Michele Cassou

"If you do not listen to your intuition, it will stop talking to you.  Your intuition is like a sensitive friend.  If you question it, censor it, judge it, it gets hurt and becomes silent."

— Michele Cassou

French Artist, Teacher

You have to train yourself to listen to your intuition because your rational mind is very strong and often discards your intuition immediately.  In fact, it sometimes happens so fast that what you think is your intuition is actually your second on third thought.  The rational mind can move very quickly to override intuition.  Train yourself to grab hold of your intuition and not let go.  Learn to trust your feelings and first thoughts.  

And in the beginning you will often misunderstand your intuition.  Be patient.  It is okay to make mistakes.  The problem is not that your intuition is wrong, but that your interpretation is not accurate.  Sometimes it will take years to perfect listening to your intuition.  Trust your heart.  

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Henry Miller

Self-Portrait
(1943)

"Paint what you like and die happy."

— Henry Miller

American Novelist, Painter

1891 - 1980

The message here is simple and direct:  do what you like.  Too often we don't do what we like.  Nor do we learn to like what we do.  And then people become unhappy with their lives and they spend their time complaining.  Don't let others dictate what is important for you.  

And I am not telling you to run away from your spouse and children and join an artist colony where you spend every day either painting or writing.  We all have responsibilities and we should not shirk them.  If you get married, you have made a commitment and you need to live up to it.  If you bring children into this world, you have a responsibility to raise, educate and care for them.  Doing what you love does not mean avoiding your responsibilities.  Doing what you love means finding 30 minutes or 60 minutes where you do what you want to do — where you do what you love to do.  Then you can die happy.

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Octavio Paz

"I don't believe that there are dangerous writers: the danger of certain books is not in the books themselves but in the passions of their readers."

Octavio Paz

Mexican Poet

1914 - 1998

Speakers are often evaluated and rated by their audiences.  While 90% of the audience may enjoy the presentation, there is often 10% who didn't like it.  Usually the problem does not lie with the speaker, but rather the audience member.  Either the person is angry at his boss who make him come or he is upset about something that is happening in his life.  

When people label books or paintings as dangerous, corrupt or incendiary, the problem lies not with the books or paintings.  The problem is in the passions of the audience member doing the labeling.  When a person is afraid of his own desires, he blames that which is outside himself instead of blaming himself.  Sometimes when someone condemns something too loudly, he is hiding his own desires.  

Don't let the negativity of others bring you down.  The problem rests with them, not with you.  Stand up for yourself and your creative work.  Believe in what you create.

Here is a poem by Octavio Paz.

Last Dawn

Your hair is lost in the forest,

your feet touching mine.

Asleep you are bigger than the night,

but your dream fits within this room.

How much we are who are so little!

Outside a taxi passes

with its load of ghosts.

The river that runs by

is always

running back.

Will tomorrow be another day?

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Eric Fischl

"If you worry about how good the art is, you're never going to make your own art."

— Eric Fischl

American Artist

1948 - 

For many of us we have a need to be perfect and  we punish ourselves when we don't live up to our expectations.  Some people go so far as to stop creating.  Their fear of not being perfect gets in their way and they give up.  If you create from your heart, stop worrying about technique and accept the fact that you will never be perfect.  And who says that you are a good judge of your own work.  There are many examples of creative leaders being remembered for some minor work that they dashed off in a very short time.  Do you really think that Charles Dickens thought that Christmas Carol would be his most famous, reproduced again and again in film and television?  Many times what the author loves does not sell well and is poorly received by the general public.  So don't worry about how good your art is.  Just paint, write and compose.  The public will do the rest.

Ten Breaths: Damage
(2007)

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Harry Chapin

"Music was his life; it was not his livelihood.  And it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good."

— Harry Chapin

American Songwriter, Musician

1942 - 1981

Album Cover

These words come from Mr. Tanner, a song by singer and songwriter, Harry Chapin.  In those brief moments of despair when I doubt whether it worthwhile to continue writing, these words bring comfort.  For some of us, our art is not meant to be our livelihood.  That does not make what we do any less important than those people who create professionally for money.  

Fame and success is fleeting.  How many one hit wonders are out there?  How many child movie stars fizzle and implode when they become adults?  How many writers disappear from the publishing world after their deaths and their books go out-of-print?  How many artists have one major show and disappear?

Harry Chapin is one of my favorite singers because he tells stories with his music.  I first heard of him when a high school friend of mine made a short movie based on his song, Sniper.  I played one of the victims of the sniper.  I had a chance to see Harry Chapin in concert in the late 1970's on the campus of the University of lllinois in Champaign-Urbana.  And I was sad when his life was cut short by an automobile accident in 1981.

Here is Harry Chapin singing Mr. Tanner.  Listen to what his wife says about where Harry got his ideas for his songs.  Listen to the words of song and don't let the naysayers and critics put you down.  You are gifted.

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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.

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Heinrich Heine

Painting of Heine
by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim

Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings."

— Heinrich Heine

German Poet

1797 - 1856

When a nation or society has no respect for its artists, writers and musicians, it is a nation in danger of losing its humanity.  I find it very sad that in this country where liberty is held in high esteem that there are people who choose to burn books.  When my daughter was in high school, she knew teenagers who participated in the burning of books with members of their church.  How ignorant these people must be.  Books are our connection to the world beyond our immediate home.  But it is not just in this country and it is not just books.  In 2001 when the Taliban were in power in Afghanistan, they destroyed two 1700 year-old Buddha statues carved in a cliff in the Hindu Kush mountains.  Other cultures have destroyed paintings.  And governments and societies have tried to control the type of art works that are created.  Both Hitler and Stalin restricted the type of art that could be created.

Artists, writers and musicians are one of the greatest treasures that a society has and yet people continue to treat them with contempt — telling them to get a real job.  In fact, the way we know about the past is through the artists, writers and the musicians.  We would know very little about ancient Rome or Greece if it were not for books and paintings.  Future societies will know us primarily through the writers and painters of today.  Our legacy is past down through our art.  

Here is a poem by Heinrich Heine.

WHY THE ROSES ARE SO PALE

by: Heinrich Heine (1799-1856)

 DEAREST, canst thou tell me why




The rose should be so pale?




And why the azure violet




Should wither in the vale?




 




And why the lark should in the cloud




So sorrowfully sing?




And why from loveliest balsam-buds




A scent of death should spring?




 




And why the sun upon the mead




So chillingly should frown?




And why the earth should, like a grave,




Be moldering and brown?




 




And why it is that I myself




So languishing should be?




And why it is, my heart of hearts,




That thou forsakest me?

This English translation of "Why the Roses are so Pale" was composed by Richard Garnett (1835-1906).

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