Author: G. Steve Jordan

Is not all the summer akin to a paradise?

                                             – Thoreau

“The truth of a thing is in the feel of it, not in the think of it.”


                                                                                                    — Stanley Kubrick

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Nature has taken more care than the fondest parent for the education and refinement of her children. Consider the silent influence which flowers exert… When I walk in the woods, I am reminded that a wise purveyor has been there before me; my most delicate experience is typified there.

                                                                                                            ––Thoreau

Today's NY TIMES book review about the accomplished biographer Robert Caro quotes Philip Larkin to describes Caro's fierce tenacity to discover the full measure of each of his subjects:

Larkin observed that “someone will forever be surprising / A hunger in himself to be more serious.”

No doubt that sentiment is true for many artists who are compelled to pursue their craft even though they may not be able to describe why, exactly, they are so driven.

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A decade ago radio host Krista Tippett spoke with the late John O'Donohue, Irish poet and philosopher, about beauty:

Beauty isn’t all about just nice loveliness… Beauty is about more rounded, substantial becoming.

I think beauty, in that sense, is about an emerging fullness, a greater sense of grace and elegance, a deeper sense of depth, and also a kind of homecoming for the enriched memory of your unfolding life.

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One thread prevalent throughout this blog is artist's observations about how they're often not really sure where the creative impulse comes from or how, exactly, it's harnessed. Singer and performer Mitski sums it up nicely:

Every song i write feels like the last song I'll ever write, and the moment it's done I fully forget how I did any of it lol. if artists were fully honest in interviews half our answers to Qs about "process" would probably be "i don't know dude."

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Brian Koppelman, showrunner for the TV series "Billions", has thought a lot, and written a lot, about the creative process, providing a fascinating behind-the-scenes peek at how it's done.  He's refreshingly candid and shuns dogma at every opportunity which endeared him to me, a self-taught photographer.

Here's a bit of advice from a blog post of his about screenwriting:

But for someone who wants to be an artist, a creator, an architect of an original vision, the best book to read on screenwriting is no book on screenwriting. The best seminar, no seminar at all. 

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In a recent Op-Ed in the NY TIMES, Melissa Broder poignantly describes her search for meaning, for belonging.  Her search is not unlike the motivation of the artist who seeks to capture and express the essence of the moment:

Meditating in the church, its colossal, swooping arches lit by the fires of hundreds of red glass prayer candles — so many wishes and desires here on Earth — I realized that my sadness had not been romantic in essence, but concerned the ephemeral nature of all beauty. It’s sad that there’s nothing we as human beings can do to freeze a beautiful moment. It’s sad how many beautiful moments have come and gone.

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In keeping with last week's magic theme, here are some words of wisdom from "Billions" showrunner Brian Koppelman:

If you do any kind of creative work, there will be days you sit down to do it, and have the creeping feeling that the magic just isn't there. that the spark isn't. but if you do the work anyway, you might forget that there's no magic. and suddenly, the magic might show up.

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…you learn your craft as much as you can so that when the magic comes swimming down the river you have the net to catch it.

                                                                                                                    – Mitski

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