Quotes: Gita Sjahrir

"People always equate goals to results, when actually process is the goal." 

–– Gita Sjahrir, Indonesian entrepreneur 

Source: Sukka Citta Instagram 

via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 21. 

Quotes: Elizabeth King

"Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions." 

–– Elizabeth King (b. 1950), American sculptor and writer 

Source: Seth Godin. The Practice: Shipping Creative Work. New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2020; p. 4.

via 2020 Aboveground Art Supplies Knapsack Sketchbook, 2024 p. 44. 

Quotes: Tara Badcock

"When I feel creatively stuck I remember some great advice a furniture designer gave me years ago: by starting to make something, the act of making will function as a problem-solving process and the work will reveal itself to me in unfolding layers as I continue to put in the time." 

–– Tara Badcock, Tasmanian artist 

Source: Faire Magazine Issue 9, July 2023, p. 61.

via: Aboveground Art Supplies Sketchbook 2020, 2024, p. 31. 

Quotes: Adam J. Kurtz

"Failure isn't the end. Failure is part of the process of accomplishing a task. In fact, the only time failure is truly final is if you don't use what you've learned through the experience to try again. Each attempt becomes an experiment, each failure provides valuable insight and pinpoints room for improvement, and then eventually (maybe soon, maybe not) you get it right." 

–– Adam J. Kurtz, American designer, artist, speaker and author 

Source: Adam J. Kurtz. You are Here *For Now. New York: TarcherPerigree, 2021; p. 69.

via 2020 Aboveground Art Supplies Knapsack Sketchbook, 2022 p. 19. 

Quotes: Renate Hiller

"When we are following someone else's pattern, she says, we are mostly stuck in our heads: thinking, counting, reading. When we are figuring out a design for ourselves, we are feeling, asking questions, observing, and making decisions, connecting to the process and the metamorphosis of the work on a deeper level." 

–– Renate Hiller, fibre artist and teacher

Source: Melanie Falick. Making a Life: Working by Hand and Discovering the Life You Are Meant to Live. New York: Artisan (a division of Workman Publishing Co., Inc.), 2019; p. 47. 

via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook I 2019-2020, 2020, p. 29.

Quotes: Brian Gable

"The editorial cartoonist's task is to emerge from [a] blizzard of information with a coherent and (it is hoped) amusing idea, one that addresses some aspect of the day's events. That good idea requires coaxing, coddling, cajoling. ...

In my case, that coaxing process is based entirely on doodling, which I've done my entire life. ...

At the beginning of each workday, one scribble has led to another, when suddenly, out of the muddled swirl of pencil strokes, the artist's twisted subconscious recognizes the germ of a cartoon idea. It's much closer to alchemy than it is to science."

 –– Brian Gable (b. 1949), Canadian editorial cartoonist*

Source: Brian Gable. 'Adieu.' The Globe and Mail, Saturday September 9, 2023, p. O9.  *Brian Gable was The Globe and Mail's editorial cartoonist for 35 years. He retired in September 2023.

Quotes: Kenneth Noland

"Being an artist is about discovering things after you've done them. Like Cézanne – after twenty years of that mountain he found out what he was doing. If it isn't a process of discovery, it shows. I'm in it for the long haul." 

–– Kenneth Noland (1924-2010), American painter 

Source: Sarah Boyts Yoder Life and Limb on Tumblr

via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook 2017-2018 d, 2017, p. 24.

Women's quotes: Rachel Naomi Remen

"At the deepest level, the creative process and the healing process arise from a single source. When you are an artist, you are a healer; a wordless trust of the same mystery is the foundation of your work and its integrity." 

–– Rachel Naomi Remen (b. 1938), American physician and teacher 

via: Sketchbook 30, 2018, p. 101. 

Quotes: William Kentridge

"To say that making art is a conversation or dialogue between the maker and the paper is to oversimplify –– It is a series of attractions and repulsions that may begin with intention and end with analysis but the real meaning (the truth of the work) is arrived at in the processes and moments of making." 

–– William Kentridge (b. 1955), South African artist 

via: Sketchbook 27, 2015, p. 105.

Quotes: Garth Brooks

"Too much credit is given to the end result. The true lesson is in the struggle that takes place between the dream and reality. That struggle is a thing called life." 

–– Garth Brooks (b. 1962), American country music singer and songwriter

via: Sketchbook 23, 2014, p. 15. 

Quotes: Sue Bender

"It's the enjoyment of every step in the process of doing; everything, not only the isolated piece we label art. If accomplishing it is the only goal, all that it takes to reach that goal is too slow, too fatiguing an obstacle to what you want to achieve. If you want to rush the accomplishment, it is an inevitable disappointment. Then you rush to something. The disappointment is reaped over and over again. But if every step is pleasant, then the accomplishment becomes even more because it is nourished by what is going on." 

–– Sue Bender (b. 1933), American writer, family therapist and ceramic artist 

Source: Sue Bender. Plain and Simple.

via: Sketchbook A, 2018, p. 71. 

Quotes: Douglas Cranmer

Kesu'

"It all falls into place. Just start cutting. Every cut reveals the next cut." 

–– Chief Pal'nakwalagalls Douglas Cranmer (1927-2006), Canadian Kwakwak'wakw totem pole carver and artist

via Sketchbook 19, 2012, p. 20

Creativity quotes: Elizabeth Gilbert

"I can't get behind the ambition to be 'discovered' as much as I can get behind the ambition to write beautifully and honorably and steadfastly. Here's what I believe about creativity. I believe that creativity is a living force that thrums wildly through this world and expresses itself through us. I believe that talent (the force by which ephemeral creativity gets manifested into the physical world through our hands) is a mighty and holy gift. I believe that, if you have a talent (or even if you think you do, or maybe even if you just hope you do), that you should treat that talent with the highest reverence and love. 

"Don't flip out, in other words, and murder your gift through narcissism, insecurity, addiction, competitiveness, ambition or mediocrity. Frankly – don't be a jerk. Just get busy, get serious, get down to it and write something, for heaven's sake. Try to get out of your own way. Creativity itself doesn't care at all about results – the only thing it craves is PROCESS. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it. Work like a monk, or a mule, or some other representative metaphor for diligence. Love the work. Destiny will do what it wants with you, regardless. Just love the work." 

–– Elizabeth Gilbert (b. 1969), American writer and journalist