+New Year's resolutions
January 1, 2002
Dear Artist,
One year ago today I invited artists to send me their confidential New Year's
resolutions. several hundred did. I promised to copy the emails back to you today so that
you might review them, and I have. If you participated--thanks. I sincerely hope the
exercise was valuable. If you want to see this letter and some of your input from that
time please go to: Resolutions 2001
I learned a few things: Some artists don't believe in resolutions. Some artists
find that when resolutions are let out into the world, they automatically self-sabotage.
Some artists value the commitment. These are the fine-tuners among us. These folks believe
in progress. They know that life is a fluid art. They blame themselves when they fail.
They know they are their own best guru.
Using the methods of others together with my own, here's an effective way to turn
resolutions into action: Make it an event. Go reverently to some quiet or secret place: a
wood, a park bench, your car. Plan on taking at least an hour. Make a long list. Visualize
anything, everything; let your imagination soar. What's needed? What do you really
want? What's practical? Throw in some luck. Edit your notes on a second sheet and
chuck the redundant but not the impossible. Inhale the resolutions and then tuck them into
your pocket. Take a minute to build a small obos (three or more rocks piled on top
of one another). You can come back in 365 days to see if it's still standing.
Secrets are best, but begin right away to leak those resolutions that will affect
others. Here's mine: "This is the year I'll circumnavigate the world in one
of my vintage cars and paint a painting a day on the road."
Best regards,
Robert
PS: "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." (Oprah Winfrey)
Esoterica: My sketching trip is penciled into three campaigns with
air returns between. Vancouver, B.C., Canada to Nome, Alaska, USA. Anadyr, Siberia
to Le Havre, France. Halifax, Nova Scotia to Vancouver, B.C. Canada. It starts May 1,
2002. Advice is welcome.
The following are selected responses to the above and other letters. Thank you for
writing rgenn@saraphina.com
+Resolve to just be
This year I am trying for the less specific resolutions and more for
a way to just be. More courageous, open to all possibility, adventurous, to have clarity
of purpose, to find joy in everything. I will narrow it all down so that one or two words
will suffice to define the feeling I am looking for. I will keep that word or two in my
consciousness, meditate on it regularly then I'll watch and see what shows up. I have
found in the past that specific resolutions look great on Jan 1st. and then they fizzle
out. The diet, the exercise program, the taking up of this or the giving up of that.
Sometimes those resolutions require too damn much discipline, I get lazy, I forget.
Martine Gourbault gomargo@home.com
+Sensual resolve
I resolve to paint like I was making love to a man I love and hunger for with the
abandonment of sensual pleasure, like the scent of a David Austin rose, like a solitary
midnight dance by a fountain, a meal in Tuscany, a skinny-dip with a swarm of orange
dragonflies swarming my sun-baked brow, as if every stroke was filled with meaning and
free at the same time, inexplicably right, on that day, in that moment.
(Name withheld to avoid complications)
+Resolve to feel the satisfaction
I spent years in the sales trade. Salesmen, if they are well instructed and updated, are
used to experiencing the pep talks from well-meaning motivators. They have all the jargon
and sayings down pat. Some that ring true are particularly good at New Years. Many people
think they are above the need for resolutions, advice and guidance (even their own). We
all need help in accomplishing what we start out to do because even with self-starters, a
jump-start is needed. Consider this, a skier looking down the ski jump at his landing spot
still needs gravity to get down the hill. People who fail to plan, plan to fail. I have
great ideas and lots of ability but it sure is nice to make plans and then carry them out.
It not only ensures that things get done, it rewards you by giving a feeling of
satisfaction from having completed something previously planned.
Stewart Turcotte info@hambletongalleries.com
+Seven secrets
Last night, while rereading The Painter's Keys with the hope of ending a bout of
(unproductive) procrastination, I came to the "Seven Secrets." On a previous
reading, I had thought this hilarious, but not taken much notice of the Secrets. Last
night, they appeared to be just what I needed and so, though I rarely make resolutions, I
copied them out this morning in 16pt type and intend to see if reading them every day will
hypnotize me into doing better!
Pat Hart pathart@islandnet.com
(RG note) The "Seven Secrets" as explained in my book The
Painter's Keys are Strategy, Work, Set, Clock, Alone, Rejection and
Distribution. I also lean heavily and thankfully on Stephen Covey's
remarkable Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
+Fun piece
Regarding repairing a damaged painting, I have a still life that I painted about 6 years
ago. It was damaged at an art fair some time back and I have never repaired it. There is a
table with collard greens, a piece of pottery, and two lemons. When this painting fell
from its easel a 4 inch slice occurred in the center of the painting. I let it stay as it
is until recently. I took the painting from the wall in the dining room and put a thick
piece of Styrofoam on the wall behind the torn section. I then wrote a note that said
" I told you I didn't like damn collard greens", then I took a large butcher
knife and stuck it through the note and the slice of the painting and into the Styrofoam
behind the painting. What a fun piece this has become. Now everyone that comes in not only
sees it but walks up to it to see what the note says. I think we have to remember to have
fun with this art stuff.
Sherry Purvis, Kennesaw, Georgia USA dpurvis1@bellsouth.net
+Shipping art
I live in Canada. A gallery owner just north of NYC has asked me to send her some work
sometime soon. Where can I obtain the information I require regarding shipping works to
the USA that will be for sale. Also who should pay for the shipping? Is this something I
should pursue as it is such a long distance from Calgary? I searched the internet and
found the location quite satisfactory. Should my prices be the same as they are in Canada?
Lorna Dockstader, Calgary, Alberta, Canada docstadl@cadvision.com
(RG note) From Canada to the USA Purolator and UPS work well. They can take care of the
customs paperwork and will pick up at the door if you make the request. I have an account
and they take the anxiety out of the job. I believe in sending out prepaid. It's the
generally accepted norm for them to return prepaid. Prices on works of art should be
adjusted to be approximately the same as your home currency in all countries. Go for it.
+Traveling across Russia
Considering a round-the-world travel from Anadyr is necessary to notice, that travel from
Anadyr through all Far East is possible mainly with use an air and sea way. Railway and
automobile ways are absent in impassable bogs of Siberia to west and southwest from
Anadyr. Overland travel is possible in the south – from Vanino in Khabarovsk region.
Also the Russia is country of social contrasts, here is possible to meet very much good
and very bad people, attention therefore is required to give special personal, financial,
and technical safety. Travel to Europe from Far East is very expensive. Most rationally -
railway transportation from Khabarovsk territories. On automobile highways now is not safe
for the lonely travelers, frequently even the militia differs by nothing from the bad
people. The foreigner here can lose a lot of money and nobody protects him. Simply, it is
necessary to be Russian man either to know Russian or to have familiar in all cities,
where the traveler will pass. In the Russia frequently there are revolutions, putsches,
inflation and crises. Therefore, the traveler should have emergency system of external
material help and/or emergency plan of an exit from travel.
Yaroslaw Rozputnyak, Moscow, Russia tapestry-olgayaroslaw@mtu-net.ru
(PS) Do you know the Russian folk New Year is 14 January and Russian Christmas is 7
January?
+Flat
Your trip really interests me. What a good idea! Just Halifax
to Vancouver is quite a drive. Some parts, maybe all of Saskatchewan are really flat.
Josanne Van Hees jos@bluecrow.com
(RG note) Life can have its flat spots, but not landscape.
+One a day
A painting a day? You must never have to wash clothes, dishes, floors; cook, do bookwork,
entertain grandkids, nor entertain a spouse, or any of the other mundane enterprises that
consume time.
Ann Templeton, Ruidoso Downs, NM anntart@trailnet.com
+Universe supports all truths
I have to tell you that this quote, "Not all those who wander
are lost" sings to my heart. It always gives me great comfort when I come back to the
realization that my spirit is that of a wanderer. I believe if a wanderer can be true to
this then she/he no longer has to worry about being lost...the universe supports all
truths.
Radha/Linda Saccoccio, NYC wsstudio@email.msn.com
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are
powerful beyond our measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens
us."
(Nelson Mandela, via Marianne Williamson)
þ
Please feel free to comment on anyone's remarks. If you
add your email address right after your name at the end of your letter, we will include
it. If you wish to write incognito we will honor that too. All unused letters are
carefully archived for possible future use. We generally include ten or so letters in each
"clickback" so you can expect about the same amount of reading. Readers really
appreciate it when you tell us approximately where you are located. We edit most letters
for clarity and brevity. We are able to translate letters from most languages. Please
address your letters to rgenn@saraphina.com
You may be interested to know that artists from every state in
the USA, except Nevada, every province in Canada, except PEI, and at least 75 countries
worldwide have visited these pages in the last three days.
Thanks to all who continue to send in your confidential resolutions for the Year 2002.
These will be carefully archived and sent back to you on December 31, 2002. Thanks also to
the artists who wrote with circumnavigation advice—like this from Janet Morgan morgan@webspan.net : "What is your route between
Siberia and Le Havre? I could help you out with Kyrgzystan (had a show at the National
Museum of Art & have friends there) and with Uzbekistan." And Peggy Small m_small@sunshine.net whose husband Eric told her to
tell me to take lots of oil. (engine oil) And Noory Masliyah, noory@san.rr.com who asked if there might be a workshop
or two along the way. (Thinking about it Noory)
Some quotes
"If you don't know where you're going...all roads lead
there"
"The irrational is not necessarily unreasonable"
"All modern thought is permeated by the idea of thinking the unthinkable"
"The sad thing about artificial intelligence, is that it lacks artifice and therefore
intelligence"
(contributed by Terry Willox whambham@powersurfr.com
)
(RG note) The "Resource of Art Quotations" is at http://www.painterskeys.com/quotations.htm
It's the largest collection of art quotes anywhere--and growing all the time. The
four quotes above aren't in yet, but they will be if we find out who said them. We
are particularly looking at the present time for the valuable words of contemporary
artists and arts educators. Thanks for sending your quotes to rgenn@saraphina.com
Responses to the previous letter, "Repairing a damaged painting," are at http://www.painterskeys.com/clickbacks/damaged.htm
The twice-weekly letters are in Russian at http://painterskeys.narod.ru/
The twice-weekly letters are in French at http://www.painterskeys.com/fr/
If you think a friend or fellow artist may find value in any of
this please feel free to copy. This does not mean that they will automatically be
subscribed to the twice-weekly letter. They have to do it voluntarily at subscribe@saraphina.com
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