case.” 
― Chuck Close

Picture
I snapped this photo while waiting for my pizza at my local favorite, Standard Pizza.
I loved seeing this unique advertisement for someone sharing their abilities and gifts in their business of lawn care, gardening & landscaping. 

"Dirt is my Art."

Does it get any better than this? 

This person knows what they love, they have practiced it, they are good at it and they have chosen to go pro! Who knows how long they have been practicing this art to get to the point as to boldly, simply and beautifully proclaim the words, Dirt is my Art?! 


Today a friend shared the above quote with me from painter, Chuck Close. I couldn't believe how perfectly it fit with this picture. Not only is it possible for Dirt to be someone's Art, but the act of inspiration truly is found more in the act of getting down and dirty with your work than it is found waiting and wondering. You know the phrase, "Get your hands dirty"? I think it has a lot to do with this thought. It is most often in the doing that we learn, grow, develop.

You don't learn to read when you are child by thinking about how much you would like to learn to read. You practice. You read. You learn new words. You learn how the letters sound and work together to create new sounds. You read aloud. You read quietly. Your parents & teachers & babysitters & grandparents read to you. Then you read to them. You practice reading for years. Your resolve to learn in your mind, leads to actions to learn, along with a community of support through this process. The same as your art. 

Some of us have things like dyslexia that make reading more of a challenge early on and sometimes in our later years of life we need eyeglasses as our vision begins to decline, what was once easy becomes challenging again. So thus, we go through cycles. But we don't get anywhere when we just wonder or think about how we would like to do fill-in-the-blank. How silly would it be if we told ourselves, 'Nah, I'm not going to try to learn to read, after all, I'm going to get old one day and not be able to see to do it any more, so what is the point?' Would you really want to miss out on everything in between? The sweet stuff of the journey?

Things occur when you get to the dirty work, of simply doing the work. 

A magical thing often happens in this process.

Something becomes a joy to work on and with and thus feels like play. 

Over time, you get better... and then... you realize it is your Art. 

Whatever it is that your hands find joy in doing...

To others it may look like Dirt, but you know different. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Art Nurture Book 


    Get The Book! 

    Art Nurture: The Simple Guide to Cultivating your Creativity

    Get to know me


    Court McCracken,
    Creativity Cultivator

    Picture

    To receive more Art Nurture goodness, join the Art Nurture newsletter!

    * indicates required


    Kind Words

    "Court has a knack for supporting others in tuning into the artist within..." 
    -Rebecca Stares

    read more kind words

    Resources


    Court's Reading List


    Most Popular


    The Top 17 Reasons Why The World Needs You to be an Artist


    Want to get creative? Laugh a little bit more!


    Three Simple Ways to Live a Life of 
    Daily Inspiration


    Reason #1 Why the World Needs You 
    to be an Artist


    My 8 Step Process for Moving Through Creative Anxiety

Work with Court
My Book
Court's Reading List
Free
About Court & Art Nurture
"If preparing to work with Court you should know that you will be challenged to be your best self and you will be given tools for how to do so. 

You may also find yourself realizing dreams and vocations that may have been easier in the short term to keep hidden, but overall will allow you to embrace this creative part of yourself and live more fully."   -Faith Josephs 
Receive your FREE Art Nurture Audiobook here
  • Home
    • about
    • kind words
    • contact
    • blog
  • Join Art School
  • my book
    • the simple guide bonuses
  • Work with Court
    • Book your FREE Creativity Call with Court
    • Join Art School
    • 1-on-1 Creativity Cultivation Sessions
    • 1-on-1 Visual Arts Mentorship
    • book club >
      • Log In to Book Club
  • FREE Creativity Call