Posts from the ‘For Artists’ Category

Oct 21

A Change of Scenery: Rejuvenation

During vacation, I took a break from everything, which I do not practice often enough. What I noticed is that I really needed a break from my work and the usual routine — we were so ready for our vacation. I felt a bit drained and depleted, to be honest. I also noticed that the intentional break gave me space to think about other things that had been pushed to the back burner as well as time to reflect on the projects that I am currently working on. Most of all, I felt free. After taking this long break during vacation, I felt more rejuvenated and, upon our return, I have been able to dive into work with a new perspective. A change of scenery really does wonders. Therefore, I highly recommend taking intentional and frequent breaks to enrich your work and the creative process. (Please note that breaks do not have to be in the form of a vacation.) Also, I often find that a problem that I am working on in my work becomes more clear after I have stepped away, even for a short period of time, and I am then able to come back with a fresh perspective. A Change of Scenery = Rejuvenation.

Happy Wednesday!

Aug 31

The Key to Success: Grit

The people who are the most successful, according to Angela Lee Duckworth — possess grit: passion and perseverance for long-term goals, day in and day out, and working really hard to make your vision of your future a reality. To learn more, you can view Angela Lee Duckworth’s Ted Talk here, which is also shown below.

The most successful people are those who have failed again and again, but found a way to get up, learn, and improve. The lesson: grit pays off in the long run to achieving one’s goals and dreams.

When someone is successful, it often looks easy and it appears that the success happened over night to an outsider. However, in these instances, there are typically years of hard work, dedication, and perseverance despite setbacks and failures at the heels of one’s success. The grit occurs behind the scenes, and the grit is vital to one’s success. The lesson is not to give up despite setbacks and failures, even while navigating uncharted territory.

I began reading Rising Strong by Brene Brown this weekend. One of my favorites quotes from her new book states, “The truth is that falling hurts. The dare is to keep being brave and feel your way through it.”

Additionally, to learn more about grit and the unexpected gifts of failure in relation to children, see Jessica Lahey’s new book entitled, The Gifts of Failure.

Aug 12

Sparing One Hour A Day

Sometimes it feels like life gets in the way of what you really want to be doing. We get so caught up in maintaining things in our every day, that sometimes it makes it difficult to build your dream. Taking care of and maintaining work and life is important. But in especially busy times, it is easy for months to go by without being any closer to doing the work you are passionate about. So today, no matter how lengthy your to do list may be, just set aside one hour to work on the items that bring your closer to your dream. Even if it does not feel like you can spare an hour a day, you can. Take this hour a day and start doing the work to make your dream a reality — and one day at a time you can start to see progress…

Aug 11

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What Does Your Future Look Like In Five Years?

I was intrigued when my friend told me about a Ted Talk about drawing your dreams. In the Ted Talk, shown below, Pat Dobrowolski explains that your ideal future begins with a drawing. Dobrowolski’s theory is that once you draw your ideal reality, your brain finds a way to bring your ideal reality/dreams to fruition.

How does this work? You draw exactly what you want your future to look like, and then you color your drawing with vibrant colors. Then, your brain works away to help you make your vision a reality. Dobrowolski says, “see it, believe it, and then act on it.”

I am going to draw my ideal future, and hopefully, my brain makes some connections!

In addition to the above, Elizabeth Gilbert recently posted the quote, “If you don’t know where you want to be in 5 years…You are already there.” I found this quote profound. Similar to Dobrowolski theory, taking pen and color to paper, explained above, Gilbert states that your dreams only come to be by writing them down. Gilbert states, “Writing down your goals and dreams creates a disturbance in the universe — calls down the attention of your guiding spirits. Writing down your goals also causes a disturbance in your own soul — wakes you up, and makes you take notice of your own desires.”

Gilbert set forth the following questions for one to answer to help guide one to his/her dreams! So, take a moment and write down where you want to be in five years, in addition to drawing out your idea future! Be sure to be honest, brave, and ambitious!

I completed this exercise and it was really helpful, and these questions will also help you to draw your future!

1. Who do you want to be spending your time with (romantically, or otherwise) five years from now?

2. Where do you want to be living?

3. What do you want your health to look like?

4. What do you want your creativity to look like?

5. Where do you want to be working?

6. What do you want to have put behind you by then?

7. If you are dreaming of an escape plan, what might that escape plan look like?

8. How much money will it take to make that dream come true — REALLY?

9. What are you willing to give up, in order to have what you really want?

10. Do you honestly need all the things (and people) that you think you need, or might there be a smoother, simpler way?

11. And what steps can you imagine beginning to take right now…to transport you from HERE to THERE.

Either way, five years is going to pass; and you will either be standing exactly where you are right now, or you will be standing somewhere completely new.

Jul 22

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The Importance of Mornings

I love the mornings even though I was not always a proponent of the early mornings. However, for the past couple of years, I have been getting up early and going to bed much earlier in order to get roughly seven to eight hours of sleep a night during the week.

During the morning hours, I find that I am more alert, able to focus more easily, and everything just feels easier. So, if I need to tackle something that requires a lot of attention to detail and concentration, I will have a greater chance of being successful in the morning hours versus towards the end of the day, when I am more tired. It is always good to know your “peak hours” in order to set yourself up for success. I am really glad that I made the move to getting up early and going to bed a bit earlier. Even on the weekends we are now getting up earlier, which provides more time for us to enjoy the mornings together. I encourage you to take advantage of the early morning hours — where so much more can be accomplished and enjoyed!

Jul 7

Inspirational Photography Quotes

Since I love photography, below are some of my favorite photography quotes.

“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” –Dorothea Lange

“To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.” –Henri Cartier-Bresson

“The things that are close to you are the things you can photograph best.” –Sally Mann

“Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation, and execution.” –Ansel Adams

“All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.” –Richard Avedon

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever…it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” –Aaron Siskind

“Your photography is a record of your living, for anyone who really sees.” –Paul Strand

“It’s not when you press the shutter, but why you press the shutter.” –Mary Ellen Mark

“Photographing a cake can be art.” –Irving Penn

“The picture is like a prayer, an offering, and hopefully an opening through which to seek what we don’t know, or already know and should take seriously.” –Emmet Gowin

“In Photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.” –Alfred Stieglitz

“Photography to the amateur is recreation, to the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it may be.” –Edward Weston

“To me, photography is a major force in explaining man to man.” –Edward Steichen

“Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.” –Yousuf Karsh

“It has never been my object to record my dreams, just the determination to realize them.” –Man Ray

“Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.” –Imogen Cunningham

“Everything is a subject. Every subject has a rhythm. To feel it is the raison detre. The photograph is a fixed moment of such a raison detre, which lives on in itself.” –Andre Kertesz

“What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time.” –John Berger

“Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.” –Walker Evans

“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.” –Ansel Adams

“I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.” –Diane Arbus

Jun 26

Revisit: Word for the year — Flow

I figured since the year is nearly half over, it would be a good time to revisit my word for this year, “flow.” I highly recommend having a word, mantra, or theme for the year.

Flow defined: flow /flō/ verb 1. move along or out steadily and continuously in a current or stream.

This year I have been working to be open and flowing with what comes my way. I think I have been embracing this sentiment pretty well. I feel like I have been doing a pretty good job in general — keeping things flowing and not getting stuck. The word “flow” has been particularly useful in my photography project. I am making steady and incremental progress on my project, while refusing to let hiccups and unforeseen circumstances derail me. Through this all, I have learned that working on a large endeavor takes longer than initially anticipated, and you have to keep going and keep the faith. My hope is that the ‘photo gods’ help keep things flowing to help me finish a solid draft of this project. I will take any and all help I can get, if you know what I mean!

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

Jun 24

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Blogs That Fill Me Up

Today I thought I would share what I’ve been reading lately that fills me up with inspiration. I do not spend as much time as I used to reading blogs, for a variety of reasons including time and my desire to read more books. I want to read blogs that build and inspire; and contain authentic stories.

With those things in mind, here are five of my current favorites that you might already be reading or might be new to you:

1. Today Is Going to Be Awesome — Lisa Congdon: I especially like the personal artists essays, which are inspiring.

2. Moments of Being — Dani Shapiro: Shares thoughts about living a creative life, specifically being a writer.

3. Elizabeth Gilbert: Contains interesting posts and thoughts about living a fulfilled and creative life. I truly enjoy her posts.

4. Be More With Less: Contains interesting content about simplifying life and getting to the heart of the matter.

5. Gratefulness: Has interesting posts about finding gratefulness, in the smallest ways, along with sharing a daily, inspiring quote.

Jun 19

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Inspirational Stones

I love inspirational quotes and sayings. In fact, my fridge is covered in roughly 65 magnet quotes, give or take! On my desk, I have a bowl of stones that I have collected over the past couple of years from my travels, each engraved with a word(s). I find having them nearby inspiring, and I plan to continue to collect these types of stones! These stones sit next to my wish ball and daruma doll. I believe these all channel positive energy.

On another note, we are excited for Doug to come home this weekend from his travels! During Doug’s trip, due to service and connection issues, we were unable to speak on the phone and Face Time together. This has been the longest period of time that we were unable speak since we started dating, nearly eleven years ago! Thank goodness for email and texting! I know Doug is excited to see his fur girl, and we have missed him! Tomorrow we are going to dinner at one of our favorite Thai restaurants and, after dinner, we are going to see a play! And, most of all, Victory is ready to celebrate her Daddy for Father’s Day on Sunday! (We think being ‘puppy parents’ counts!)

(We truly hope that Victory is on the mend from her infection, which we have been battling for over a month. We should know for sure how she is doing in a couple of weeks when we complete a urinalysis after she finishes taking her current antibiotic.)

We hope that you have a great weekend and Happy Father’s Day!

Jun 17

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Start Now: What Will You Regret When You Are 80?

This week I started reading, The Power of Starting Something Stupid, by Richie Norton. I am about half way through this book, and it is a good read thus far. I thought that I would share an interesting insight, the Bezos Test: Will I regret it when I’m 80?

Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon. Bezos stated, “If you can project yourself out to age 80 and sort of think, ‘What will I think at that time?’ it gets you away from some of the daily pieces of confusion. You know, I left this Wall Street firm in the middle of the year. When you do that, you walk away from your annual bonus. That’s the kind of thing that in the short-term can confuse you, but if you think about the long-term, then you can really make good life decisions that you won’t regret later.”

Bezos did the “crazy thing” and became a legend and changed the world as we know it with his idea to start Amazon.

The Bezos Test: Will I Regret It When I’m 80?

The Bezos Test sets forth a set of questions to ask yourself, which leads you to the ideas that are most important to you, thereby outlining the ideas for you to focus on first.

Question 1: Do you have a pressing thought or idea that simply won’t go away?

Question 2: Looking at your list, what would you regret not doing?

Question 3: If you had only a short time to live, and you were required to rid yourself of all things from your list except for three or four, which three to four ideas would remain?

Question 4: If you had to prioritize these few things in order from most important to least important, which order would you choose?

“The common question that gets asked in business is, why? That’s a good question, but an equally valid question is, why not?” –Jeff Bezos

So what is your ‘crazy idea’ that you would be foolish not to start? The best time to embrace your ‘crazy idea’ is now.