Chuck Close

[Doug Randall]

Inspiration is for amateurs, so says artist Chuck Close in a video short about what he would say to his younger self. I tend to agree, its all about the work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxR3ELuZjLw

[JestersBaubles]

Thanks for the link. I found it interesting. It is somewhat in line with what I am reading at the moment, "Daring Greatly" by Brene Brown. The book is about living your life vulnerable, and along with that, one of the things she talks about is "showing up".

In my old age I've decided to start showing up (I decided that before reading the book, which is one of the things that drew me to reading it). All they can do is say "no". Of course, you have to do the work before you show up.

Dana

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt
"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

[Haydo]

What can I say?, other than to pick up my teeth and give it another go. Thank you both for showing me some light. peace, haydo

[alyssa oxley]

i like what he says. but i have to say, if inspiration is the thing that gets u to the studio to work, then it is working for u.

[Haydo]

Alysaa, It's all too often I allow other things get in the way of progressing with what I want to achieve. In twenty years time it will be me again looking back at all the valuable time that I allowed myself to let slip by not hooking in. There is plenty to do in the studio/workshop that does not require inspiration at the moment, just show up and get it done. peace, haydo

[Haydo]

Yet I am again allowing a distraction to intervene. However I have my son still tweaking a website so that I have full control on images in the gallery so that I can keep things interesting as new things are developed and I am still busy on time off at the moment to refine bread and butter pendants and process to get the results to meet my needs. I don't need to sell cheap,....do I?
I'm heading to Nauru as part of a construction team to build an asylum seeker processing centre. Got to be careful what you wish for I suppose, all I wanted was change. This place is so small and isolated that I can hardly beleive my luck. New potential Aussie's will be eventually moved out of tents into modular units.

This hiccup I'll take hands up. peace, haydo

[Babette (Shawn)]

“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
― Jack London

[Studiodunn]

I have been mulling over this post for a while now in my mind. Perhaps I am lead by "emotions" or perhaps you could say, I'm a "glass collector" at heart...If I had more funds, I would invest in Glass Art and surround myself with more of it. My first piece would be a Toots Zynsky and I would go backwards alphabetically from there. I almost fainted when I saw the $250,000 Littleton masterpiece at SOFA Chicago. Instead, I collect glass from garage sales and resale shops and make recycled Glass totems and put them in my garden...lol I'm inspired by glass in all its splendid forms, whether I can afford it or not...LOL How can one NOT be turned on seeing others creative work and bring that inspiration to their own work? The time I spend going from museum to museum, or book to book, website to website "being inspired" is not wasted time.

[katesaunders]

Great stuff, thanks for posting it.
I've loved Chuck Close for years but never knew about the face blindness thing. Fascinating!

[Tom Fuhrman]

definitely a fan of "showing up" and 'being there". if you're not "there" nothing can happen. Inspiration and karma can come when you "extend" yourself.

[Cynthia O]

Inspiration is for amateurs, so says artist Chuck Close in a video short about what he would say to his younger self. I tend to agree, its all about the work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxR3ELuZjLw

I'm not sure I get "inspiration is for amateurs", but I get the gist from the rest of his story. In a similar vein, Anne Lamott has written this wonderful book titled "Bird by Bird" and there's a chapter about "shitty first drafts" It's all about the work ethic of the creative process, and that you have to work hours upon hours, just to find that one brilliant sentence, or even just the right word, and that it takes daily practice to get where you are trying to go.

I adore Anne Lamott. I adore Chuck Close. Both of them share a quality that I admire, and that is their honesty (lack of artifice and presence of humility) of their work and willingness to say what they are trying to say without trying to be something more than simply human. ...you've got to be willing to fall flat on your face if you want to learn how to walk and then run, and they do it in such a way to make me feel that there is hope.

Thanks for sharing the clip. I've always admired Chuck Close and his work.