09/05/2005: "The things I've read and the things I've seen"

I feel total ambivalence for a book I'm reading called How to Become a Famous Artist and still Paint Pictures. I'm not used to reading a current title so unapologetically chauvinistic; the exclusively male pronouns and all the advice about how to deal with "the wife and kids", but it also has me stirred up.

"Take a weekend off...if possible, go somewhere you won't see people at all...ask yourself what you really want, whether you believe that you can achieve success and whether you're selfish enough to put yourself and your ambitions ahead of those who want something from you....the life of an artist isn't easy. There's no participation with the rest of the world. It's life on the outside looking in. But it's focused. A single, to hell with it all, mindedness that constitutes an artis't life and the singular drive behind it: his need to communicate what he feels and how he feels about the things he sees".

But I already spend nearly every weekend without seeing or talking to anyone! So last night I went to a film called You and Me and Everyone We Know which I thought was *perfect*: quiet, funny and so touching and beautiful...perfect! Afterwards a friend and I met up with some other university folks for drinks... life can't always be from the outside looking in.

When I got home my mind was bursting with images and thoughts about life...all the suffering, the beauty...Mr. Innis was right about one thing...my need to communicate how I feel about the things I see. Now, to clean some brushes...

Replies: 3 Comments

on Tuesday, September 6th, greg said

Movies can be good like that! Yay she's cleaning brushes! :)

Send me the book when yer done - I have some wife and kids I need to take the weekend away from, and exclude them in my artistic singlemindedness ! =D
...gawd I'll never be an artiste if that's what it takes.

The Brothers grimm was a fun flick! Terry Gilliam always is so rich visually.

Did you see Red Eye yet?

on Tuesday, September 6th, Elise said

No, I didn't make it to see Red Eye yet, but I will, I hear it's more Hichcock than Wes Craven, it should be good.

And yah, this book is getting strange but it did have one good piece of advice about developing a "critical eye" is to have a mirror behind you and check to see how you painting looks in the mirror from time to time to get a different perspective.

on Tuesday, September 6th, Elise said

Oh, and Terry Gilliam is one of my fav directors of all time!
:P