I’ve come to a realization in my “real off-line life”.
I don’t have enough contact with people in my own area that are active in the arts (however limited it is here in Midland, TX).
Well, that’s gonna have to change.
If you’re in the Permian Basin, or anywhere in West Texas really, and are involved in the arts in anyway, I’d love to take you to lunch or coffee. Just to talk about art and culture or whatever.
Use the contact page. It’ll be fun. As long as I’ve had my coffee!
Is there a creative “genius” inside of us or does this “genius” reside outside of our minds and bodies waiting for a special moment in time to act with or without our knowledge?
That’s a question that Elizabeth Gilbert puts to her audience at TED.
The idea of “having a genius” and not “being a genius” in the realm of creativity is something I’ve never looked at before.
As artists is it possible to throw away our narcissism and allow for the brilliance to come as it may?
I’m not talking about becoming lazy about our work, and neither is Elizabeth (insofar as I can tell) rather, I’m talking about pushing through those “blocks” that we stumble over as we work to create the things that we cannot keep ourselves from creating.
I’ve seen almost every TED talk and I found this one hit me more personally than any other I’ve seen. Truly the words and the feelings that Gilbert spoke resonated throughout the creative community.
I haven’t yet created my masterpiece. As I look through my work I see improvements in vision, application, technique, and presentation but they don’t improve at a steady rate. That is to say, that the ebbs and flow of learning and honing a craft can come with great frustrations along the way.
We see our progress but we also see our digress with eyes that would magnify our failures much more easily than they would magnify our success.
At times it’s almost easier to feel like a failure and give up than to struggle through this creative process and get more work done. But I can’t stop working. I’ve tried to “give up” and I sucked at it.
Without the outlet I become unpleasant. I lose my self.
When I ponder the idea that I can just create, I can just work, I can just move along at the pace that I need to and that “genius” will come and go at it’s leisure I get a sense of relief.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to just let the muse come and go, but I’m gonna try. For that, I thank Elizabeth Gilbert.
Friday I had the great pleasure of meeting up with up with Heather from h’art works in my ongoing effort of meeting local bloggers and artists.
We had lunch at Rosa’s Cafe in Midland, TX and talked lot’s about blogging, art, and other interesting happenings around the Internet. She is such a sweet and profound person as well as a very talented artist. I really enjoyed getting to meet her and chat about art happenings in the West Texas area especially because she is in Odessa and I actually don’t visit that town very often. That will have to change.
I’m really enjoying getting to know more of the West Texas bloggers and am contemplating putting together a once monthly meetup group after the holidays. As some bloggers reside in Midland while others are in Odessa I feel it would be beneficial to alternate meetup spots between the two cities.
In the meantime, I will continue to reach out individually to West Texas bloggers and try to find the time to get together for lunch, coffee, or drinks.
It’s good to get away from the computers every once and a while and get that human connection in real life situations.
