Tan Girl (detail)

Some years ago when my dear mother, Adele, would visit me in Los Angeles, we would often trek down from my house in the Hollywood Hills to the Starbucks opposite the Beverly Center on La Cienega Boulevard.

This Starbucks was one of their flagship stores with lots of open space, huge windows, and live music in the early afternoon. We would spend quality time there, as she had her tea or decaf, and I a cappuccino. I always brought my color pencils and museum quality art papers.

On this occasion, we were sitting at a table near one of the windows that overlooked a small plaza with outside tables. I began drawing, and my mother took in her favorite sport: people watching. A young couple sat down at the outside table directly across from the window. They were talking in earnest and we could see their profiles.

The girl’s deep tan was offset by her wavy blond hair.

By this time, I had been working for about a half hour on my drawing; and it already contained a fully developed profile of a young woman. “Take a good look at the girl’s profile in the window,” I said, and my mother did.

I then showed her my color pencil drawing. Adele brought her hand to her mouth in a wildly excited gasp. The girl in my drawing was the precise look-alike of the girl beyond the window.

“How can this be?” Adele said. “It can’t be a coincidence.”

I shrugged. “Ma, it’s art magic in the afternoon.”

My mother smiled and kissed me on the cheek, as a string quartet played in the background.

Feeling Gratitude

Gratitude is a state of grace.

Whenever I feel gratitude, which is many times a day, it’s a moment for prayer, for thanksgiving. The feeling is the prayer, no need for words.

Here’s a beautiful and apt quote from Melodie Beattie:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity … It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Return of the King

You are making art, and you feel that your creations should support you. Is this a reasonable demand, or not? Did anyone guarantee such an outcome?

Let’s look and dig deep. Having your art seen and acquired by collectors adds up to prestige and money. But, what if this is not happening? Your philosophy will make the difference between fulfillment and failure.

The essence of making art is to be in that magical space of creation where time and space support your passion. Everything after the painting is marketing, timing, and a bit of luck. To get at the bottom line of making it as an artist, the point is to do whatever it takes to keep going so that you can be in that sublimely powerful space of creation. If your art isn’t yet paying the bills, you must step up. Otherwise, who is fooling whom?

The true artist will always find a way. 

Talisman of Awareness

A question that often arises among art lovers as well as artists themselves: What is the purpose of art?

Here, we are not talking about advertising, illustration, or any other artwork with a predefined motive or purpose. We are talking about art from the soul, the collective unconscious, which is creation magic in the material world.

Such art has one overriding purpose for the artist and the collector. Such art reminds us to break out from the pack, to question authority, to confront mindless dogma, to be free from social conditioning, and in the end, to think and be for ourselves, whatever the cost may be.

Place yourself in the scenario to see where you stand in the stream of awareness.

Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

For over 25 years, I’ve been using Apple computers—a tool I rely on each day.

We know that Steve Jobs was one of the co-founders of Apple. The other day, I had the opportunity hear and watch him for the first time. He was speaking at the Stanford University graduation ceremonies some six years ago.

The title of his talk was this: How to live before you die.

As a teaser: What possible connection could there be between calligraphy and the success of the Apple Macintosh?

For those interested in spending 15 quality minutes with an innovator, please click here.