Big Magic - Book

The name Elizabeth Gilbert may or may not be familiar to you, but I bet that you've heard about "Eat, Pray, Love", the book written by Gilbert.

Recently, I was introduced to Gilbert's TED Talk entitled "Your elusive creative genius". During this 19-minute talk, Gilbert shares the radical idea that instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. This was certainly a new concept for me that I quickly embraced.

This led me to purchase and listen to the audiobook "Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear" written and read by Gilbert. This book is very insightful and presents some honest discussions about the creative process. Here are a few quotes:

• The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to discover those jewels––that's creative living.
• You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures.
• What do you love doing so much that the words failure and success essentially become irrelevant?
• Recognizing that people's reactions don't belong to you is the only sane way to create. If people enjoy what you've created, terrific. If people ignore what you've created, too bad. If people misunderstand what you've created, don't sweat it. And what if people absolutely hate what you've created? What if people attack you with savage vitriol, and insult your intelligence, and malign your motives, and drag your good name through the mud? Just smile sweetly and suggest - as politely as you possibly can - that they go make their own fucking art. Then stubbornly continue making yours.
• It’s a simple and generous rule of life that whatever you practice, you will improve at.
• It might have been done before, but it hasn’t been done by you.
• A good-enough novel violently written now is better than a perfect novel meticulously written never.
• Give your mind a job to do, or else it will find a job to do, and you might not like the job it invents.
• We are all just beginners here, and we shall all die beginners.
• A good-enough novel violently written now is better than a perfect novel meticulously written never.

If you are a creative person, I highly recommend that you read this 300-page book.

Here is my latest painting. It represents a fishing port in #Peggyscove Nova Scotia.  The most challenging thing to paint was the moss on the rocks left by the tide.

This week I'm working on a waterfall and some small landscapes for a "Small Artworks Show" in a couple of weeks.  I'll tell you more about that soon.

Have a great week,

Danielle