The War of Art, The Martha Rules and Spiritual Cannibalism

     Howdy doo my friends!  I don't know why it takes me so long to get back on here each time, but I think it may have something to do with RESISTANCE!!!  :-)

     Can you tell I've been reading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield?  Well, I have.  Apparently my mom bought it for me long ago, and I just stuck it on a shelf...but boy am I ready for it now.  His own words will tell you more than I possibly can, so here are some quotes from the book:

     "Rule of thumb:  The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it."

     "Henry Fonda was still throwing up before each stage performance, even when he was seventy-five.  In other words, fear doesn't go away.  The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew each day."

     "The best and only thing that one artist can do for another is to serve as an example and an inspiration."
   
     "The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit.  We don't just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.  Never forget:  This very moment, we can change our lives.  There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny."

And one more...

     "We get ourselves into trouble because it's a cheap way to get attention.  Trouble is a faux form of fame.  It's easier to get busted in the bedroom with the faculty chairman's wife than it is to finish that dissertation on the metaphysics of motley in the novellas of Joseph Conrad.
     
     Ill health is a form of trouble, as are alcoholism and drug addiction, proneness to accidents, all neurosis including compulsive screwing-up, and such seemingly benign foibles as jealousy, chronic lateness, and the blasting of rap music at 110 dB from your smoked-glass '95 Supra.  Anything that draws attention to ourselves through pain-free or artificial means is a manifestation of Resistance. 
    
      Cruelty to others is a form of Resistance, as is the willing endurance of cruelty from others.
     
     The working artist will not tolerate trouble in her life because she knows trouble prevents her from doing her work.  The working artist banishes from her world all sources of trouble.  She harnesses the urge for trouble and transforms it in her work."

Amazing, right?  And that's just the beginning.  As the book says on the front, it is "A vital gem...a kick in the ass."  -Esquire

     I recently finished Martha Stewart's book The Martha Rules, which is an incredible inspiration and a wealth of information for any artist/entrepreneur who needs guidance in finance, marketing, budgeting, prioritizing and all of those daunting details of business.  She explains everything straightforwardly, in words that are easy to understand and process, and she always comes back to what's important-loving your life, and creating and sharing beauty.

"I believe that the best way to be organized and productive is to follow a list, and I try to make one for myself every morning.  Always at the top of my list is to make life better.  I am always asking myself how I can improve the lives of my customers, my colleagues, my shareholders, my family, and my friends.  Making their lives better is important to me, and in doing so, I feel that my life is better."

I just love that lady.  

   One more book that I am in the middle of, and have been recommending to many people, is Spiritual Cannibalism by Rudi.  This guy was so interesting-a New Yorker swami who owned an antique shop and developed thousands of followers before his death in an airplane crash in 1973.  Here is a tiny piece of what Rudi has to say:

     "It is only through extraordinary effort that an extraordinary life is possible.  Dedication must be of a fanatical nature in order to compensate for the depth of inner resistance.  We must swim against the stream of the instincts which seek to drive us into the ocean of passivity, into acceptance of the status quo.  Working toward evolvement is working for the possibility of what we can be.  You do not accept what is.  Only by the continual surrender of the now can you begin to see the future." 

     There's that mention of resistance again.  Definitely something to think about.

     Soooooo, here's what's going on my my world.  I am finished writing my book, The Almanac of Life:  Inspiration for Evolvers, and after a few more portrait sketches, it will be ready to load and retouch.  Mentors are appearing from unexpected places to walk me through and advise me on the publishing experience, with viewpoints on both self publishing and traditional publishing, which is such a wonderful thing.  

Celia Straus  http://www.exploringwomanhood.com/mindbodysoul/straus/
Jennie Hernandez www.jenniehernandez.com

These two are amazing authors, delightful women, and very generous mentors.  They are mavens, which is what I aspire to be, because it is obvious that only by sharing our gifts with others can we truly reach our own potential.

     Now that the book is basically finished, I am starting to get that insanely illogical fear of both rejection and success, but these days it comes in wild, fleeting moments before I stamp it out.  I remind myself that these feelings are the strongest right before something big is about to happen.  I remind myself that although I may never be the best artist or writer in the world, I will always be authentic, and that is my goal.  

Here are a few random pages from my book, the The Almanac of Life:

      So much of this is just moving through me, and I am honored and excited to be the one whose voice it is in.  The book is about transformation, creating it was a transformational experience, and I believe that reading it will be as well.  I'll keep you posted on what happens when I start approaching agents and publishers...

      I've been teaching art in 2nd, 4th, and 6th grades and it has become so obvious to me that our biggest block is not our lack of talent, but our fear.  Some kids know they're good and so they create freely.  Some kids have never thought about whether they're good or not, and so they create freely.  Other kids complain about how they're not good enough, or they don't like it (because they think they're not good enough) or they only want to draw ONE thing over and over and over again because that's what they're comfortable with.  Are we born with these fears?  Maybe.  Are they instilled by critical parents, teachers and classmates?  Definitely.  My goal is not to teach these kids some specific way of creating art, or what their work "should" look like, but to teach them that they have everything they need to create authentic, interesting work.  I give them college level drawing exercises to challenge them, and then I set them free with something wildly creative.  Every single one of them has a unique style, a unique eye, and something wonderful to offer the world.

 I told my 6th graders to plan a design in marker to color in, and that they could do anything they wanted as long as they used negative space and patterns.  Here are a few of their pieces:

We also did self portraits with mirrors.  They had to draw themselves twice first without looking at their paper before even starting their final portrait, pulling their focus deeply into the details of what they saw in the mirror.  Many of the kids really captured themselves.  Here are a couple of them:

     Not only has my work in schools changed me-it's changed my artwork and inspired me to create so much more and freely.  After working with the 6th graders on marker designs, I ended up designing an entire coloring book, which will be available soon on Amazon and used as coloring pages/menus at Cafe Aroma.  Finally my hard work is paying off, and in such an unexpected way.  Here are a few pages from that:

     I will leave you with my latest two paintings-a portrait of my best friend Jen that I painted for her 33rd birthday, and a cityscape of Venice that I painted for a local Italian restaurant.  Slowly but surely, I am learning.  Slowly but surely I am improving.  It seems that life is a balance in lessons of hard work and patience, and if you learn the two together while doing what you love, you will fulfill your destiny, and you will succeed.  I hope that you have found some inspiration and motivation in all this, and I wish you a wonderful Easter! 

Au revoir!

R. Noelle