I’ve been reflecting on the nature of inspiration again. It was spurred by a quote of wisdom from some famous artist who said something like, “only jokers need inspiration, so get the heck to work.” Of course, that’s exactly what he said. (not exactly) I paraphrased too much. The quote was from Chuck Close and he said, “Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work.” I’ve been thinking about this and a few other things for a few days now.

The notion rings true for creative types, even though I think it’s distilled a little too far, as I’ll explain here. A friend pointed out one way to think about it is that waiting to create until inspiration strikes is a losing game and the idea is that if you wait, you’ll never create. I think that’s true, but on further reflection (after posting this, no less), I particularly like his reference to “amateurs.” I misunderstood him at first, as if he was insulting or faulting people who are inspired. I think what he really meant was literally an inexperienced artist, as an amateur.

To someone just starting out or at the beginning stages of their artistic endeavor, inspiration is what makes you want to create in the first place. Let’s not kid ourselves, simply making yourself busy in an effort to create Art, at this stage of experience, isn’t a substitute for that moment of brilliance when a vision of Truth and Beauty is manifested in your brain… if only you could show everyone else what you’ve just witnessed. People decide to become artists with these moments of inspiration, but they grow up to actually become artists with practice. I think creating without inspiration before you have developed the techniques to express yourself is just a good way to create a lot of shit work. Don’t be offended by that. It sounds like a bad thing because if it’s unfocused, uninspired work, it is a bad thing. But if you keep it up, it won’t be very long before you start getting better. Then, all of a sudden, it becomes a good thing to work and work, regardless of inspiration. The subtext of the quote is that after you’ve worked your way out of being an “amateur,” the quest for inspiration changes. So work hard, whether you have inspiration or not and you will work your way out of being an amateur. What it fails to mention is that you have to do it with focus and tenacity. There’s a specific TED talk about Grit and Perseverance which I enjoyed by Angela Lee Duckworth. My favorite part is around the 15min mark, so be patient.

As you grow in your skill level and achieve a certain level of confidence, you rely less and less on inspiration as a method of beginning or continuing to work. At some point, one becomes good enough at their craft that simply creating a routine of getting to work can take all the pressure and stress out of waiting for inspiration. At least you can be productive. And while working if inspiration strikes, you’re in the prone position to act on it. But only if you’re already an artist who is confident expressing yourself in your media of choice. And there’s another level beyond just waiting for inspiration and just working until you find it, but it may take upwards of 10,000 hours of practice and an open mind toward the practice of meditation.



Artists create themselves through intense, focused practice over a long period. Without that “sit down and get to work” attitude, you’ll never become good enough at your craft to express the brilliance of your inspiration. If you don’t have inspiration right now, but you used to, keep working until you find it. If you don’t make it your goal to get better, you’ll find yourself reverting to tricks and gimmicks rather than actually getting better at what you do. It’s a fool’s errand to try to create a masterpiece.



Trying to make something “great,” is a sure fire path to making crap work. You put all sorts of expectations on the end result which obscures you from even starting or at least trips you up along the way. Hard work is the only way to work up to creating something good, and to do that, you have to challenge yourself. You have to set goals, and you have to work at them until you overcome them. You have to try to do something you’ve never done before. Not something nobody’s done before… something YOU’VE never done before. Something you never thought was possible. Or maybe it’s something simple at the beginning like getting better at drawing noses. I had an art teacher that made the class draw a hundred noses. Guess who got good at drawing noses? That’s the key to finding your voice. And practice is the only way to get good enough at expressing yourself to actually speak in your voice. Yay, metaphors…



I am an artist who has been very productive. I believe I have found my voice. That doesn’t mean I always know what to say, but I know how I like to say things for the most part. I have created a lot of stuff. Some good stuff, a lot more not so good stuff. I have a lot of work online, but I have a lot more that nobody’s ever seen. So much so that I don’t remember making much of it and when I see it, I know I did it, but I don’t remember making it. I don’t remember being there when it was created. This makes me sound crazy, but I’ll explain.



I maintain a healthy (sometimes obsessive) work ethic, and I have spent decades practicing, experimenting and exploring the inner depths of my own mind as much as my methods and techniques. It sounds like I’m trying to prove myself, but it goes toward my point. Through this intense repetition and practice, I’ve trained my brain to enter that elusive creative zone. It’s the zone where you lose track of time and everything you do is part of the process of whatever it is you’re doing. Athletes, pilots, race car drivers, tight rope walkers and really anyone who needs intense focus to do what they do, know what I mean. I believe it’s a form of meditation. I stop being Jeff, the guy, and I start painting. I stop being an Artist, and I start drawing. To put it another way, I become the act of painting or drawing. I lose my sense of self and time becomes meaningless. And when you become the process, inspiration almost becomes a footnote, because it is free to come and go as you work. When you become the process, there’s no subject to gain or lose inspiration. It’s zen.



If you’ve never done it, it sounds like bullshit. I get that. If you have done it, you know what I’m talking about. All that is left is the creative process. I know this sounds like a bucket of pretentious shit, and I hate saying it for that reason. The last thing I need is someone explaining their Art. That’s the artwork’s job itself, not the artist’s. But this method is true, and the only way to develop that ability and train yourself to get “in the zone,” is to draw or paint a shit ton. No kidding. You just have to put in the hours and training and practice to become a master. Sadly, to some, in the end, you will have only made yourself better than you were. Nothing about any of that will guarantee you fame or fortune.



If your goal is to become famous, I can tell you how to do it. Come up with some different, weird new way of creating Art that nobody has ever though of or done, and make that your “thing.” Oh yeah, I heard about the guy who carves blah blah out of blah. Or the girl who sews blah blah into blah and coats it in Dick Blick. Or the kid who uses blah blah to blah. If you do that, you’ll be invited to be the second guest on talk shows, day and night, and have articles written about your “interesting take on Art.” When people see your art, they’ll think, “Oh, that’s neat. I wonder why she chose to express herself in that way. She must be a very creative person.” And they’ll be right about how creative you are, and you’ll be famous. And on the plus side, you really don’t need much inspiration to do this. A single good idea is enough for your whole career.



If your goal is to sell paintings, I can tell you how to do it. Infuse your work with references to pop culture and find ways to use popular copyrighted material in subtle ways that trigger that “I’ve seen that before” feeling of familiarity, and you’ll sell lots of paintings. Think along the lines of popular movies, tv shows, characters, and actors. If it’s got a big budget for marketing, that’s great. If it’s got a cult following, even better. If you can combine two or more pop culture references in the same piece, you’re golden. People like to support artists who make things which represent their favorite things. People like to buy things that reinforce their feeling of self. That’s how normal people express themselves. I don’t want to debate if it’s a good or a bad thing, but I think it’s accurate. People who like to buy art also like to be challenged… just enough. Not too much. Do this, and you will sell your work. Also use a shit ton of highly saturated rainbows and pretty faces of young girls or wrinkled faces of old men. People love rainbows and eyes… and rainbow eyes. And they absolutely adore puppies and kittens. What’s not to like about rainbow eyed puppy-kittens? If you throw a skull in there and a splash of what looks like paint thrown against a wall, I won’t hold it against you. Again, I have more good news for you. Inspiration isn’t really necessary to sell work, either. But you do have to be very productive and capable of working quickly. You’re going to be very busy.



That Marilyn Monroe portrait you’ve created by gluing buttons to a quilt does a few things in the mind of the viewer. First it reminds people of a celebrity who died young, and that’s sad. But also, she’s pretty, so it’s beautiful AND sad. Wow, you’ve triggered an emotional response with your Art. Good thing you’re the only person who glues buttons on quilts, otherwise nobody would have ever made that particular Artistic Statement. Not only that, now you can sell it for 20 grand to someone who just so happens to LOVE Marilyn Monroe because she’s a classic beauty and whose Mom used to quilt, and who always loved antique, vintage things… like buttons. It’s not rocket science. It’s marketing and design. It’s also not Art, unless you did it first, and we both know you didn’t. It’s a product. That is not a judgement on products. I’ve spent the majority of my adult life employed as graphic designer creating images with the express purpose of being sold or to promote something else to be sold. But I’ve never been paid to sit at a desk to just draw because I like to draw. I do that for fun.



I see a lot of derivative work get a lot of attention too. So that’s also a great way to go if your path is seeking fame and fortune. Copy someone who’s already popular because they did all the work of gathering your audience for you. Amp on their vibe. Steal their glory. You can be the next Andy Warhol, right? Yep. The second Andy Warhol was always my favorite, said nobody, ever. This is not an endorsement of these techniques, it’s a reminder that they are there. The path to fame and fortune diverge from the path of Art at the intersection of intention. What is your ultimate goal?



But I can’t stop other artists from finding inspiration wherever they want to find it and I wouldn’t want to do that. I’m not the Art police. I’m not the authority. I’m just another guy with an opinion. This is just my opinion. You can learn a lot by studying the masters. I spent a good deal of early work as an artist doing representational work from photographs. These were not photos which I took. I entered these works in art shows because I was proud of what I did, but I could never call it my own Art. It wasn’t my own vision or voice. It was someone else’s work and I had simply used it as practice to learn how to control my hand, and manipulate different media. I was still young and I was fine with that at the time, but I’m glad I chose to pursue my own path. I can say that if you don’t want to be a joke in the Art world, you have to do something original… like button quilts of celebrities. By the way, I Googled it and that one appears to be unused so feel free to use it. So, you want to know the answer to how to get rich and famous? Tricks and gimmicks: The shortcut to being original.



So what do you do if you want to do something original that isn’t a trick or a gimmick? What I’m saying isn’t anything new. It’s the same advice I got from all the artists and teachers I looked up to when I was a kid. Go sit down and work. The only way to get better is to practice, and do it with active focus. Set goals for yourself and work toward achieving them. Find a method to your madness and figure it out by introspective searching. Having a voice as an artist isn’t about quoting others, it’s about saying something so beautiful and true that nobody else could have said it better. How can you find something beautiful to say if you’ve never given it any thought? On top of that, not everything you say is going to be beautiful and true and by no means will everyone agree when it is.



What I’m trying to say is to do it for yourself and not for anyone else. Not for fame or money. Not for appreciation or respect. And definitely not for the result, itself. Do it because you love doing it and the inspiration will find you.



All my love, JeffJag - January 1st, 2013

