COLLECTED BY CREANOTES
Material for our
work surrounds us
at every turn.
It’s woven into conversation,
nature, chance encounters,
and existing works of art.
When looking for a solution
to a creative problem, pay
close attention to what’s
happening around you.
Look for clues
pointing to new
methods or ways
to further
develop current
ideas.
When
something
out of the
ordinary
happens,
ask
yourself
why.
What’s the
message?
What could
be the
greater
meaning?
All art is
a work in
progress.
Look at the
piece
you’re
working on
as an
experiment.
One in
which you
can’t
predict the
outcome.
Whatever the result,
you will receive
useful information
that will benefit
the next experiment.
WE’RE NOT PLAYING TO
WIN, WE’RE PLAYING TO
PLAY. AND ULTIMATELY,
PLAYING IS FUN.
PERFECTIONISM
GETS IN THE WAY
OF FUN.
THE PURPOSE OF
THE WORK IS TO
AWAKEN SOMETHING
IN YOU FIRST,
AND THEN ALLOW
SOMETHING TO BE
AWAKENED IN
OTHERS
An old man in Calcutta would walk to The old man looked at him and said, “I
get water from a well every day. He’d think I’m going to keep doing it the
carry a clay pot and lower it by hand way I always have. I really have to
slowly, all the way down, careful not think about each movement and there’s a
to let it hit the sides of the well and great deal of care that goes into doing
break. Once it was full, he’d raise the it right. I’d imagine if I were to use
pot slowly and carefully again. It was the pulley, it would become easy and I
a focused, time-consuming act. might even start thinking about
One day, a traveler noticed the old man something else while doing it. If I put
engaged in this difficult task. More so little care and time into it, what
experienced with mechanics, he showed might the water taste like? It couldn’t
the old man how to use a pulley system. possibly taste as good.”
“This will allow the pot to go straight
down quickly,” the traveler explained,
“then fill with water and come back up,
without hitting the sides. It’s much
easier and the pot will be just as full
with much less work.”
If you want to paint, you’re likely to begin by stretching canvas over a
rectangular wooden frame and propping it up on an easel. Based solely on the
tools selected, you’ve already exponentially narrowed what’s possible, before a
single drop of paint has made contact with the canvas.
We assume the equipment and format are
part of the art form itself. Yet
painting can be anything that involves
the use of color on a surface for an
aesthetic or communicative purpose. All
other decisions are up to the artist.
Genres come with distinct
variations on rules. A horror
film, a ballet, or a country album
— each come with specific
expectations. As soon as you use a
label to describe what you’re
working on, there’s a temptation
to conform to its rules.
The templates of the past can be
an inspiration in the beginning
phases, but it’s helpful to think
beyond what’s been done before.
The world isn’t
waiting for more
of the same.
Beware of the assumption that
the way you work is the best
way simply because it’s the
way you’ve done it before.
More often
than not,
there are no
right
answers, just
different
perspectives.
The more
perspectives
we can learn
to see, the
greater our
understanding
becomes.
Consider how different
your experience of the
world might be
if you engaged in every
activity with the
attention you might give
to landing a plane.
Impatience is an argument
with reality. The desire for
something to be different
from what we are experiencing
in the here and now.
When it comes to the creative process,
patience is accepting that the majority of
the work we do is r o l .
r con t
o u
out of
We can’t force greatness to happen. All we
can do is invite it in and await it
actively. Not anxiously, as this might
scare it off. Simply in a state of
continual welcoming.
Beginner’s mind is starting from a
pure childlike place of not
knowing. Living in the moment with
as few fixed beliefs as possible.
Seeing things for what they are as
presented. Tuning in to what
enlivens us in the moment instead
of what we think will work. And
making our decisions accordingly.
Any preconceived ideas and accepted
conventions limit what’s possible.
Kids are
creative
because they live in the
moment, value play above
all else, have no regard
for consequences, are
radically honest without
consideration, and have
the ability to freely
move from one emotion to
the next without holding
on to story. For them
each moment in time is
all there is. No future,
no past. I want it now,
I’m hungry, I’m tired.
All pure authenticity.
m t o
e a i c h
s , w w h i
i s t i n n a r y
a r t w a y r d i
As n a t r a o g l y
v e i e e x m i n
l i t h s e e n g e
s e e t h e l l e
w e i n c h a h a t
d d e n T h e n e w
h i e . s h a r
n d a n t o h a t
m u v e s a y t p s e
r s e l a w l i m
o u i n a g
s e e h e r s e
w e o t k a b l
l o w s m a r
al his re
o f t
u t y .
be a
For the lungs to draw in air,
they must first be emptied.
For the mind to draw
inspiration, it wants space
to welcome the new.
The universe seeks balance.
Most of what we
see in the
world holds the
potential to
inspire
astonishment if
looked at from
a less jaded
perspective.
Train yourself
to see the awe
behind the
obvious. Look
at the world
from this
vantage point
as often as
possible.
Submerge
yourself.
The way we do
anything is the
way we do
everything.
In the first phase of the creative
process, we are to be completely open,
collecting anything we find of
interest. We can call this the Seed
phase. We’re searching for potential
starting points that, with love and
care, can grow into something
beautiful. At this stage, we are not
comparing them to find the best seed.
We simply gather them.
A seed for a song could be a phrase, a
melody, a bass line, or a rhythmic
feel.
For a written piece, it may be a
sentence, a character sketch, a
setting, a thesis, or a plot point.
For a structure, a shape, a material
choice, a function, or the natural
properties of a location.
And for a business, it could be a
common inconvenience, a societal need,
a technical advancement, or a personal
interest.
Collecting seeds typically doesn’t
involve a tremendous amount of effort.
It’s more a receiving of a
transmission. A noticing.
As if catching fish, we walk to the
water, bait the hook, cast the line,
and patiently wait. We cannot control
the fish, only the presence of our
line.
Placing too much emphasis on a
seed or dismissing it
prematurely can interfere with
its natural growth. The
temptation to insert too much
of yourself in this first phase
can undermine the entire
enterprise. Be wary of taking
shortcuts or crossing items off
your list too quickly.
Often the most
accurate
signposts are
emotional, not
intellectual.
Excitement tends
to be the best
barometer for
selecting which
seeds to focus
on
Then comes the Experimentation phase.
There’s no right way to experiment.
Generally speaking, we want to begin
interacting with the seeds, developing
our starting point in different
directions. We are cultivating each
seed, much as a gardener creates
optimal conditions to foster growth.
If the seed is a character in a novel,
perhaps we widen the world they live
in, develop a backstory, or become the
character and start writing from their
point of view.
If the seed is a story for a film, we
might want to explore various settings.
It could be different countries,
communities, time periods, or
realities. Shakespeare’s plays, for
example, have been adapted into movies
centered around everything from New
York street gangs to samurais, from
Santa Monica to outer space.
Failure
is the
information
you need to
get where
you’re
going.
To dismiss an idea
because it doesn’t
work in your mind is
to do a disservice
to the art. The only
way to truly know if
any idea works is to
test it. To truly weigh choices, it’s
necessary to bring them into the
physical world. Have them acted
out, played out, or built into a
model. Descriptions do not do
ideas justice.
Craft phase is
one of the
least glamorous
parts of the
artist’s job.
There is
creativity
involved, but
it often
carries less of
the magic of
exploration and
more of the
labor of brick-
laying.
If you reach a section of
the work that gives you
trouble, instead of letting
this blockage stop you, work
around it. Although your
instinct may be to create
sequentially, bypass the
section where you’re stuck,
complete the other parts,
then come back to it.
If you’re holding a center
puzzle piece in your hand
and staring at an empty
tabletop, it’s difficult to
determine where to place it.
If all of the puzzle is
complete except for that one
piece, then you know exactly
where it goes. The same is
generally true of art. The
more of the work you can
see, the easier it becomes
to gracefully place the
final details clearly where
they belong.
The personal is
what makes art
matter. Our point
of view, not our
drawing skills or
musical virtuosity
or ability to tell
a story.
Feel
free
to
copy
the
works
that
inspire
you
on the
road
to
finding
your
own
voice
When is the work done?
There is no formula or
method for finding this
answer. It is an intuition:
The work is done when you
feel it is.
Hanging on
to your work
is like
spending
years writing
the same
entry
in a diary.
Moments and
opportunities
are lost. The
next works
are robbed of
being brought
to life.
Each mindset
evokes a
universal rule:
whatever we
concentrate on,
we get.
The works we do are at most chapters.
There will always be a new chapter, and
another after that. Though some might be
better than others, that is not our
concern. Our objective is to be free to
close one chapter and move on to the
next, and to continue that process for
as long as it pleases us
In their nature, many
artists lean toward one
of two categories:
Experimenters or
Finishers.
Experimenters are partial
to dreaming and play,
finding it more difficult
to complete and release
their work.
Finishers are the mirror
image, a backward
reflection. They move
quickly to the end point
with immediate clarity.
They are less interested
in exploring the
possibilities and
alternatives that the
Experimentation and Craft
phases can suggest.
The more formulaic your creation is,
the more it hugs the shore of what’s
been popular, the less like art it’s
likely to be.
The manuscript of the
novel you’ve worked on
for years is lost in a
fire. Your romantic
relationship breaks up
when you thought it was
going well. You lose a
job you care about. As
hard as it may seem,
seek to experience
events like these as if
you’re watching a
movie. You’re observing
a dramatic scene where
the protagonist faces a
seemingly
insurmountable
challenge.
The best response to the
pain of heartbreak or stressful
situation might be:
I wasn’t
expecting that
plot twist.
I wonder what’s
going to happen
to my hero next.
This practice of never assuming an experience you have is the whole story
will support you in a life of open possibility and equanimity. When we
obsessively focus on these events, they may appear catastrophic. But they’re
just a small aspect of a larger life, and the further you zoom back, the
smaller each experience becomes.
Art is about the maker.
Its aim: to be an
expression of who we
are. This makes
competition absurd
As Theodore
Roosevelt
pointed out,
comparison is
the thief of
joy.
Distilling a work to get it as close to its essence as possible is a useful and informative practice
When you look at the work,
practice truly seeing what’s
there, without a negativity
bias. Be open to seeing both
strength and weakness, instead
of focusing on the weakness and
allowing it to overwhelm the
strength. You might come to
realize 80 percent of the work
is quite good, and if the other
20 percent fits in just the
right way, the work becomes
magnificent. This is far better
than trashing the work because
one small part isn’t a perfect
fit. When you acknowledge a
weakness, always consider how it
could either be removed or
improved before discarding the
entire piece.
Do what you can
with what you have.
Nothing more
is needed.
If we like what we are
creating, we don’t have
to know why. Sometimes
the reasons are
obvious, sometimes not.
And they can change
over time. It could be
good for any of a
thousand different
reasons. When we’re
making things we love,
our mission is
accomplished. There’s
nothing at all to
figure out.
The call of the artist is to follow the
excitement. Where there’s excitement,
there’s energy. And where there is
energy, there is light. The best work
is the work you are excited about.
Take art seriously without
going about it in a serious
way.
Seriousness
misses the
playful
side of
being
a human
a b o u t
a y i s d i n g
h d b u i l
Eac g u p , t h e m
h o w i n a k i n g
s , b r e i n g ,
n g s m e n t
thi e x p e r i
d o w n , s i n g -
u r p r i f o u r
and s I f a e s t
l v e s . i n t e r
our s e o s e s
o l d l t h e y
y e a r - v i t y , e
a c t i m p l e t
i n a n t o c o e s
t r y m s e l v
do n ’ t e t h e
f o r c h i t .
it o r n w i t s
v e f u g e a r
to h a s h i f t h e r
j u s t A n o t
Th e y u e s t .
n e w q
to a f play.
r m o
fo
If one collaborator likes
Choice A and another
prefers Choice B, then the
solution is not to choose
A or B. It’s to keep
working until a Choice C
is developed that both
artists feel is superior.
Choice C may incorporate
elements of A, of B, of
both, or of neither.
We are not looking for
someone who thinks
like us, works like
us, and shares our
taste. If you and a
collaborator agree on
everything, then one
of you may be
unnecessary
On Feedback
The more clinical the feedback, the better it will be received.
Saying, “I think the colors in these two areas don’t interact well together,” is
more helpful than, “I don’t like the colors.
Though you may have a specific fix in mind, hold back from sharing it immediately.
The recipient may be able to come up with a better solution on their own.
When receiving feedback, a useful practice is to repeat back the information. You may
find that what you heard isn’t what was said. And what was said may not even be what
was actually meant.
We like to think
of ourselves as
consistent,
rational beings,
possessing certain
attributes and not
others. Yet a
person who is
completely
consistent, who
possesses no
contradictions,
comes across as
less real. Wooden.
Plastic.
As we move closer to the completion of a project, it can be helpful to drastically cut the work back to only what’s necessary,
to c
ondu
ct a
ruth
less
edit
.
If
you’ve
written
a book
that’s
over
three
hundred
pages,
try
to
reduce
it
to
less
than
a hundred
without
losing
its
essence.
“Making the simple complicated is commonplace,” Charles Mingus once said. “Making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”
When you contribute your point
of view to the world, others
can see it. It’s refracted
through their filter and
distributed again. This
process is continuous and
ongoing. Taken all together,
it creates what we experience
as reality.
