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Failure is learned

The first thought that comes to mind after reading your latest offering is "Failure is
Changing Colors
original photograph a learned behavior," just like prejudice. It must be taught, it is not an inherent trait. As far as the "crime of aiming too low" (as stated in Jimmy's mother's poem), again the height of our aim is an external aberration. What we feel inside is the most telling aspect of who we are. The only real crime is that we have learned to compare ourselves to others rather than appreciate first and foremost who we are.

Enthusiasm in all areas

What I admire about Mr. Pattison and a number of other "successful" people is that no
John Ferrie
Photo by Jock McDonald matter what they are doing, they do it with enthusiasm. I have applied that enthusiasm to my own career. While I have not always been able to make my living as an artist, I subsidize my income by working as a waiter. While the work can be challenging at times and at others rewarding, I always maintain an enthusiasm for everything I do. While some artists save their enthusiasm for the moment they deem "success," I show enthusiasm for everything I do. There can never be failure while I am doing that!

Failure needed

Embracing failure was the best thing I've ever done. It's only by taking risks that
Lillebet's Garden
104 square inch quilt designed
to teach intermediate piecing
and applique skills we grow and learn. While I always strive to do the very best that I can on any given day, I consider every quilt that I make as simply practice for the next. As a quilting teacher I am amused by the attitude by some students that they must succeed on the first try. How will they ever know the rich pleasure that comes from mastering a new skill, finally, after days, weeks, years of practice? So what if our failures use up a little fabric? The worst thing that will happen is I'll have to go buy some more. Accepting failure as part of the process frees us to explore new techniques, materials and styles. How will we ever know what we could do if we only do what we know we can do? Today's failure is tomorrow's starting point.

Failure transformed into success

Failure? Failure isn't failure if you do it right. One has the distinct obligation to
Crested Chameleon
PaperClay on Fiber Board
Fabric Paint, Markers,
Pearl Ex Medium
16 x 20 inches view this in its proper perspective. I lost my multimillion dollar company, went bankrupt, and had trouble finding a job. That job, I discovered, was to pull something out of me that had been hibernating for a very long time. I started going to my easel and my mind moved into the possibilities. I created something very different. Figuring out how to resolve feelings of "failure" transformed into my definition of success – doing things a different way, believing, and climbing into that rocket that aims high to shoot me toward my own stars.

Create your own revolution

Isn't it odd that the business sector can be so much more creative about their work than
Grey Male Study
acrylic painting
20 x 20 inches artists? We artists are always looking at each other's pricing, framing, work styles and career for cues, instead of inventing our own model. This can be changed, but not by looking at art world standards. The answer lies in re-inventing how artists can relate their work to the needs of the world. But true honesty is required, not the sentimental victim stance or ego hype that often shores up the artist in their daily life. Prices must be where buyers can cope with them and stop being a competition. We must stop looking at New York auction prices as relevant. Stop reading national magazines for clues to building our own careers. I liked this story because it points out how low most artists set their goals: each artist can, like Van Gogh, Giacometti or O'Keeffe, create their own revolution.

Stars above

Sacrifice for others could also be added to the above. Jimmy sacrificed to get where
The Promise of Rain
acrylic painting on panel
14 x 18 inches he is today. When I think of the noble standards humankind has from its great philosophers and good people like Jimmy, life gains an extra dimension. There's a slogan one of our local businesses use in its advertising: "In pursuit of excellence for over fifty years!" I've always wondered if they'll ever catch up to it--excellence is so elusive. But all I have to do is step outside on a clear, winter night and look up at those billions and billions and billions of stars in our infinite universe and excellence becomes immediately visible. "Not failure but low aim is crime." I could add my own to that: "Look outside the box."

May it never be said

Probably most individuals and artists alike have had a few moments like I was having
Jesus Painting this evening. I was overwhelmed by life, and its unending challenges, my ambitions and goals loftier than my achievements and time to get it all together to get there. Feelings of inadequacies were stopping me in my tracks. I was focusing on feeling like a failure even though I know deep down I'm not. I've had my share of failures and usually found ways to be positive and use each one as a learning experience, a stepping stone to get me to the next level. (I loved that Henry Ford quote.) Thankfully I have a spouse that gives me a good listening ear, encouraging words, and a balanced perspective. This is invaluable! Just like your timely letters. I will keep reaching for the stars, may it never be said that my aim was too low.

Free rent needed

I am in Mexico, having had to move from my home of twenty two years due to the sale of
Lake Level Dropping
oil painting
60 x 39 inches the property. I decided that if I had to leave, then I would seek a better situation than I had: A large house on an expansive ranch, free of rent, far from neighbors but within easy reach of the capital of Texas, Austin. My druthers is an hacienda in Mexico, conforming to the other criteria, rent free, etc. I have been told repeatedly that such a thing is virtually impossible and I will admit to some doubts myself, but to settle for less doesn't make sense. So I press on. I believe that most artists simply want a place where they can work without the headaches of earning a wage.

Many put art on the back burner

I see so many artists and art related businesses i.e. galleries, frame shops/galleries
Landing II
acrylic painting
16 x 20 inches etc. try to get things going and fall short of their goals and dreams and quit. I see so many artists' paintings get painted over and over because they gave up on the original painting and started again. It seems to me that most artists have set their expectations really high in the beginning, then reality sets in. Their art career didn't take off right from the start, then self-doubt sets in. Their friends and families start questioning their worth, whether they need to get a real job or not. You lose support from them over a short period of time. Then you hear from the art community that you are not a true artist unless you make a total living from your art. You feel like a failure, most decide to find a job, maybe something related to the arts, maybe just a factory job. A lot of artists put their art on the back burner for a lifetime in many cases.

Do not waste your life

As I stood over the casket of my younger brother, stunned by grief and mired in my own
abstract
original painting personal funk of late, I looked at his face, and spoke to him with these words: "I know you were robbed of the rest of your life… I, in turn, will not waste the rest of mine." I'm guessing here, but I think we're a chosen lot, to be given the passion and ability to create art as though it were done through our hands, by the higher power. Conversely, I also think that we are expected to deliver a day earlier than we promised, and could we take 20% less for that piece? Some days I wonder if God created gallery owners in his own image, then decided he might have gone overboard, and created all the rest of us!

Give some thought to giving the gift of the twice weekly letter. Andrew has set up a special place for this. You can send the letters to one special person or to as many friends as you wish. We will send these new people a card to inform them of your personal gift--and your good wishes. "The best things in life are free."