"There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about."
–– Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), American abstract expressionist painter
A blog about art, creativity, design, and life.
"There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about."
–– Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), American abstract expressionist painter
"As actors, we feel like we have to be ready, but I'd say you're never ready. You're not prepared for something you've never done before, so let go of that. This past year I did some symphony gigs for the first time, and it was incredible. It was better than being ready, because I just had to be new."
–– Ali Stroker (b. 1987), American author, actress, singer
Source: New York Times T Style Magazine, Sunday April 21, 2024, p. 56.
"And this is what we tend to forget: In the careers of certain artists, those who make big, varied bodies of work in which different strands of their experience are subsumed, the business of beginning, and beginning again, never ceases. Each new beginning brings with it all the uncertainty and blankness of the first. Experience might protect such an artist from forcing what's clearly not working, but that core anxiety of not knowing if one will create again always remains. "Do not worry," Hemingway would console himself, "you have always written before and you will write now."
–– Aatish Taseer (b. 1980), British-born American writer and journalist
Source: Aatish Taseer. 'The First Stroke.' New York Times T Style Magazine, Sunday April 21, 2024, p. 53.
via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook L 2024, p. 15.
"Do not neglect the day of small things, for little beginnings have big endings."
–– Florence Scovel Shinn (1871-1940), American artist and book illustrator
via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook L 2024, p. 14.
"Art doesn't start out hallowed. It starts out personal: an emergency."
–– Joan Acocella (1945-2024), New Yorker staff writer and essayist
Source: Joanna Biggs. 'The Last Word.' New York Times Book Review, Sunday March 24, 2024, p. 12. Re: review of Joan Acocella. The Bloodied Nightgown And Other Essays, posthumous collection.
via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook L 2024, p. 13.
"Life isn't as long as you think it is. You have a choice: You can go and try to live a playful life, or you can go and live a life which excludes playfulness. And it doesn't get you anywhere. Playfulness gets you somewhere."
–– Hans Zimmer (b. 1957), German-born American film score composer and music producer
Source: Austin Kleon newsletter Friday April 19, 2024.
via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook L 2024, p. 12.
"The writer studies literature, not the world. He lives in the world; he cannot miss it. He is careful of that he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, because that is what he will know."
– Annie Dillard (b. 1945), American writer
via: Commonplace Book 1999-2001, 2003.