Creativity

The Struggle

Garth Beyer

Ralph Steadman

Please tell me I’m not the only one that has had an incredible idea for a piece of art (painting, crochet, whatever) but when going to produce it, it turns out like garbage. And not the progressive kind of garbage where you do it enough times until it turns out the way you want, but the kind of garbage that not even a hobo would appreciate.

While you can read this article, and yes, it’s worth the read, look at the artwork first. It’s incredibly inventive, creative, and if you stare at it long enough, it seems like something we may be able to replicate..well, to some garbagy extent.

Enter: The Struggle

The Struggle is the place of frustrating emotions: between disappointment and geniusness; between euphoria and defeat. We feel The Struggle when we want, so passionately, to be creative, yet, can’t make the jump from our desire to our creation.

Something I’ve learned from Jobs and Pixar is that stories don’t really have a shelf life. Toy Story is as great as it was in 1995. Want to talk about artwork? Look at all the ancient art we still drool over. The fact is, we may not be able to replicate an image we have in our minds, but that doesn’t matter too much.

What matters is that we tell a story with whatever image we end up creating.

For those still worried, you can still create an art piece if you need to add a few lines to tell the story behind it.

 

Stay Positive & Don’t Let Your Inabilities Stop You From Telling Stories

Garth E. Beyer

Photo credit: Ralph Steadman

If You Find Treasure

Garth Beyer

Some treasures were not meant to be found because, in finding them, we reveal secrets, we dig up answers to mysteries that have kept us enticed in literature, in common conversation , and in analogy. We take items that are rich in character and make them as organic as the bones that surround them – sort of contradicts the idea of what treasure is.

My suggestion: turn the treasure into something.

Finding treasure is just like stealing art, it’s not stealing if you mash it up with your own flare and the style of a thousand other artists to create something new, something equally as valuable and treasured.

 

Stay Positive & “X” Doesn’t Mark The Spot, You Do

Garth E. Beyer

This was an old post I wrote, finally publishing. Part of me feels like the idea needs to be credited to someone, but I don’t remember what inspired this post. To that person, sorry for not giving you credit. If this was all my own, self-high-five.

 

Why Experience Matters When Creating

Garth Beyer

Yesterday I wrote about how difficult it is to actually create something. The reason being is that to create something that is valuable and successful, you have to think the unimaginable.

One important factor to this way of thinking is that what you create needs to be something that someone, somewhere has no clue they want or need. There are only two ways this can be done.

1. Observe. Obviously the hardest since you are busy, on the go, and trying to be creative. I tend to agree with people like Daniel Pink that before we can be creative, we have to notice others’ creativity.

2. Experience. Jump in the ocean of opportunities life presents you. The more you experience, the more likely a creative idea will hit you. Zipup laces would never have been created by someone who never wore shoes.

 

Stay Positive & Start Swimming, Whichever Direction You Want, Doesn’t Matter

Garth E. Beyer

 

Something To Pin

Garth Beyer

I consider myself a fairly creative person. But then I go on Pinterest.

We can throw paint on a canvas, carve our names in a slab of wood, and fill up journals with ideas, rants, and realizations. While I consider these creations personally invaluable, they are far from being valued by others.

Respected, maybe. But not valued.

Creativity contains both the mindfulness and skill to combine two or more unimagined pieces. Remember, the melting crayon art? What happens when you cut a marker in half, pour the content into a nearly empty windex bottle, and spray onto the colored side of Tootsie pop wrappers? Just imagine what you can actually do with a slab of wood?

If you want something to pin, you’re going to have to strain your brain and go through the emotional labor it takes to create something, truly create something.

Creating something sounds easy. Give it a try, though, and you will see just how hard it is.

 

Stay Positive & Respect Is A Good Place To Start

Garth E. Beyer

The Three Whales

Garth Beyer

Twitter Whale

The killer whale and the serial whale are always out to get you.

The killer whale is that large weight holding you back from completing your project (or for some, starting it). The killer whale, well, kills. It kills your passion, your motivation, your hope, and eventually your art (or for some, just the idea of it).

The serial whale is the whale that you actually come face to face with while you’re doing the hard work of making your art. The serial whale doesn’t communicate through loud screeches and cries. No. The serial whale has a voice that it uses to tell you you’re not good enough, that your goal can’t be reached, that you should just give up. (Who knew the little voice syndrome was actually a whale talking to you. Things get more and more weird.)

Then you have the fail whale (pictured above).

The fact the whale is smiling says more than words can right now.

 

Stay Positive & The Fail Whale Is Okay, It’s The Other Two That Need To Be Poached

Garth E. Beyer

Business Meets Soggy Cereal

Garth Beyer

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A friend of mine purposefully waits for her cereal to get soggy. Now, the way my mind works, I couldn’t help but relate it to businesses. Sure, some people love their cereal soggy, they love that a business is still there even after it gets drowned (e.g., by the economy, by critics, by amazon reviews).

This is fine, I don’t judge her for enjoying her soggy cereal or when people buy clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch. Nor do I judge those who only want the crisp, new; the top of the line crunch and taste of just-poured cereal or fresh creative clothing.

The real problem (aside from milk pouring down your chin when you take a bite) is that cereal gets soggy. Cereal will always get soggy.

You can fight it by putting less milk in the bowl, by dividing the cereal inside the bowl, or by eating the cereal fast, but always, every cereal gets soggy.

Or you can leave your business to run itself and go create a new type of cereal.

 

Stay Positive & I’ve Never Seen Cereal Get Unsoggy

Garth E. Beyer

Photo credit

Life Is Short, But…

Garth Beyer

While it was an odd way to come across this quote, it’s very much worth sharing.

“Simply that life is short, but art is even shorter.”

This sums up a good third of what I write and preach. Our life expectancy as humans can be measured, it even has an average of 78 years. The life expectancy of any kind of art… much more difficult to measure.

In fact, you can’t measure it. Which is why artists need continuously make more art. As far as I know, there has only been one Hamlet and one Van Gogh. Meaning, very few artists have created timeless art.

But I guarantee, you’re chances of having created something timeless increases with the more art you make.

 

Stay Positive & Not Mentioning People Expect You To Create More

Garth E. Beyer