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There are many diverse and complicated ways in which early trauma, recent trauma, and ongoing trauma affect your ability to create, influence your subject matter choices, and make living the creative life that much more difficult. I am currently researching the...

Is it discipline or is it devotion? Or is it both! "People think I am disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great difference." -- Luciano Pavarotti "I had what it takes to make a good artist: sensitivity and tremendous willpower." -- Alice Neel...

Here are the concluding four tips on how to prove the exception. Enjoy! 7. Become really available You could act as if relating in the marketplace is a tremendously burdensome thing and make yourself only grudgingly available—for meetings, for interviews, for audience...

In a past post I provided three tips for proving the exception as an artist. In this post, I’ll provide three more and next week I’ll conclude with a last four. Proving the exception is vital: I hope these tips help point the way! 4. Step into the shoes of “someone...

Boredom is a serious psychological and existential problem for many people and an especially serious problem for creatives in recovery. If you’re creative, you’re likely to find boredom unbearable. That dreadful feeling is a trigger for using drugs or alcohol or...

Most artists experience fewer marketplace opportunities than they want or need. When one of those precious few opportunities nets little or nothing, the pain is tremendous. How can you deal with the reality that even marketed, promoted, and hyped events may produce...

How do artists think about beauty? In many, many different ways! “The pain passes but the beauty remains.” -- Pierre Auguste Renoir “The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.” -- Francis Bacon “If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon nd...

"I love red so much that I almost want to paint everything red." -- Alexander Calder ** "I hardly ever paint people unless I'm rather in love with them." -- Sylvia Sleigh ** "Every picture shows a spot with which the artist himself has fallen in love." -- Alfred...

Last week I asked you to think about the following question: “Is there a connection between my relationship to creating and my physical health?” This week I’d like to continue our discussion by providing you with some tips to help you deal with any mysterious physical...

It has surprised me to learn how many of my creative and performing artist clients are burdened by physical problems. Almost every client has a persistent, chronic ailment of some sort, many of the mysterious variety that can’t seem to get diagnosed properly. What is...