Art is Beautiful

Art is not about thinking something up. It is about the opposite-getting something down. The directions are important here.

If we are trying to think something up, we are straining to reach for something that’s just beyond our grasp, “up there, in the stratosphere, where art lives on high…”

When we get something down, there is no strain. We’re not doing; we’re getting. Someone or something else is doing the doing. Instead of reaching for inventions, we are engaged in listening.

So excited about new music coming your way this summer! Eeee. It’s sounding like as much fun as these guys are having:

It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.

“

Save us from ourselves,
Save us from the vengeance in our hearts
And the acid in our souls.

Save us from our desire to hurt as we have been hurt,
To punish as we have been punished,
To terrorize as we have been terrorized.

Give us the strength it takes
To listen rather than to judge,
To trust rather than to fear,
To try again and again
To make peace even when peace eludes us.

“

—	Joan Chittister

My repeat song for the week. Soulfulness.

CREATIVITY

Creativity is the basis of self-expression. Why are some people supposedly more creative than others, and why can’t others open themselves up enough to be able to express who they are?

Creation is the birth of something, and something cannot come from nothing. When someone creates something: a painting, a poem, a photograph, the creativity comes from an idea, from a feeling, from emotion, or from a combination of ideas, feelings and emotions that are somehow ‘reborn’ from all our experiences and perspectives.

Creativity is the desire to express ourselves. To formulate these expressions, we have to draw from our reservoir of experience, dreams, desires and experimentation and mix together what was, what is, and what could be… I don’t think you can learn it, it is rather something that evolves. Your perception of everything in your life fills up this reservoir.

Some people are drawn to create and express themselves, others are drawn to reflect, to analyze. But in the end, they all could be creative if they had the desire to explore the way in which they are integrated in the world of their experiences. Because creativity is really a rebirth, a true tone we feel for ourselves and for our world. Then our work becomes a real part of who we are. Maybe all this is a question of how deep we are willing to go…

by Peter Lindbergh
with Lily, New York, June 1996

You guys know I love my weenie dogs. Courtesy of my dear friend Taylor Stilson <3

We must actively search for our voice, and clear a path for it to emerge. It is uncovered, not manufactured. We may not even like what we discover at first, but by embracing it we will position ourselves to occupy the unique space for which we’re wired.

“

—	Todd Henry @ accidental creativity

Since when is Gretel a smokin hott woman dressed in a cat woman outfit with weapons??

Last I knew they were like 5 year old wood cutters or something…We’ve come a long way…