it is just their opinion

When I was taking art lessons, I had future plans to paint a lot. Then I went to a seminar by a successful art gallery owner who asserted that if you don't know the world of modern art and understand what other painters are doing, you're going to fail. Well, I fell for that one hook, line and sinker! I reasoned that since I knew of no dictionaries or glossaries to define the modern art terms that are tossed around, and since the modern art world had no clearly defined standards of excellence or beauty that I could reach for, I decided that the endeavor was hopeless. I soon stopped going to art classes and basically gave up. This is so unlike me: I am tenacious when I want to reach a goal, especially when it is art related, but for some reason, this gallery owner's OPINION sounded close enough to THE TRUTH that I believed him.

Years later, I attended a seminar by a watercolor artist who makes 6 figures a year by creating her art, thus she dissolved the concept of "starving artist" for me. Also, she said that she shunned gallery owners, preferring to sell directly to people at art shows, all the while building her mailing list. She also had a very different opinion about the art world: that the paintings you create, and put strong emotion in, are far more important than understanding the art world. According to her, your paintings are the priority, not the networking. Her opinion felt much, much, much better and listening to her INCREASED my desire to paint. That's how you know who's opinion to accept or consider. Listening to a valuable opinion makes you want to create more, not less. Even constructive criticism should be just that, constructive: something that builds you up, not tears you down.

Now, I want to ask you a question. Did something like what happened to me when I listened to that art gallery owner happen to you at some time or another? Did some artist, some art teacher, some celebrity, some successful person, some family member, some loved one, some group of people, or some book convince you that you could not, or should not, create the effects YOU wanted to create with your art or other creative endeavor? If this happened and you went into agreement with their negative opinion, I can practically guarantee you that is the point when your interest in your art or creative activity lessened, maybe lessened a lot!

Be very selective about whose opinions you take to heart. The only person who has the right to decide what effect you will create with your art or creative activity is YOU! Even if you need proper, or better, instruction; even if you need more practice; even if you have to go to an environment where you are more appreciated. The Internet could make that last part easy, but long before the Internet, Josephine Baker decided that she was a star and since the USA was not yet ready for a Black woman to be a star, she went to Paris and became the star she already knew she was. But she decided what her dreams were, she didn't let anyone else decide for her. (In case you're not familiar with Josephine Baker: "before Madonna, before Marilyn, there was Josephine". That's on the DVD cover of the cable TV movie based on her life.)

You are as entitled to your opinion as anyone else. If they say, "You can't", you have every right to reply, "Watch me!"

Emotional Support for Your Art or Creativity

In this short video clip, Writing Coach Jurgen Wolff speaks about a vital subject often not addressed. He talks about how to get emotional support from those people around you for your writing, but what he says applies to any creative activity that you are doing. As creative people, we all need emotional support. That does not make us less independent, it makes us human.

Feed your creative side

My paranormal novel, "Imagining Things", will soon be published. It's a novel about the rewards for following your intuition — and the punishments for ignoring it. I invite you to visit my website http://www.aaronvictorvaughn.com/ to read an excerpt.

To say that the release of this novel will be a dream come true for me does not even begin to tell it!

I'd like to say something to my fellow creative people and to anyone who enjoys creativity. While most adults living in modern societies would not forget to eat for several days, some let their creativity starve for days, months, even years without giving it much thought, as if it's okay. We all loose something if you don't bring forth your creativity because there is only one you and no one can create that song, that book, that painting, that business venture, that inspirational talk just like you. You bring to it all of your wisdom and insight and experience which is one of a kind combination that is irreplaceable!

Famed painter Pablo Picasso made an excellent point when he said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."

During the holidays, we often give our creativity permission to come out and play. We let it breathe. We decorate or cook with flair, we wrap presents and place them under beautifully decorated trees. We often go out of our way to create beautiful moments with loved ones and strangers, too. Then we often pack our creativity away as if its expression has reached some type of time limit. Well, I'm here to tell you that time limit is self-imposed. Please cancel it! Make this new year comfortably and beautifully creative. Feed your creative side. Don't postpone your joy another minute. You'll be happier, and we all get to benefit, too!

Find Your Strongest Life

This information from career coach Marcus Buckingham could be good for what ails you!

http://www.oprah.com/article/money/career/pkgstrongestlife/20091005-orig-marcus-strong-life-plans

Also, if you have iTunes on your computer, you can download two free video podcasts from Marcus Buckingham called Trombone Player Wanted, “Chapter 1 – So what’s stopping you?” and “Chapter 2 - Do you know what your strengths are?” (If you are unfamiliar with them, podcasts are like radio broadcasts you can hear, or view, over the Internet.) These two free video podcasts are about 15 minutes each. They are very enlightening and very empowering, especially for creative people, or those who would like to be more creative.

If you don’t have iTunes on your computer, you can download it free. Here’s the link:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

"And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in the bud became more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anais Nin

Here’s to new dreams and a new decade to enjoy them!

money, it flows too

The subject of money is crass to some artists, but artists gotta eat. And the words "artist" and "starving" should never be in the same sentence! Along that line, here are some references that I found extraordinarily informative on the subject of money. Some of this information can even make the subject - dare I say it - painless and interesting. As I find out about more items of interest, I'll add them to the list below.

"Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That The Poor and Middle Class Do Not!" by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon Lechter
http://www.richdad.com/

"Rich Dad's Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter With Your Money" by Robert T. Kiyosaki
http://www.richdad.com/

Play the Cashflow game online for free - How To Get Out of the Rat Race. Also purchase the Cashflow 101 Board Game and Cashflow For Kids Board Game.
http://www.richdad.com/Rich-Dad-Games/CASHFLOW

"The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace D. Wattles, is profoundly spiritual and profoundly practical at the same time. You can download a free e-book version by going to http://www.TheSecret.tv/ Click on "Gifts For You" in the menu, then scroll down the page.

In a book which was a course in career design for creative people, the author made an excellent point: it's not the desire for money that is bad, it is what you are willing to exchange for that money that determines whether the desire is good or bad. Some people give up their integrity, their dignity, their happiness, the happiness of loved ones, their own true hopes and dreams, even their lives for money. In those cases the desire for money is an insane lust. (And in those cases, I'm not speaking of people so broke and hungry that they are just trying to survive; I'm speaking of those who do have other choices which they could just as easily make.)

Now, in contrast, let's take someone like Oprah Winfrey, one of the richest and most influential people on the planet, whose altruism and philanthropy is as famous as she is. I'm sure Oprah could not have attained her billionaire status if she did not have a desire for wealth, but at the same time, she is an example of how one could behave with money. Someone with wealth does not have to be a miser, or someone who uses money to destructive ends.

Money is value neutral; the desire for money is value neutral. What one exchanges for money or what one does with money once it's acquired determines the morality of the financial situation.

On a related subject, most people never learned financial management. Their parents didn't know it and the grade schools don't teach it. The result is a mass of people who worsen their financial situations (often unnecessarily) because they don't know what to do with money when they get it. The cashflows, of the middle class particularly, tend to be, if I may use a technical term, wacky! "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" was written to increase financial literacy, and I can tell you personally, it certainly did accomplish that with me.

Michael's inspirations

There were so many wonderful things said at the Michael Jackson Memorial Service yesterday. I’m a big fan, but I did not realize the scope of Michael’s impact. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most charities supported by a pop star. Rev. Al Sharpton stated the profound truth that teenagers listening to Michael’s music and seeing him perform became more comfortable with race relations – and those teenagers grew into adults who were comfortable voting for a President of color. Michael Jackson is a beautiful example of how an artist or creative person can do so very much in his or her part to heal the world.

Your Brilliant (Next) Career…and How to Find It

The article and free online workshop at these links could be the edge you've been looking for.

http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200709_omag_career

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Take-Control-of-Your-Career-and-Your-Life-Workshop-Introduction-Video

More helpful suggestions to come!

favorite movies

I can remember my mother taking me to my first movie when I was a child: Disney's Bed Knobs and Broomsticks starring Angela Landsbury. I've loved it and I have always loved movies so much that it's impossible for me to make a short list of favorites. So here is a current list of my favorite movies ... so far. Movies about artists are highlighed in green. Do you see any of your favorites here, too?

Beautiful Thing, Dead Again, Rag Tag, Back Soon, Latter Days, The Best Man, The Devil's Advocate, Center Stage, The Fury, Higher Learning, The Turning Point, The Bucket List, The Omen, The Secret, Camp Out, Star Wars III, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Wonder Boys, Playing By Heart, One Week, Indigo, The Family That Preys, The Secret Life of Bees, Pleasantville, All About Eve, Chocolat, Get Real, Pitch Black, Dangerous Liaisons, Ready To Wear, The Object of My Affection, Chasing Amy, Living Out Loud, Like It Is, Making Love, Fame, The Thirteenth Floor, Superman II, The First Wives Club, The Sixth Sense, Eighteen, The House of the Spirits, Soulfood, X-Men III, Cover, The Matrix, What the bleep do we know?, Billy Elliot, Save Me, The Trip, Anti-Trust, Aliens, Die Hard, Murder at 1600, Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Forgotten, Star Trek: Nemesis, Saved!, Basic Instinct 2, The Phantom of the Opera, The Witches of Eastwick, But I'm A CheerLeader, Party Girl, Gone But Not Forgotten, Gattica, Moonstruck, Bestseller, The Hunger, American Beauty, Soap Dish, The Devil Wears Prada, Identity, Pi, Weird Science, Fresh Horses, The Breakfast Club, Paris Blues, The Poseidon Adventure, Willie and Phil.

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson is one of the greatest artists this world has ever seen. I say "is" not "was" because while bodies expire, spirits never die. And Michael's music and extraordinary artistry will also live on. Yes, he may have had self-esteem issues - who doesn't? And perhaps it's true that he did need to increase his financial IQ - who doesn't? But can anyone deny his artistic brilliance? Can anyone deny that he was gifted beyond belief? How blessed we were to have him for half a century!

Charlie's Angels Jaclyn and Kate

Jaclyn Smith, like Kate Jackson, is a cancer survivor. Jaclyn is still going strong in her 60's, creating her life, career, and business ventures. And she looks phenomenal. Here's a link to a 2008 very inspirational article about her in Great Health Magazine.
http://www.greathealthmag.com/article.php?ArticleID=5228

And let me give props to one of Kate Jackson's performances that I have always loved so much. Kate was brilliant in the 1982 movie, "Making Love", in which she played the loving wife of a man who discovers later in life that he is gay. Kate should have gotten Best Actress nominations several times over for her emotionally layered portrayal. She carried the emotional weight of this movie the most, in my opinion. Her husband was played by Michael Ontkean, her co-star in the 1970's TV show, "The Rookies". Their on-screen chemistry was so great. I felt as if I were watching the lives of real people, and I still do every time I watch it.