David St. John

"There were times when depression, anxiety, whatever, would keep me from writing.  I still get depressed and anxious, but I just don't let it stop me.  I've learned to move it to one side if I want to work."

— David St. John

American Poet

1949 - 

Sometimes we let our emotional and mental states become excuses for why we are not working.  We tell ourselves that we are too tired, too agitated, too depressed, too unhappy, too nervous, too worried or too upset.  The work must continue no matter how we feel.  We must work through the emotion and the pain.  We must keep working and not let our feelings become a barrier.

Read More

Kathe Kollwitz

"I have never been able to carry out any work coolly.  On the contrary it is done, so to speak, with my own blood.  Anyone who looks at my works must be able to sense that."

— Kathe Kollwitz

German Artist

1867 - 1945

Do you know why many young people choose to write poetry even when they don't read it?  They have a need to express what they are feeling.  The same is true of older writers as well as artists of all ages.  The creation of a work of art is a form of emotional expression — sharing with the world how we feel about a subject.  What feelings are you attempting to express?  What emotion is exposing itself in and through your creative work?  For at its heart, creative work is about expressing emotions — even deeply buried and often unconscious emotion.  And that's the good news.  If there is emotion at the core of your creative work, it will touch the hearts of those who see it or read it and you will be successful.

Widows and Orphans
(1919)

Read More

Louise Bourgeois

"It is a great privilege to be able to work with, and I suppose work off, my feelings through sculpture."

— Louise Bourgeois

French Artist

1911 - 2010

 

I want to take this one step farther.  I believe that it is a privilege to be an artist.  What we do as writers, storytellers, painters, actors, sculptors and musicians is very special.  Most people are not willing to risk themselves or make themselves vulnerable as artists must if they are to be successful.  We must open ourselves up and reveal our innermost feelings if we are going to touch others with our creative work.  That does not mean that we have the answers.  In fact, many creative people live difficult painful lives and often emotionally harm the people they love.  If we are lucky, our creative work will heal our wounded spirits.  But if we don't heal our wounds, people will be confused by the multiple personalities within one body.  They will not understand how a mean-spirited drunk could write such lovely prose or paint such a beautiful picture.  For some of us, our creative work heals us and we are stronger for it.  For others, the creative work destroys them.  They give up their lives for their art.





Maman



Read More

Marilyn Chin

"Poetry is my passion.  It is my art.  It is my love, it is my first love, my love beyond all loves, beyond romantic love.  It's as necessary for me as breathing is necessary for me.  I can't live without it."

Marilyn Chin

Chinese-American Poet

1955 -

Are you passionate about your art?  What would happen if you could no longer create works of art?  Would a part of you die?  For me, my writing is a part of who I am.  And I agree with Chin that it is as important as breathing.  If I could no longer write, I would not be happy and a part of me would wither and die.  I need to feel the creative juices flowing through my body.  And hear my voice speaking to the universe.

Here is Marilyn Chin reading her poem, The Floral Apron.

Read More

Diego Rivera

Woman Grinding Maize
(1924)

"Looking back on my work today, I think the best I have done grew out of things deeply felt, the worst from a pride in mere talent."

— Diego Rivera

Mexican Artist

1886 - 1957

The old saying is that pride goeth before a fall.  And there is some truth to that statement.  There are two sides to pride — bad pride and good pride.  If we are vain and arrogant, pride is a negative and should be cast out of our lives.  But I believe there is a good side to pride.  You need to have pride in yourself and what you do.  A better word might be self-confidence, but I think pride works as well.  

But Rivera is right to say that art that is not based in feeling and only in technique and skill will never be as powerful or as great as art that is inspired by emotion.  When you deeply feel about what you are painting or writing, you will do a much better job.  If you have no feeling for your subject, you are simply going through the motions.  You are not connected to the subject so it doesn't matter  what you paint.  Technique is the only thing of importance to you.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

Paint what you are connected to.  Write about what matters to you, not what you think the publishers want.  Sing songs that touch your heart.  Have pride in the work you do.  Believe that what you do is important.

Read More

Duke Ellington

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues."

Duke Ellington

American Composer, Musician

1899 - 1974

Many of us waste energy complaining.  We need to learn to transform our frustrations, fears and failures into positive energy that inspires us to create great works of art.  Are you feeling down today, maybe even depressed?  Great.  Use that negative energy to create.  Write through the frustration.  Paint a picture with large dramatic brush strokes.  Are you angry and upset?  Transform that negative energy.  Splatter the canvas with paint.  Quickly write a poem in very large letters and don't rewrite it.  Read the poem aloud to the universe.  Is your heart broken and you can't stop crying?  Give yourself a hug and sing in a loud voice a country song about your broken heart and the mean person who broke it.  Be sure to sing off key.  Paint a picture of a heart in agony.  Dance wildly about the living room and do a belly laugh.

Emotions are a part of being human.  What most people don't realize is that they can control and change their emotions.  Don't wallow in self-pity, take charge of your life and choose to change your emotions.  Do something that gets you out of that rut.  Climb a mountain in your backyard.  Take photos of squirrels chasing each other in fun.  Go for a swim.  Listen to Duke Ellington.

Read More

Joan Miro

"I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music."

— Joan Miro

Spanish Artist

1893 - 1993

Hand Catching a Bird
(1968)

Our lives are touched with color whether we are artists or not.  We are attracted to color and repulsed by color.  We wake to color in the morning and some of us dream in color.  We love the color of flowers in spring and summer.  We love the color of leaves in autumn.  Our lives our filled with color.  We often buy our clothes based on color.  We paint the walls of our houses with color.  We choose the color of the car we buy.  Color is an important part of our lives.  Chefs use color to make the meal appealing.  Advertisers use color to convince us to buy things.

In a study of the colors blue and red, scientists at the University of British Columbia discovered that red makes us more cautious and attentive to details while blue makes us more creative and receptive to new ideas.  Experiments showed that with a red background people performed as much as 31 percent better on tasks like proofreading.  When blue was used, people were more open to new ideas and creative solutions.

What are your favorite colors?  Do some colors make you happy?  What colors make you sad? What colors excite you?  How does color shape your art?  What colors are you attracted to in a painting?  How does color shape your writing?  Do you use color as part of your description?  How does color affect your music?  

Red Sun

Read More

Oscar Wilde

"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not the sitter."

— Oscar Wilde

Irish Poet, Novelist, Playwright

1854 -1900

Writers, artists and poets reinvent themselves in their work.  When they create a character or paint a portrait, they are recreating a portion of themselves and their lives.  Yes, it may be a portrait of another person, but the artist leaves a piece of his soul in the painting.  The great artists and writers put themselves in their work.  

Remember that your emotions, your feelings are important to your success.  Reach deep within yourself and find the heart of your emotion.  Open yourself up to the world and find the words and images that convey your emotions in new and exciting ways.

See if you can identify the artists of these portraits of women.

Read More