(I adapted this article Advice from famous writers on how (and why) to write I suggested that someone ought to replace the word write with paint. I did. For your enjoyment:) A lot of people think they can write or paint or draw or sing or make movies or what-have-you, but having an artistic temperament doth not make one an artist. Even the great painters of our time have tried and failed and failed some more. Vladimir Nabokov received a harsh rejection letter from Knopf upon submitting Lolita, which would later go on to sell fifty million copies. Sylvia Plath’s first rejection letter for The Bell Jar read, “There certainly isn’t enough genuine talent for us to take notice.” Gertrude Stein received a cruel rejection letter that mocked her style. Marcel Proust’s Swann’s Way earned him a sprawling rejection letter regarding the reasons he should simply give up writing all together.So even if you’re an utterly fantastic painter who will be remembered for decades forthcoming, you’ll still most likely receive a large dollop of criticism, rejection, and perhaps even mockery before you get there. Having been through it all these great writers offer some writing tips without pulling punches. The first painting is shit. -Ernest Hemingway Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass. -David Ogilvy If you have any young friends who aspire to become painters, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy. – Dorothy Parker Notice how many of the Olympic athletes effusively thanked their mothers for their success? “She drove me to my practice at four in the morning,” etc. painting is not figure skating or skiing. Your mother will not make you a painter. My advice to any young person who wants to paint is: leave home. -Paul Theroux I would advise anyone who aspires to a painting career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide. — Harper Lee You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. ― Jack London painting a painting is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. — George Orwell There are three rules for painting a painting. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. ― W. Somerset Maugham If you don’t have time to look at other’s paintings, you don’t have the time — or the tools — to paint. Simple as that. – Stephen King Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong. – Neil Gaiman Imagine that you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you finish this painting? Why not? The thing that annoys this 10-weeks-to-live self is the thing that is wrong with the painting. So change it. Stop arguing with yourself. Change it. See? Easy. And no one had to die. – Anne Enright 12. If painting seems hard, it’s because it is hard. It’s one of the hardest things people do. – William Zinsser Here is a lesson in painting. First rule: Do not use _______________. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college. – Kurt Vonnegut Prose is architecture, not interior decoration. – Ernest Hemingway paint drunk, critique sober. – Ernest Hemingway Get through a painting as quickly as possible. Hard to know the shape of the thing until you have a draft. Literally, when I painted _________________________ I thought, Oh, shit, now I get the shape of this. But I had wasted years, literally years, painting and re-painting the first third to first half. The old painter’s rule applies: Have the courage to paint badly. – Joshua Wolf Shenk Substitute ‘________’ every time you’re inclined to paint ‘___________;’ delete it and the painting will be just as it should be. – Mark Twain Start painting the stories that only you can tell, because there’ll always be better painters than you and there’ll always be smarter painters than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that — but you are the only you. ― Neil Gaiman Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. – Oscar Wilde You must stay drunk on painting so reality cannot destroy you. ― Ray Bradbury.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 19:07:46 +0000
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