Tuesday, March 1, 2011

the wisdom of Stephen King

If God gives you something you can do,
why in God's name wouldn't you?
so begins one of my favorite quotes 
penned by Stephen King in his book
On Writing,
a Memoir of the Craft.
working on this one at present
and can't quite figure out how to finish it...
so I must wait for it to speak.
no wonder people think artists are weird...
 and I am still blown away when 
I see my published art
(this one out any day and I have a whole page - yippee!)

more from Stephen:
Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless;
when you find something at which you are talented,
you do it until your fingers bleed
or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head.
 so that is why I love 'pulling art' out of kids.
I want them all to realize how gifted they are!
Here is our class auction project...
 which just melted my heart as each student looked in amazement
at their creation...
 and yesterday in art club we played with glue.
I was washing glue out of brushes at the sink
and I overheard one student say,
I just love art,
and then another,
I just love it too,
and another,
me too.
and seriously I started to tear up...
could anything be better?
 Well maybe watching a Kindergartener
with very definite opinions about how she is going to do a project...
work on this beauty.
She was the only student who insisted on doing a glass vase - 
notice the water in it.
and I thought it would be too hard - oh me of little faith...

Stephen King finishes his thoughts on creating,
Even when no one is listening
(or reading, or watching),
every outing is a bravura performance,
because you as the creator are happy.
Perhaps even ecstatic.
And shouldn't we all live that way -
thinking our next outing will be a bravura performance?

15 comments:

  1. Great blog post! Don't you just love that feeling you get when kids say the things they say, i.e. "I just love art"?! It seems to me that if we all encouraged others to live out our passions (gifts, abilities, anything that puts one into a state of flow and a feeling of great meaning), like you do in this blog post, life would be so colorful (not to say that it isn't right now). Thank you for this uplifting and encouraging post!

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  2. thanks to you too for being you and inspiring me to live out my passions! Love you...

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  3. Great post Pamela and congratulations on being published! How exciting and a great example for the kids to see what perseverance can do!
    Have a great evening...
    Tina xo

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  4. An Inspiring Post!!!:O) Love to see Art created by children:O) Blessings:O) Isabel

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  5. Oh, Man ... I just can't wait to see this magazine ... Many Congrats ... I also love, love all the SK quotes and this piece you are working on BLOWS ...!!!

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  6. SK is an amazing writer and his book "On Writing" is one of his best works! This post is fantastic.

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  7. Dear Pam,Congrats! I can't wait to see your WIP complete. Don't you love children s art. It is so pure and comes straight from the heart. Thanks for sharing. ~Theresa

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  8. hi pam :) congrats!!! i hope you don't mind me posting this quote on my fb wall; it's a goodie!!! :) hugs,
    jan

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  9. Great post! You do such meaningful work - it brings me back to my childhood years when art class was definitely one of the highlights for me! So important to encourage creativity when they are young.
    Congrat on being featured in Somerset! Very awesome!
    And thanks for sharing the poem - great reminder of why we create.

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  10. Just bought the magazine and it is awesome! It's so fun to have a connection, albeit a "bloggerly" one, to the artists I read about. Congratulations on inspiring artists both young and old!

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  11. congratulations on being published! how wonderful to see how you have encouraged the kids to love art. those are wonderful quotations which have me nodding my head. yes, so true!

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  12. Pamela, I'm tearing up myself. What a beautiful post. Congratulations on your publication and What a JOY to see children creating art. The results are amazing :)
    Thanks for dropping by my blog :))

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  13. Congratulations Pamela on being published (again!!)!!! How exciting....:)

    I plan on looking for it and buying it!! I LOVE this publication!! I can't wait to see it!!

    Beautiful artwork done by your students. I really love the glass vase with water. Amazing!!! :)

    xoxo Gloria

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  14. Girl...you totally rock! I loved your piece in SS mag! I would so enjoy seeing your photos each day for Lent.
    You are a very talented lady!
    God Bless you!
    Jill

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