I saw a quote from Einstein the other day. Now, I don’t necessarily believe he actually said it, since a gazillion quotes are said to be from him that aren’t, but it doesn’t really matter. The quote is this: “Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury…to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best for both the body and the mind.”
I disagree with it for a few reasons. One is nothing is ever ‘best for everyone’.
Form
Two, beauty (or form if you will) matters. It’s not immaterial or without merit to have something be pleasing or interesting to the senses. A great illustration of this is seen in this interaction from the movie, ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ where a young woman is given a lesson in how her purely functional, non-luxurious sweater actually has its roots in choices made at the top end of fashion luxury. Take a look.
Form and Function
The quote I chose allows for both form (beauty) and function (usefulness) to have it’s place in our lives. If we focus on those two things, both equally valid, we can actually live a good life.
Quote by William Morris, 1834 – 1896, English writer, designer and artist. A founding participant in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ movement.
I am republishing this from 14 years ago today. The quote is still true. I feel like I have progressed some since then. Not completely but I feel I am a more trustworthy person than I was in 2009. Why do I think that? Because I have tried to practiced it. That is the only way anyone gets better at anything. If you don’t practice it repeatedly, you’ll never become it.
Original text – I am basically preaching to myself this week. This isn’t because I am not a trusting person, I am. More than most probably. I assume the best of intentions, I assume people will do what they say they are going to do. It doesn’t always happen, but I would rather get burned once in a while and be a trusting person than always be safe but have to trust no one.
Why I do need to hear this stuff about trust is because I am always needing to work on being a more trustworthy person. I think I am better than some, not as good as others. But I am not as trustworthy as I would always like to be. It’s a process of doing the right thing, the good thing, the promised thing, again and again and again. It takes patience and discipline, knowing boundaries and constantly remembering what I have promised.
I suppose most of us struggle with it, at least I hope I am not alone with it, am I?
I recently finished a sketchbook. It’s a weird thing to finish a sketchbook. I always feel like a relationship is ending. The feel, paper, size, look are all unique. How it takes ink, how I hold it, how it fits as I go somewhere is different with each sketchbook. Some allow me to draw inconspicuously while others are too big to hide. Some say ‘hippie natural’ while others say ‘serious conformist artist’.
But most importantly, what I draw in it is different based on all those things. Some lend themselves to drawing live while others tend to move me to draw purely imaginative images. It isn’t exclusive, I draw live and imaginatively in every sketchbook but there is an inclination depending on the book.
Here are some from a sketchbook that lent itself to a lot of imaginative drawing. I chose recent paintings that include polka dots or other type of recurring pattern on the clothing. I often do this so as to give definition to a form or to define a something as in front of or behind something else. They also include a lot of people holding microphones. That is because I often start the drawing in church, lightly memorizing the person on stage during the singing, then drawing a version of that person once the sermon starts.
Enjoy and let me know what you think. Do you have a favorite?
This summer I went to visit my daughter Rebekah and her family in Virginia. I was particularly excited to spend time with my 10 year old granddaughter, Vivian. The first day we went museum hopping in Washington, DC. We spent time seeing selections from the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery of Art and The National Archives. Vivian was a trooper, walking over 9 1/2 miles that day with nary a peep. Bribing her with Boba Tea at the end helped.
The first four shown here are from an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery called ‘BRAVO!” which highlighted people in the entertainment industry over the decades. I was particularly taken by these paintings of women and their stories of overcoming strong obstacles to achieve their goals. The fifth, ‘Amarilla’, was elsewhere in the museum but I really liked it so I included it.
50 years ago I graduated from High School. Do you know what that means? No, not that I am old, which I am not (I know this to be true because everyone tells me I look so young I could be celebrating my 49th, not my 50th…)
It means I recently attended my 50th High School Reunion (Darien High School in Darien, Connecticut.) I moved there at the beginning of Jr. High and moved away after High School, living in the town for only 6 of my 68 years. But what a 6 year span it was. My identity was forged in those years and I left with the vision and intention to become a practicing artist, which I did. So did many others in my class. We had a strong art department in our school and many of us went on to have vocations and avocations in the arts. Many others didn’t go into art immediately but had their talent and practice come out later in life. Either way, there was and is a lot of creative activity.
The result of that was the planning committee including an art exhibition and opening as part of the weekend. There are a lot of fantastic pieces so if you are near Darien, Connecticut go check the show out at the Darien Public Library. It’s up until mid-September, 2023. I sent in a suite of 9 napkin drawings as my contribution. Here they are. They are for sale at $200.00 a piece, framed. They are approximately 6″ x 6″ so they fit perfect in small areas. Contact me at marty@martycoleman.com if you are interested.
Click on any image to see a slide show of them all.
I recently ran the Cowtown Half Marathon in Fort Worth, Texas and took the opportunity while there to visit one of my favorite museums, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. I’ve been a number of times before while visiting my niece who attends TCU nearby but this time I made sure to take pictures of some of my favorite pieces in the collection.
The Carter is one of 3 museums in the same location. The others are the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Kimbell Art Museum, both of which are incredible in their own right, both architecturally and because of the permanent collections and temporary exhibitions.
No offense to Fort Worth’s more attention-getting cousin, but Dallas doesn’t have anything on Fort Worth when it comes to museums. Don’t get me wrong, I love the DMA, but these three museums are really special.
Chimney and Water Tower, Charles Demuth
Two Herons 1948-50, William Lester, Oil on Masonite
Finally, after many years of not being able to get out and draw live i’ve started to sketch in person again. These are from the winter of 2022-2023 in various locales; in a waiting room, at a pharmacy, at a coffee shop, in church and on a train. Sometimes I talk to the person, sometimes I don’t. It all depends on the circumstances and proximity.
‘Shit’ – 2022 ‘Not Sure About That’ – 2022 ‘Dostoevsky on Dart’ – 2023 ‘Anita at the Pharmacy’ – 2022 ‘Becky in a Boot’ – 2023 Man at the Modern Well Coffee Shop’ – 2022
‘A lion roars when they want, not when they are told’
Kara Goucher
A few days ago I saw a post by Kara Goucher the former professional runner and now TV analyst. She was talking about her mantra as she was growing up, which was,
“Be patient little lion, there will be plenty of time to roar.”
She went on to describe how much it helped her through many setbacks, how it was her mantra of patience as things in her running career and her personal life didn’t always go as expected. It served her well and she eventually became an olympian, world champion and elite competitor for decades. In addition she’s been a fierce advocate for a clean sport in running, with rigorous drug protocols to prevent cheating. She goes on to encourage others in her essay that if they are in a season requiring patience to remember there will be a time for them to roar. She’s someone to admire.
What Is a Roar, Anyway?
Her quote made me think about lions and when they roar so I came up with this companion quote to hers.
“A Lion roars when they want, not when they are told.”
Kara did all sorts of things when she was supposed to. She followed training plans that laid out what she was supposed to do and when. She planned specific races on specific dates where she wanted to accomplish specific things. So didn’t she roar when she was told, either by her coach, program, schedule, race? No, because that wasn’t the roar. That was the hunting for food, the protection of territory, the building of her fitness and stamina. It was all the things lions (and people) do quietly without attention and without glory in pursuit of a goal.
The Roar Moment
The roar happened when she wanted something and she chose that moment to go after it. She chose that time to express the roar that was inside her all along. The roar that she had been practicing and honing for months and years. She chose it to let it out and show the world she was the lion she had trained to be.
Roaring doesn’t guarantee success. A lion can roar and still not catch their prey. What the roar does is signal the world you are ready to fight for what you want. Whether it’s a race, a career jump, a big relationship move or something else. Your roar is your statement that you want something and you are going to go for it.
Are you ready to roar? Find your moment, the moment of your choosing, and roar away little lion!
These are available for purchase as NFTs (nonfungible tokens) or as prints. Message me on instagram or FB (thenapkindad) or email me @ marty@martycoleman.com
