Sunday Funnies
Julia Cameron: How to Avoid Making Art (or Anything Else You Enjoy), YEAH, RIGHT!! Not at MY house this morning, or like, ever! Consequently, no artwork, no updates for you today. How about some funnies, though?
Here are some edited quotes from this cute little book pictured above by Julia Cameron, famed author of "The Artist's Way" tomes. I'm not crazy about her writings, but I found some of these little thoughts funny and pointed enough to be worthy of repeating here.
So, how do you actively avoid making art or anything else you enjoy? Among other brilliant (and oh-so-recognizable) ploys:
- by telling yourself you can only work in absolute quiet
- by going for the royal family's official portrait in your first year
- by throttling your joie-de-vivre every time it crows,
- by talking about it so you don't have to do it
- by considering the odds of selling your book/artwork/whatever you're making
- by demanding that what you do be absolutely original and totally brilliant
- by telling yourself your job prevents you from doing art and then working overtime to prove it
- by demanding fifteen free hours to create and ignoring the 15 minutes you've got
- by deciding you can't afford a drawing class, and buying new jeans to console yourself
- by telling yourself you don't want to be typecast, and turning down that acting job
Are you laughing or crying? What do you do to yourself to hold yourself back? Care to share and get it out of your system? Want to shine a light on one of these self-sabotaging schemes and bannish it from your life forever? No time like the present, my friends.
10 comments:
I love the new design.
Holding off? Procrastination? Nahhh! Not me! I have just a few priorities to take care of before I do things brilliantly:
-- cooking dinner? okay...but first, I really need to organize my spice rack, de-clutter the junk drawer, and peruse epicurious.com for the perfect recipe.
-- paying bills? calling the insurance company? Yeah right! I flunked math...so I am really terrible at this. It's beyond my control.
-- Pruning the trees? Raking the leaves? Why mess up Mother Nature's glorious beauty? ..My nails need attention right away.
--- Continuing writing my comment?? ...Oh no, I would be taking too much space here..Tee hee
Lovely post, Rima!
--
Hmmmm. Well what happens with me is as soon as I lay down my colours its time for lunch or dinner or cleaning or going out. Then there is no space and the kids want to paint when they see my stuff and the cats want to play with the brushes and ... well you get the idea. I need a studio!!!
Well, I'll agree with that...I could use a studio also, but then it might be too quiet and I might feel isolated so maybe I'd better stick to the kitchen table. I think my biggest procrastination is that I must get all my housework done first, then I can do art. By then I am too tired and so another day goes by.
p.s. Rima, I LOVE the new look. It is YOU!
Hi Rima,
The new look is great!!
Wonderful post!! Of course, (ha, ha, ha!!!) I don't (ya right!) see myself there ...
Lucky for me that I do digital art too .. sometime I HAVE to get back to painting with a brush ... but the computer won't let go long enough to pick it up ...
that should get added to the list .. chained to the computer!!
~ Diane Clancy
www.DianeClancy.com/blog
www.YourArtMarketing.com
Rima, funny post, I'm laughing. So many of these remarks ring true and Neda you hit the nail on the head. It's a constant battle. I always wonder why I want to flee from the thing I love doing most. What am I fearful of? looking, searching for distractions.
Rima,
Like the new blog design! Seems much cleaner.
I am a master procrastinator. I have been so my whole life. So all the typical reasons to put off what I really want to do (paying bills, taking care of the family, too tired, too much work, etc.) all apply. But I often find a certain fear at work that helps in the "I'll do it tomorrow" syndrome. That nagging voice that wonders if my work is "good enough", or "original enough" usually comes to play in my procrastination. It's often easier to put off until tomorrow, or act like I'm too busy than it is to face the fear and dare to create anyways. But maybe that's just me.
Mabrouk the new look.
I'm just too busy, aren't I? This job is keeping me from doing what I really want to be doing. lol
Although these days I can just think about the hassle of posting on my blog. ;)
I can't thank you enough, Patron Saint of Blogspot! :)
Manana complex and lazyness - too lazy to find way to add the little squigly on top of the first N.
Nice design.
I need a convertible Beamer with manual transmission and radar detector. And I need Boise noise reduction headphones. When is Christmas, again?
Thanks you guys for visiting - I am guilty of all of the above too.
Bobbie, don't encourage hubby please! He's bad enough without your support!
Diane, you make me laugh! BTW, I want to write about your post on HeArt, and Sue's post too tomorrow
My artful friend, I've been thinking about you and your wonderful blog - and I LOOOOOOVE your apple entry (no, I haven't forgotten, it's just a lot of programming, and I am sloooow)
Brian! no it's not just you - I think we all recognize ourselves in what you said - like John's manana syndrome (n with ñ )
Mazen, thanks for the thanks - anytime - there will be a few posts for you here too - BTW, love the cartoon/graphic novel snippets you're giving us
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