Temporary Captivity Is Important

(p.91/p.92 Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon)

It's been awhile since I made my last blog post with spring break and all.

Re-reading chapter seven was a reminder of how Austin's words fascinate and inspire me. At one moment he'll stress how important it is to do one thing, and then on the next page talk about how equally important it is to do the opposite. It's almost paradoxical. But, as complicated humans we are, he's right in saying that we need both contradictory things in our lives. 

For example, this chapter was about learning how to be happy in solitude: making the most out of it, giving yourself time for it, etc. Then, he told us to get out of our comfortable little world “Your brain gets too comfortable in your everyday surroundings.” he states on page 94, and encourages us to take a trip. Go to the next town over, the next state over, the next country over. Get your mind in an unfamiliar space because it makes the world look new. In a creative aspect, that unleashes thoughts and ideas that you would never have imagined if you hadn't forced yourself into a new perspective.

On page 96, Kleon mentions that being around interesting people helps motivate creative thinking. I completely agree with that. The people I love most in the world also happen to be the most interesting. Artists and chefs, photographers, foreigners, musicians, stamp collectors, manga readers, hippies, theater nerds and movie lovers. The list goes on and on. They are the people that get me into new environments, the people that make me envious of their talents and make me want to try harder to become better than them. They are the people who force me to play catch-up and inspire my most creative ideas. 

Onto another topic, here is a review of Sharpie Art Workshop: Techniques and Ideas for Transforming Your World by Timothy Goodman. While the people featured were all pretty successful and rightfully featured (I even went so far as to do a little more research on a few of them) and the images eye-catching, I found the writing of book to read like big Sharpie ad. It wasn't compelling and didn't have any solid content. He goes through the colors available in each pen, defines what a post-it note is, lists the colors of those too and even references Wikipedia (unfortunately, I've been guilty of this). It was a book that had so much potential, but besides being pretty to look at, was a big disappointment for me.

That's all for this week. Thanks for reading.

— B

Do Good Work & Share It

This weeks chapter of Austin Kleon's Steal Like An Artist was all about doing work and sharing it with others. He starts by giving you advice to take advantage of where you're at in your life. Maybe you're still in college; take advantage of how much attention your work has for the time being and take what you can out of it. Maybe you're out of college and on your way to starting your career; take advantage of your obscurity. Use that time to create whatever the hell you want because there are no consequences. When you start asking yourself "How do I become known?" that's when you start sharing your work with the world. Post online; One-up the person doing the same thing; Keep searching for the thing no one is paying attention to and make it the next trend. 

All in all, do good work and share it.

I like a lot of the advice Kleon gives us. It gives me a newfound appreciation for being so unknown right now and also motivates me to keep sharing the good work that I do, no matter how nerve-wracking it can be.

Near the end of the chapter, he says that the Internet can be an incubator for ideas that aren't fully formed, and that's right after writing that people go to the Internet to find something to say. I think an interpretation of this could be: the Internet is a good place to go to find other people who are passionate about the same things as you, but it's also a place to find new things that you're passionate about. Everyday millions of new topics, images, videos, ideas, and news gets circulated for people to find. For you to find. So, in a way the Internet is the place to go to find the topics that you didn't even know you cared about yet and to expose us to ideas that we didn't know we were thinking about.

At some points, Kleon feels that having a public online presence can be a kick in the pants. By this he means that because of how websites and blogs are set-up, online visitors that go to your domain are always going to see your latest post first. In Kleon's words "You're only as good as your last post." which is true. If you aren't trying to one-up yourself every time, you run the risk of losing viewers. The truth is, if people don't find your page interesting, then it's not worth their time to scroll through your blog until they get to the interesting part. There's not enough time in the day and with today's fast, fast, fast approach to everything, people just don't have the attention span. But by pushing yourself a little harder than your previous effort, you get to improve just a little more.

To start sharing my work and thoughts that don't usually leave my head, I've started a new blog. You can find it here.

That's all for this week.

— B

One Day It'll All Make Sense

Chapter 5 of Austin Kleon's Steal Like An Artist, appropriately named "Side project and hobbies are important." is about just that: explaining that people, creative people especially, need time to do other things besides work. They need time to do nothing. Kleon mentions that he never goes to the dry cleaners for this reason, he finds the boring and repetitive action of ironing great for stimulating ideas. I can't help but agree with this practice.

Boring work can be incredibly helpful because more than likely people are going to be thinking about what they'd rather be doing.

The things I do when doing nothing usually consist of cleaning my room, unloading the dishwasher, cleaning the cat box, and other various house chores. Lucky for me, I have a lot of free time at my place of work, inspiration doesn't come easier when avoiding actual work. (I promise I'm a great employee.)

My many plants alive at the moment.

Another key point in this chapter, mentioned in the chapter title, is having a hobby. "Don't throw any of yourself away." Hobbies are a part of your identity. What else could be said about the things you actually want to pour your time into? It's the part of your day just for you. Where you don't have to worry about a deadline or the happiness of a client. You do it for you and everyone needs that. Not only does it regenerate your creativity, but it shines through in your work.

My hobbies are vast and I do it on purpose. I try to introduce myself to as much as I can. Some things stick and others don't but at least I can say I've tried it. Right now I love to paint abstract, cook, I do photography, I keep a minimum of six plants alive at a time, read and write, of course I play video games, I run (yeah, like the exercise), I like to fix things, and I love, love, love collecting. There's three major collections I've had for years now. Coffee Mugs. Sweaters. And notebooks/sketchbooks.

That's all for this week.

— B