Take a peek at the following five quotes.
1. “I am closer to my work than to anything on earth. That’s my marriage.” — Louise Nevelson
2. “With my idealism about dance, it was insane to pretend that I could compromise in another area of my life. So I am not available for romance–except for accidents, which do sometimes happen.” — Violette Verdy
3. “I can always be distracted by love, but eventually I get horny for my creativity.” — Gilda Radner
4. “I have a wife too many already, namely this art, which harries me incessantly.” – Michelangelo
5. “Love is the extremely difficult realization that someone other than oneself is real.” — Iris Murdoch
Each quote speaks in its own way to a common challenge that artists face, deciding somewhere out of conscious awareness that creating is not only more important than relating but that perhaps relating isn’t really very important at all.
Have you come to this conclusion? If so, I invite you to rethink your position, since creating without relating can lead to lots of productivity but also to a cold and lonely life. Isn’t it likely that creating AND relating is rather better than creating OR relating?
I agree. Actually my art gives me such pleasure and when I am happy and satisfied with it I find I can enjoy and relate to others much better.
Isn’t our life our biggest creation? Having loving relationships help to enrich our lives. Each person we are close to adds a new color, a new song or a fun dance. Creating harmony with them is as challenging as creating harmony in a painting for me. As much as I love to go off on my own and paint, I strive to connect deeply with people I love. I desire to have better relationships with my friends, to make more time for them. This is challenging since I want to work at my art 24/7. The more I work on my relationships with people though, I feel my artwork gets clearer and better as well. So, I strive for balance.
Eric, you have played an important role in my life. I’ll write you and tell you how. Thank you for your great work.