men occasionally stumble

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth,
but most of them pick themselves up
and hurry off as if nothing had happened."
--Winston Churchill

I ran across this quote while surfing the InterWeb today. It's a great quote. But something about it reminds me of a "The Far Side" cartoon. Is it just me?

"Everything in life is designed to wound me with the realization of the world's insufficiency, until I become so detached that I will be able to find God alone in everything. Only then can all things bring me joy."
--Thomas Merton

art is about the art

Sometimes it's okay to create something because you like it - that's all - you just like it. There is no deeper meaning, no heartfelt emotional or philosophical underpinnings; none of that. You just like it. And that's perfectly okay.

I've heard it said that some artwork is harder to view than other artwork, and I guess I agree with that. I can see that in movies for instance. There are some movies, though violent and perhaps bloody [i.e. hard to view], that still manage to draw me in as a viewer because of the craftmanship of the art . . . be it the scripting, the acting or directing. Whatever that something is, I perceive those movies as art. And that's what it is: perception. Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

Art is about the art. And in creating that art, an artist puts some of himself there on the canvas. And that part is not necessarily a logical process. Sometimes it just happens.

"Any artist should be grateful for a naive grace which puts him beyond the need to reason elaborately." - Saul Bellow

Between Inspiration

Inspiration - definition 1a: "Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity." *

This is the definition I normally use when making such statements as: I've got no inspiration, I lack any inspiration, or I ain't got no more inspiration. Today I'm doing a lot of busy work, avoiding the reality that I am uninspired, unmotivated to do anything painting related. That said, I've learned not to let this bother me too much; there are plenty of other things that need to be done around here, and a person can't be inspired all the time. This is the theory I'm going with anyway, and I have some thoughts to back this theory.

First, if a person is always inspired, is that person inspired or is that just the norm? Hmmm. Second, inspiration comes out of those times when we're uninspired; downtime is the ground crew that maintains the launchpad . . . and inspiration is the rocket preparing to launch, of course. ["cringe" what a horrible analogy] Finally, looking at definition 6:

Inspiration - definition 6. "The act of drawing in, especially the inhalation of air into the lungs." *

Inspiration is dependant upon expiration, and vice versa. In and out. Going up and going down. Inspiration and . . . expiration [uninspiration?]. Linguistics aside, there is much to be said for balance. Balance is good. [too much of a good thing, and all that] We need to be inspired and motivated, yes, but we also need times of reflection, times for sharpening the saw, times for rest.

Ecclesiastes 3 TNIV

¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

* The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved March 17 2006

Merton

"Everything in life is designed to wound me with the realization of the world's insufficiency, until I become so detached that I will be able to find God alone in everything. Only then can all things bring me joy."
--Thomas Merton