by Marty Coleman | Aug 28, 2009 | Logan Pearsall Smith |
I was inspired to draw this after having been interviewed this morning for my exhibition ‘IN public|private’ opening tonight (8/28/09).
Sharon Phillips of FOX 23 and her cameraman have to love (or at least like a bit) all the slow, down times, the miles of cables, the hot lights and the last minute change of plans to enjoy the whole package of being in the television media world.
Being an artist means I have to feel the same way. I have to like the time I spend framing the pieces as well as making them. I have like hanging the show as well as making the pieces. I have to try to enjoy all of it, in other words. All of it is part of my vocation.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“The test of a vocation is the lover of the drudgery it involves.” – Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865-1946, American aphorist and essayist
Exhibition opening is at the Heller Theatre, 4825 Quaker Ave. (on 48th st, just east of Peoria)
Tulsa, OK from 7:30-10:oopm
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 27, 2009 | F. H. Bradley |
One of the best realizations you can come to as an artist is that you don’t really want to possess someone or something. You don’t want to make love to your model, take that field of flowers home with you, keep the mountains.
All you really want to do, in the end, is admire them. And your method of admiring is to look closely, maybe with your eye, maybe a camera. And you translate what you see into your art. You sculpt the model, you take a photo of the field of flowers, you paint the mountains.
That is what you really want. That is what makes you happy. Don’t desire them to be yours because your method of admiration is HOW you make them yours.
You are free.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring.” – F. H. Bradley, 1846-1924, British idealist philosopher
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 26, 2009 | Ken Blanchard |
So, what this seems to mean is that someone who has low self-esteem but who is constantly worrying about themselves; what they look like, how they appear to others, if they are pretty enough, or rich enough, or smart enough…those people aren’t humble any more than the egotists who do believe they are pretty, rich and smart enough.
The humble person is the one who spends more time thinking about the other people and how they can help them than about themselves.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 25, 2009 | Josh Billings |
Hola friends,
First I wanted to let you know about an interview with me that just got published online at INSPIRATUS. I think it is pretty good and it has tons of my work showing as well as many of the artists who have influenced me over they years. You will learn a lot about me, if you care to!
Ok, now onto the napkin. THIS is one of those semantic pet peeves of mine.
People say it very casually, ‘Well, I did the best I can’. But, did they really? I had a heated discussion about this once with a friend. She was of the opinion that people ALWAYS do the best they can. I was of the opinion that people very often don’t.
I was basing it on my own experience. I know I very often do not pull out all the stops, focus myself entirely on doing the very best I can. It might be edging the lawn, it might be building a new fence, it might be in a relationship. But I often see where I could have done better. I didn’t do the best I could.
The one area I feel I always do the best I can is in my art. I am sure if I evaluated close enough I could find times I don’t, but as a rule I think I do. But I know in the promotion and business side of it I don’t do the best I can. I try, but do I try my best? I don’t think I do.
It is also philosophical to me. If you feel that people always do their best, then where is the incentive to progress? Where is the need to become better? I am not sure I get how those elements all work together in someone who always thinks they do their best.
What do you think?
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“The rarest thing a man ever duz iz the best he can.” – Josh Billings, 1818-1885, American aphorist and writer.
By the way, the misspellings are intentional. He purposely misspelled words often to build on his ‘homespun’ reputation.
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 24, 2009 | Henry David Thoreau |
Think deliberately about what you believe and don’t be afraid to change if, upon examining, you find you don’t really have enough to back it up.
This belief can be about your paranoia, your faith, your money habits, your attitudes, it doesn’t matter.
You distrust everyone? Is there really proof that all are untrustworthy or is it just one or two from your past and now you have applied that distrust to everyone.
You believe women are inferior to men? When and how did you make that decision? Do you have proof it is true? Evaluate and see.
What is the nature of the afterlife?
How do you know what you believe about it? where did that belief come from? What would happen to you if you modified that belief?
The life that is thought about is the life that is able to progress.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“It is never too late to give up your prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, no matter how ancient, can be trusted without proof.” – Henry David Thoreau, American Author, 1817-1862
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 23, 2009 | Andre Gide |
Why a dresser? 
Because it dresses you.
Many are possessed by how they dress.
Many are possessed by what is on top of the dresser (my inclination).
Many are possessed by the mirror and what they see, or hope to see, or pretend to see.
For many it is the dresser itself. Old, handed down – memories you can’t know from the family you do.
Maybe it’s the status of having that exquisite designer piece of furniture.
Maybe the dresser possesses you.
What is your ‘dresser’?
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“All you are unable to give possesses you.” – Andre Gide, French guy, 1869-1951
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 22, 2009 | Victor Hugo |
A vintage napkin from 2001 for your contemplative pleasure.
I don’t remember now why I have a nail talking in this drawing. Anyone want to give a whack at how the quotes are connected?
I am a science fan and think science says a heck of a lot of great things. I even have my own little theory that back in the day (the day meaning about 2,ooo year ago) religion was science. It was the best, most intellectually valid explanation at the time for what was happening in the world.
As a matter of fact, I wonder if this quote might be equally valid of we exchanged the word ‘religion’ for ‘science’. hmmmm…interesting to contemplate.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“Science say the first word on everything, and the last word on nothing.” – Victor Hugo, French Author, 1802-1885
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 21, 2009 | Antonio Porchia, Heart - 2010 |
Pretty simple really, the more you feel for others the less it takes to be moved.
Some are always wary of people caring about them, especially if the person doing the caring is in a stereotyped group.
Some don’t let themselves be cared for out of worry about being exploited or taken advantage of.
Some don’t care for others because they don’t feel anyone cares the same for them, and that is unfair.
Some think they aren’t worthy of being paid attention to in their pain and so never let it be known.
Some love to care but don’t have proper boundaries or discipline.
But no matter what the mutation of care is, we can all strive towards having that pure heart of love; the heart that cares, that pays attention, that is helpful.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“A large heart can be filled by very little.” – Antonio Porchia, 1886-1968, Argentinian printer and writer
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 20, 2009 | Death - 2001-2011, Jorge Wagensberg |
I know, I know. Who’s to say life before birth is all that bad, right? I mean you get to float around in warm water, get fed intravenously, and travel safe wherever you go. Maybe that is what happens after life as well. How are we to know.
The quote made me wonder and so, here are my profound questions of the day. Do you exist before conception? If so, where and in what form? If not, then how do we end up living for eternity given that we had a specific starting point in time before which we did not exist?
Just something light to think about as you go about your day.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“Life after death can’t be much worse than life before birth.” – Jorge Wagensberg, 1948 – not dead yet, Spanish academic
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 19, 2009 | Francois de La Rochefoucauld |
A variation on a theme I return to again and again, that of mixed motives in what we do in life.
Most people look for purity of motive in deciding whether to judge someone positive or negative. The more obvious virtue in the act, the better the judgment, the more vanity in the act, the worse the judgment.
I think that is us being enamored of a fictitious ideal. We like the stories of old that idealize the heroes and it such a clear and easy world those stories tell of that we dearly wish to find that in real life. However, reality is the ultimate hard-ass partner, not allowing us the luxury of that fantasy for very long.
Why not simply embrace that virtue and vanity are linked, that one will always travel with the other. Why think that is wrong for them to travel side by side? Why not welcome them when they accompany one of your friends or family, or a celebrity you see on TV? You might as well, since you know V and V are going to accompany you when you go visiting, and you would like them to be welcomed as part of who you are, right?
It makes life much more comfortable and real to admit the reality of our lives and our motives in it.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“Virtue would not go so far without vanity to keep it company.” – Francois, Duc de la Rochefoucauld, French aphorist and swashbuckling roque, 1613-1680
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 18, 2009 | Albert Einstein, Education - 2016 |
Quote is by Albert Einstein. Enough said.
Ok, not enough said. In honor of students going back to school and college I am presenting a napkin about the end of school. I do this so you who are taking care of these students will keep in mind throughout the year that they are learning school stuff and they are learning life stuff. You are teaching them both whether you realize it or not.
Realize it.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 17, 2009 | Rainer Maria Rilke |
It isn’t easy, but all of life is about it.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“We need in love to practice only this: Letting each other go. For holding on comes easily – we do not need to learn it.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 13, 2009 | Lillian Watson |
Kids today have it so much harder than we did.
America used to be a nation of ‘Christian’ principles.
People used to care about each other.
Neighbors used to know each other and watch out for each other.
Children were better educated back then.
We don’t have a strong moral foundation any more.
The earth is getting more and more polluted and no one is doing anything about it.
It was better when all food were local and you knew the farmers who grew it.
Entertainment used to be so wholesome and uplifting, not like today’s mean music and movies.
SO, having said all that, I would like to hear from YOU, what is BETTER now than in ages past?
Drawing © 2017 Marty Coleman
“There has never been an age that did not applaud the past and lament the present.” – Lillian Eichler Watson, author of ‘Light From Many Lamps – A Treasury of Inspiration’ and ‘The Book of Etiquette’, (early 1900s)
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 12, 2009 | Edwin Teale, Heart - 2010 |
The first half of this quote is ‘The Measure of an enthusiasm must be taken between interesting events”.
In other words, keep your faith and your drive going when there is nothing outside yourself to bring it out or else you will likely falter and give up.
Don’t give up.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“It is between bites that the luke warm angler loses heart.” – Edwin Way Teale, 1899-1980, American naturalist, photographer and writer.
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 12, 2009 | Ken Keyes jr. |
I don’t pretend to speak for those living in crime ridden streets, poverty infested countries or hatred filled societies, but in middle class America, this is true.
You see what you expect to see. The tragedy is in those who think they are looking at the one and only reality. Some fear acknowledging a loving world exists because it would mean they have to show trust and love themselves, something that could lead to disappointment and hurt. Others fear acknowledging a hostile world exists because hostility leads down a path of anger and destruction in their mind and they have to much at stake to go down that road.
Both fears have validity but it is forgotten that acknowledging something exists doesn’t indulging and approving of that same thing. Take your time, love one thing or allow that one person’s grievance has some truth. See where that goes.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 10, 2009 | Anonymous |
Of course you wouldn’t take money for your family, that seems to be a no brainer.
But what about your ‘stuff’. What among your stuff wouldn’t you sell, and why? Want to bet 100% of those things have sentimental value attached to your family or closest friends?
The spinning wheel that belonged to your great grandmother, as well as the photo showing it in the corner of your grandmother’s first home.The quilt your aunt made for your father when he returned from the war. The little sewing kit you remember your mother bringing out whenever a button needed to be sewn back on. The painting your grandfather did. The colorful rocks you collected on the rafting trip with your best friends.
It is the sentiment, the emotional connection to things and people that you don’t want to sell.
What are you doing to continue to create that sort of wealth in your life?
Drawing © Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 9, 2009 | Job Elmer Hedges |
What the heck is that thing, anyway? Why is purple duck-lip guy (girl?) kneeling and kissing it? What is its purpose and value?
Green comb-over guy doesn’t know. All he knows is someone has something he doesn’t have and that makes him jealous and envious. He will now pay a lot of money to get a gold thingamajig just like it.
I wish I had a hundred of them in my garage to sell.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“Lots of people know a good thing the minute the other fellow sees it first.” – Job Elmer Hedges, republican primary candidate for NY governor in 1912 & 1914.
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 8, 2009 | Kenneth Tynan |
I hope you are enjoying a peaceful and joyful weekend. I am offering another vintage napkin today from around 1999 or so. I started drawing them back then but didn’t start to date them consistently until later.
This isn’t a harsh criticism of critics, as a matter of fact it seems to be saying they are pretty good at part of the journey. They just don’t happen to be able to get there by themselves. But it’s nice to have people pointing the way and I think critics have an important place in doing that to some degree.
The creative person should always realize they control the ‘car’ and don’t have to go where the critic tells them to!
Drawing © Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 7, 2009 | Art, Pauline Kael |
First off, a Philistine is what Goliath was in the Old Test. Over the centuries since that little spat the tribe came to represent those who as have no class and no taste or interest in the finer things in life; art, music, dance, books, ideas, etc.
Think how messed up this is. One has a set of tastes. He thinks his tastes are pedestrian and common. He looks up to others who he thinks have better taste. Those are the very people who make fun of his tastes.
So, a few questions:
Aren’t the snobs actually judging the Philistine exactly as he judges himself, as inadequate and ignorant?
What should the Philistine do? Try to acquire the tastes and sensibilities of the snobs or accept himself and his tastes as they are and stop thinking others are superior to him?
What should the snob do? Lower his perceived standard of taste to include the philistine? Change his mind and realize that all tastes and cultures are equal?
What do you think? if you get this via a reader, go to the actual blog and put in your two cents worth!
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“One of the surest signs of the Philistine is his reverence for the superior tastes of those who put him down.” – Pauline Kael, American movie critic
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 6, 2009 | Buckminster Fuller |
Apart from artists it seems scientists and mathematicians are the most in tune to the idea of beauty. You constantly hear them talk about the elegant simplicity and beauty of an equation or a principle. I like that. It proves to me that beauty isn’t something apart from life, it is the essence of life.
Since we have brains that can think about these things we also have the ability to not think about them. Some people never are able to contemplate and enjoy beauty on a large or small scale with any consistency. Most of those people seem to end up being pretty sad and angry it seems to me.
Beauty is a salvation.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“When I’m working on a problem, I never think about beauty. But if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” – R. Buckminster Fuller, 1895, 1983, American author, inventor, architect, visionary, futurist.
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 5, 2009 | Henry J. Kaiser |
It is good not to interrupt but it is smart to have a good translator handy in case your boss doesn’t understand the language your work is speaking!
……………………………………
Don’t forget to pass the napkins along if you find them of interest!
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.” – Henry J. Kaiser, 1882-1967, American Industrialist
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 4, 2009 | Fame, John Churton Collins |
This quote is SO TRUE!
Think of all the things people are paranoid about that have a truly miniscule risk. maybe it is elevators, or boats or sidewalks or spiders or a million other things. Is it really likely you will be hurt by any of those? No.
But think about your desires; drink, sex, gambling, money, fame…Man, those things can kill you!
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“There is often less danger in the things we fear than in the things we desire.” – John Churton Collins, 1848-1908, English Literary Critic
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 3, 2009 | Christian Morgenstern |
I am home now, after a 10 day trip to California to tend to my father, who broke his hip.
Coming home always reminds me not just of the joy of being home right now, but of the many homes I have had over the years; at work, at play, among family, friends, cottages, cabins, apartments, restaurants, and beaches.
What do they all have in common? That I felt great joy in being there among people who knew me, understood me, and loved me, and I them.
That is where home can always be, no matter where you live.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“Home is not where you live but where they understand you.” – Christian Morgenstern, German author/poet, 1871-1914
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 2, 2009 | Martin Buber |
What you expect to see and learn vs. what you really end up seeing and learning is usually different when you go on a journey. As a matter of fact if you know everything that will happen and everything you will experience in advance, what’s the point of going, right?
When my daughters and I went to Europe a few years back, the coolest experiences were ALL things we had no idea were going to happen. They included the Monaco Grand Prix, a bull fight in a roman empire arena in the south of France, a poetry reading in Italian at the Guggenheim piazza in Venice, going to see one of the matrix movies in Germany (in german) and surfers on a river in the middle of Munich. The fun and joy and excitement of coming across those things made the vacation worth while, all by themselves!
Allow for wonder and the unexpected, it’s fun.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 1, 2009 | Andrew Jackson, Mary Little |
No more series for a while. Just a relaxing, funny quote and drawing for you to consider.
I know there are many who don’t like having anything hanging over them and can’t relax as long as that is there. But there are others who allow that things will get done, and some things won’t and it’s ok. They are the ones who can relax and enjoy life in spite of having things to do and people to see.I am in that category. What category are you in?
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it!” – Andrew Jackson
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I was inspired to draw this after having been interviewed this morning for my exhibition ‘IN public|private’ opening tonight (8/28/09).
