My Notes:

Disconnect for Creativity:
“You must retreat from the world long enough to think, practice your art, and bring forth something worth sharing with others.” AK

“It’s hard to find anything to say about life without immersing yourself in the world, but it’s also just about impossible to figure out what it might be, or how to best say it, without getting the hell out of it again.” Tim Kreider

“The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds and makes of all political and social life a mass illness. Without this housecleaning, we cannot begin to see. Unless we see, we cannot think.” Thomas Merton

“Keep your eye on your inner world and keep away from ads and idiots and movie stars.” Dorothea Tanning

“The phone gives us a lot but it takes away three key elements of discovery: loneliness, uncertainty, and boredom. Those have always been where creative ideas come from.” Lynda Barry

Lower the Stakes:
“The great artists are able to retain this sense of playfulness throughout their careers. Art and the artists both suffer most when the artist gets too heavy, too focused on results.” AK

This is similar to Derek Sivers idea of making your art your main relaxing activity.

Make gifts for people: “Don’t make stuff because you want to make money—it will never make you enough money. And don’t make stuff because you want to get famous—because you will never feel famous enough. Make gifts for people—and work hard on making those gifts in the hope that people will notice and like the gifts.” John Greene

Focus your attention on reaching and connecting with one person. This is the ultimate goal.

Do things that make you and the people around you come alive. If your art is making you and those around you miserable, stop. “The world doesn’t necessarily need more great artists. It needs more decent human beings.” AK

Reflection:
If you’re trying to determine what you’ve been trying to say, read through your old journals or work. Distill the themes. This will give you insight into what you’re trying to say and what you should do next.

Creativity has seasons. You’re not a robot. Allow yourself to live and embrace the influences of each season.

Steal Like an Artist – by Austin Kleon
Date read: 5/27/19. Recommendation: 9/10.

Short read on creativity and the importance of your influences. It reminded me of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. Kleon discusses the creative struggle, where to find inspiration, and how to leverage influences. Anyone can imitate style on a surface level and copy what’s been done. But the most talented artists take it one step further. They steal the thinking behind the style–the mindset of their influences–to emulate and create something of their own. Great reference for smart creatives who want to hone their craft and build the endurance to play the long game.

See my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.

My Notes:

Your Influences Matter:

“The only art I’ll ever study is stuff that I can steal from.” David Bowie
“We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” Goethe
Start with a single thinker you love. Find and study three people that influenced them. Begin to build branches of your own.
“It’s not the book you start with, it’s the book that book leads you to.” AK

Ignore Style, Look Deeper:

“Don’t just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don’t want to look like your heroes, your want to see like your heroes.”
Similar to quote from Marcus Aurelius: "Take a good hard look at people's ruling principle, especially of the wise, what they run away from and what they seek out."

Imitation:

Imitation = copying. Emulation = one step further, creating something that is your own.
“It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique.” Conan O’Brien
“Our failure to copy our heroes is where we discover where our own thing lives. That is how we evolve.” AK

Inspiration to Create:

Step 1) Wonder at something. Step 2) Invite others to wonder with you.
“Complain about the way other people make software by making software.” Andre Torres

Power of routine and systems:

“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” Gustave Flaubert
Mark art your main relaxing activity (Derek Sivers). A day job gives you financial freedom, human connection, and routine. Use it to your advantage.

Creativity is subtraction:

Limitless possibilities can be paralyzing, place constraints on yourself.
“What we respond to in any work of art is the artist’s struggle against his or her limitations.” Saul Steinberg
“It’s often what an artists choose to leave out that makes the art interesting.” AK

Keep Going – Austin Kleon

My Notes:

Steal Like an Artist – Austin Kleon

My Notes:

ajh.