I have a full and satisfying life. I’m married to Carlin, a wonderful wife and companion. We have 5 grown children and 14 grandchildren. I’ve written 12 books, which to me are their own kind of children, and I’ve been offering my counseling services to men and women in my little town of Willits, CA and with people throughout the world for more than 40 years.
I write and post articles here on my own blog and on other sites including The Huffington Post, ThirdAge, The Good Men Project, Good Therapy, and other venues. I felt inspired to begin sharing more of my private thoughts on the creative process after picking up Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered.
This, from the 9th way is called SELL OUT. That got my attention. No one wants to be a “sell out,” right? Here’s what Austin says: “People need to eat and pay the rent. ‘An amateur is an artist who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint,’ said artist Ben Shan. ‘A professional is someone whose wife works to enable him to paint.’ Whether an artist makes money off his work or not, money has to come from somewhere, be it a day job, a wealthy spouse, a trust fund, an arts grant, or a patron.” “We have to get over our ‘starving artist’ romanticism and the idea that touching money inherently corrupts creativity,” Kleon says.
It’s taken me a long time to learn this lesson. My father was a starving artist. He became depressed and tried to take his own life when I was 5 years old. I’d like to be an artist that sells out his work. The more I sell, the more ease I have to create more and share it with you.
I’d enjoy hearing from you below. Your comments, questions, experiences, thoughts, memories, dreams, and reflections—all add to the community we’re creating here.
Write on!
I have never understood how money changes the creative process, we live in a society that uses money for services and goods, some things are easier accepted, unless ones art is somehow expressing their position, or deeply held feeling about how money impacts people and relationships. Everyone’s relationship with money is their choice, even what they choose to bring it in, work 80 hrs a week on Wall St. and you will have a whole lot more income then if you choose to make sandwiches at a local deli. Working smart, creating yourself to be marketable, delivering a valued service will bring financial success, if it is your passion then you have created something special. If your work is to pay the bills and you do it well most times rewards will come; if you hate your work, play victim, envy those who are successful then most likely you will be unhappy. I see these ways of being as a choice, I still believe that we create our own reality. We can rage against reality, the baseline or we can be what we have to be to create what it is we want, I believe we still have enough freedoms left for this reality. There are of course the ends of the spectrum this does not apply to but there re still enough examples of those at the ends of the spectrum who have be dealt a not so good hand and have created a happy life for themselves. As for the starving artist, perhaps starvation is a force multiplier, in that it forces the artist to dig down and do their best work knowing that only their best will be marketable, if an artist has to starve to be good then who am I to say they are wrong as long as they understand the self imposed rules they have created for themselves. If I read a good book, I will tell others about the the good book I read, I really don’t care if the writer is starving, if its good its good; “Starry Night” moves me every time I see it, was Van Gogh starving? Was he in the mitts of a psychotic break? It doesn’t matter when I see it I feel something that makes me want to look at it more, buy a print, hang it on a wall. If starving is good motivation for creating the ones best work then stop eating..
Bill, Thanks for the thoughtful comments. I agree, we do create our own reality and money is one of those areas of life that has taken me a long time (and I continue to learn more) to sort out and come to peace with.