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Martha Graham's advice to fellow choreographer Agnes de Mille who, despite public success, was struggling to reconcile her feelings that she should try to exceed what she'd accomplished rather than being satisfied with her present achievements:

"…this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you."

[via]

Here's a telling observation from comedian Louis CK that has relevance to every creative endeavor:

When you thwart what’s real about you in order to keep creating content for financial need, you’re just not gonna make it. You’re not gonna keep going. You have your number. It’s very dangerous to be liked by more people than should like you. It’s bad for them, and it’s bad for you. There’s gonna be a shock down the road for them, or you’re gonna dilute yourself and take yourself to a place where you can’t live with who you are. I think that you make an honest account of who you are and you live with the results. The results will be appropriate to who you are… If you’re saying things just to piss people off, then I don’t know why do it. If you’re saying things just to please people, that’s a short-lived victory. But if you just say the things you believe, and the things you like to say, and that mean something to you — if you stay close to the gut — then everything will work itself out.

[via jkglei]

Came across this succinct advice which perfectly describes the motivation of most artists:

        Instructions for living a life:

        
Pay attention. 


        Be astonished. 


        Tell about it.

                         – Mary Oliver

[via]

Came across this provocative observation by philosopher José Ortega y Gasset.  In the case of the artist, this logically concludes with the creative tangible expression realized by that attention:

Tell me what you pay attention to and I will tell you who you are.

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

                                                     – Henry David Thoreau

An excerpt from a poem by Walt Whitman that perhaps describes those rare [for most of us] moments when we are most creative and in sync with everything around us:

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

Here's a recent spot-on blog post by marketing guru Seth Godin:

There are few illustrators who have a more recognizable look (and a longer productive career) than Milton Glaser.

Here's the thing: When he started out, he wasn't THE Milton Glaser. He was some guy hoping for work.

The rule, then, is that you can't give the client what he wants.

You have to give the client work that you want your name on. Work that's part of the arc.

Work that reflects your vision, your contribution and your hand.

That makes it really difficult at first. Almost impossible. But if you ignore this rule because the pressure is on, it will never get easier.

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

                                                                                 –– Edgar Degas

Following up on the last post about the habits we cultivate, nowhere is this more relevant than in the arts, or any creative endeavor.  Who was the first person to realize that the sound of a record player needle scratching back and forth against a record could act as a musical instrument?

It's supremely difficult for us to realize how set our perceptions have become until we break through them.  Here's a former forester describing one such experience:

Stopping to consider a tree that rose up straight then curved like a question mark, Mr. Wohlleben said …  it was the untrained perspective of visitors he took on forest tours years ago to which he owed much insight.
“For a forester, this tree is ugly, because it is crooked, which means you can’t get very much money for the wood,” he said. “It really surprised me, walking through the forest, when people called a tree like this one beautiful. They said, ‘My life hasn’t always run in a straight line, either.’ And I began to see things with new eyes.”

[thanks, NY TIMES]

Came across an excerpt from nature writer Henry David Thoreau I hadn't previously encountered.  This observation applies not only to day-to-day living, but also when one's focus in on an artistic or creative enterprise:

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."

[thanks, Mohonk Preserve]