INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES FOR ARTISTS

 by JoAnn Frekot

I asked my studio mates to share quotes they find motivating or inspirational in their artistic work.  

Their responses blew me away. What a treasure trove!  

Here, in no particular order, is what we came up with.  

Jean Everson

Pablo Picasso, The Woman

There is a quote from Picasso that I wrote down years ago.

Art isn't the truth.  It's a lie that shows us the truth. - Pablo Picasso

The Boatman of Mortefontaine,
Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot

Katharine Gotham

Listen to the advice of others, but follow only what you can understand and unite in your own feeling.  Be firm, be meek, but follow your own convictions.  It is better to be nothing that an echo of other painters. 

 Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot

Vera J Kent  

Carl Jung

What did you do as a child that made the hours pass by like minutes?  Herein lies the key to your earthly pursuits.  - Carl Jung

This one is my all-time favorite!  As a child I loved to read and had a very vivid imagination.  Allowing myself to lean into those feelings as a painter has made me an adult with a lot of joy and no fear of being too 'grown up' to explore art that makes my heart happy.

Ira Glass

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners.  I wish someone had told me.  All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste.  But there is this gap.  For the first couple of years you make stuff, it's just not that good.  It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not.  But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer.  And your taste is why your work disappoints you.  A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit.  Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this.  And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it's normal and the most important thing you can do is a lot of work.  Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story.  It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.  And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever met.  It's gonna take awhile.  It's normal to take awhile.  You've just gotta fight your way through.  - Ira Glass

This one, which fell into my lap via a magazine article several years ago, reminds me always to just continue working when I feel I'm not living up to my personal taste.

JoAnn Frekot

Red Hills with Flowers, Georgia O'Keefe

 

No one sees a flower -- really -- it is so small it takes time -- we haven't time -- and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.  -- Georgia O'Keefe

Take time to be bored.... Creative people need to time to just sit around and do nothing.  I get some of my best ideas when I'm bored, which is why I never take my shirts to the cleaners.  I love ironing my shirts -- it's so boring, I almost always get good ideas.  If you're out of ideas, wash the dishes.  Take a really long walk.  Stare at a spot on the wall for as long as you can....Take time to mess around.  Get lost.  Wander.  You never know where it's going to lead you. -  Steal Like An Artist, Austin Kleon

These quotes provide comfort to me during these times of instantaneous and constant bombardment of noise and images.  I believe that practicing art is a way to tap into the wise and timeless parts of ourselves.  

Christine Tierney

This is what my husband said to me years ago when I was pondering whether to clean the house or go to the studio:  

The kids can clean when you die. GO PAINT!

Jessica Rabbit, Disney

Another funny quote that I love is from the movie, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"

I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way!  (Jessica Rabbit)

Tom McGregor

Value does all the work and color takes all the credit.

Just paint.  Paint even if you don't feel it.  Paint with abandon because you never know what happy accidents will occur if you get out of your head and let them happen.

Pat Cleary 

The Blue Vase,
Paul Cezanne

A work of art which isn't based on feeling isn't art at all.  --   Paul Cezanne

Something I need to consider more often!

Tom Winterstein

I once came up with the three laws of art, which I printed on business cards.  (One is pinned to the bulletin board outside of OTA).

The first law was inspired by something that my friend and former OTA member, Tracey Thompson, used to say when she started a new painting or was unsure how to continue a painting:  "The worst it can do is suck."

The second law was inspired by something Bruce Palmer, one of OTA's original members, used to say:  "Bad art happens to good artists."

The third law was inspired by my sister:  "Art is cheaper than therapy."

The three laws of art are:

• Create.  The worst it can do is suck.
• Create again.  Bad art happens to good artists.
• Just create.  Art is cheaper than therapy.