creativity, inspiration & success

understand the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. use it. dwell on the possibilities.- oprah winfrey

black sheep pen recently interviewed artist, jan harrison on his new blog, which focuses on the successful channeling of creativity. her interview is the only post so far, but so worth visiting and reading everything she has to share.  so very inspiring. i will definitely be adding black sheep pen's blog to my reader, so i can easily follow all his future posts.

i think what jan harrison says here is so incredibly powerful:

A successful artist is a person who is able to create something that manifests their truth...a perception that they feel they need to bring to the world. A successful creative person is someone who continues to create no matter what happens. I respect many artists. They are not all extremely successful in the art market, or in the art status structure. Some are, and some aren't. Some of the ones I respect have been overlooked. But I still consider them to be successful, because they have succeeded to give the world their vision, even though the world does not always acknowledge their worth...In other words, I define a successful career as much more than just external validation.

I love to exhibit my work, because I love to share it with other people. I am delighted when someone purchases my art. But, even that is not a true measure of success for an artist.

What I do is meaningful to me because it helps me to live in the world. I am working for my character…and the work I do brings me closer to my true self, and to a universal self.

i also love how ms. harrison speaks of her art pieces evolving as she works.  i also feel this way as a photographer.  i have many people ask me about how i edit or what actions i use to edit...and while there are certain actions that i consistently love to play with, i can honestly say that no two photographs are edited the same.  i kind of equate my editing to painting (although i've never actually painted, it's what i imagine a painter would do and how one would feel as he painted).  i feel my work.  and i edit and work with the image, until it feels right...

for the image. for my mood.

and i close with these words from jan harrison, which also greatly speak to me.  i, too, have never been blessed with a great deal of self-confidence, but i do have the courage (love and passion) that she speaks of.

I have never been blessed with a great deal of self-confidence. I think that is partly because I have dyslexia, and right and left are confusing to me. Learning in school was difficult. But I do have courage, which makes up for the lack of self-confidence. Even when times have been difficult, I have continued working...because creating art, for me, is a form of meditation, a necessary part of my life.

thank you black sheep pen for sharing jan harrison with us.  thank you jan harrison, for your honesty and words of wisdom.

this path of creativity is the most challenging and most rewarding path i have ever walked.  having only recently embraced this path, i look forward to what this path has in store for me and where it will take me.