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Van Gogh's Letter

3 February 2012 - 12:00am — creativevoyage
“When Van Gogh was a young man in his early twenties, he was in London studying to be a clergyman. He had no thought of being an artist at all. he sat in his cheap little room writing a letter to his younger brother in Holland, whom he loved very much. He looked out his window at a watery twilight, a thin lampost, a star, and he said in his letter something like this: "it is so beautiful I must show you how it looks." And then on his cheap ruled note paper, he made the most beautiful, tender, little drawing of it.

When I read this letter of Van Gogh's it comforted me very much and seemed to throw a clear light on the whole road of Art. Before, I thought that to produce a work of painting or literature, you scowled and thought long and ponderously and weighed everything solemnly and learned everything that all artists had ever done aforetime, and what their influences and schools were, and you were extremely careful about *design* and *balance* and getting *interesting planes* into your painting, and avoided, with the most astringent severity, showing the faintest *acedemical* tendency, and were strictly modern. And so on and so on.

But the moment I read Van Gogh's letter I knew what art was, and the creative impulse. It is a feeling of love and enthusiasm for something, and in a direct, simple, passionate and true way, you try to show this beauty in things to others, by drawing it.

And Van Gogh's little drawing on the cheap note paper was a work of art because he loved the sky and the frail lamppost against it so seriously that he made the drawing with the most exquisite conscientiousness and care. ”

Brenda Ueland, If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit

Growth is an erratic forward movement

1 February 2012 - 12:00am — creativevoyage
Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. Remember that and be very gentle with yourself
Julia Cameron
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For steady creative growth check out my new class based on Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way

Artist's Way - Sue Oliver

30 January 2012 - 12:00am — creativevoyage

These days, it seems that there is quite a bit of artistic support and encouragement on the web but before the web took off – we’re talking 10 to 15 years ago – one book stood out and that book was The Artist’s Way.

I bought it at a bookstore in Burlington, Vermont, where I lived.  (One downside about the web: it has eaten bookstores.)   At the time, I was also taking a drawing class and got into a conversation with the teacher about the book.  We gradually formed a creative cluster, along with two other people.  We’d get together and talk about a particular chapter, our art and where we were going with our creativity. 

In 1997 I moved to Chicago and was fortunate to go to a workshop by Julia, at which I met two other women.  With them, I joined my second creative cluster.  Every month we’d meet at a cafe and do the same: talk about the book and converse about how we were getting along with our morning pages, how many artist’s dates we went on.  One of these women became an accomplished playwright; the other, a published author.

I probably worked with The Artist’s Way for a good ten years and by far the most wonderful thing I got from it was the creative clusters, which was Julia’s brainchild.  From these groups came steadfast friends to whom I am still close.  I never bonded with the morning pages; I couldn’t get up early enough and never felt comfortable doing them.  However, artist’s dates were easy and a delight to do! 

I probably don’t know how much I am indebted to The Artist’s Way.  Certainly it championed my creativity.  Undoubtedly I have benefited from its unwavering belief in the importance of artistic expression.  I think it created a foundation from which I always went back to my art.  Sometimes I would stop, be discouraged, or think ‘What the use’, but I always went back.  I think I have Julia to thank for that. 

Sue Oliver - Sue blogs at This Happy Room

never ask whether you can do something

27 January 2012 - 12:00am — creativevoyage
I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.

Julia Cameron

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I'm starting a new Artist's Way group based on Julia's Teachings

woop!

26 January 2012 - 12:00am — creativevoyage

OFF! I'm on a extended trip. Artist dates galore, brother's birthday, a spot of research in an archive I hope, exhibtion visiting. Will be checking email intermittently until the 5th Feb.