One time after I’d given a talk, a young man approached me and asked if I could give some advice to his brother. His brother wasn’t there, but he told me he was an artist and struggling with the marketing part. He wondered if maybe I’d have a word for him.<\/p>\n
For a moment I was blank. \u201cThis is very strange,\u201d I thought, \u201ca man asking for advice for another not there with no way for me to get an impression of the person or his art. I almost said, \u201cNo,\u201d but then thought better of it and said, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTell him to walk through every door that opens, and knock on many others.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was it. I don’t remember the man’s response, and I have no idea what happened after.<\/p>\n
It seemed that bit advice, which I’d never said before, not in that way, was just general enough for many things, and possibly exactly right for that one.<\/p>\n
Because for many an artist it’s not the art-making that’s the struggle, but the rest of it, even when the work is good.<\/p>\n
If the work isn’t good yet, that’s another challenge. But when you think about it, a lot of people are “succeeding” with so-so artwork, while others with brilliant work can’t seem to get going.<\/p>\n
A lot of\u00a0the art-making game, like so much else, involves the element of getting it out in front of people, into galleries, into shows, onto walls, in front of those who might like it, might buy it, could use it.<\/p>\n
And all that can require an initiative that doesn’t come naturally. Certainly not to those more comfortable in the privacy of their own studios, or the privacy of their own minds.<\/p>\n
But it’s part of the equation. Paintings are made for walls, not for storage units.<\/p>\n
But how? What? Where? When?<\/p>\n
Who knows? There are many ways. Until one finds the right way, the answer is to try them all.<\/p>\n
When a door opens, don’t be shy. One will lead to another.<\/p>\n
Go through every door that opens, and knock on a lot of others.<\/p>\n
It’s for all of us.<\/p>\n
And maybe you have a brother that needs to hear it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
_________________<\/p>\n
PS Thanks for all the remarks on last week’s post, \u201cA Turn in the Road.\u201d That Damascus Roads<\/em> video is now on my website under a new section: \u201cVideos.\u201d Feel free to share it with any who could use it or just enjoy it (like maybe a brother).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Often we’re moribund and all stressed out, not knowing what to do. Here’s a word that might help . . . for you or your brother. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6846"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10709,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6846\/revisions\/10709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}