Pearls from artists* # 55
Alexandria, VA
* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.
Once a work is completed, I have to wait before undertaking another. The completed work does not release me quickly. It moves its chattels slowly. The wise thing then is a change of air and of room. The new material comes to me on my walks. Whatever happens I mustn’t notice it. If I interfere, it doesn’t come any more. One fine day the work demands my help. I give myself up to it in one fell swoop. My pauses are its own. If it falls asleep my pen skids. As soon as it wakes, it gives me a shake. It couldn’t care less if I am asleep. Get up, it says, so that I can dictate. And it is not easy to follow. Its vocabulary is not of words.
Jean Cocteau in The difficulty of Being
Comments are welcome!
Posted on August 28, 2013, in 2013, An Artist's Life, Art in general, Creative Process, Inspiration, Pearls from Artists, Photography, Quotes and tagged "The Difficulty of Being", air, Alexandria_VA, another, asleep, care, change, chattel, come, complete, day, demand, dictate, fall, fine, follow, get up, give, happen, help, interfere, Jean Cocteau, material, move, myself, notice, one fell swoop, own, pause, pen, quickly, release, room, say, shake, skid, slowly, undertake, vocabulary, wait, wake, walk, whatever, wise, word, work. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
barbararachkoscoloreddust.com 
What interesting insight while on your walks that give you a wonderful creative passion .
the change of language – or dialect or genre – is important enough to make you stop and recharge all your perceptive and receptive energies. Both are so significant in the process, both perceiving and receiving, because you’re participating: participating with some segment of the world, with an unseen mentor, with the other half of your intellect and soul.
This sort of switching, of voice, genre, language, world-views, happens in David Mitchell’s books. Pulling off this trait with eclat – and creating a different structure than the norm – is why he’s known as “a genius.”