[warm-up, creative parenting]

Did you play this game as a child? It bears repeating and is a great thing to do with your own kids. It’s non-competitive, free, interactive and instructive, for adults as well as children. Plus, if you bring a creative slant to it, it can be an experience that teaches about the close relationship between smell, memory and creativity.

THE GAME:

Place a series of smells under the noses of blindfolded people and ask them to name them.

Best played in the kitchen.

That’s it.

However, it’s not as easy as it would seem to be. Sometimes the smell is as familiar as your own name but the word for it will not come. This is probably because in order to do this we have to utilize two separate parts of the brain. The part that identifies smells as familiar and known—and the part that puts a word to that familiar and known smell, ordinarily with the assistance of sight.

It would be a great game to play at a Halloween party since this holiday is already so much about masks and the senses. Make it part of your “Haunted House” and have the kids identify a few ‘bad’ smells along with the good or neutral.

If you’re just playing this at home, talk to your kids about the brain and memory. Sit down with them and do a quick free-writing exercise just to see what the non-verbal sense of smell has aroused in your c-minds. If your children are too young to write, let them dictate their stories.

You can also use some of your game smells as the basis for art work. After you’ve played the Smell Game, tell your kids they can make art with the ingredients. Explain that this art work may not be as lasting as if you were using paint. It might be a good time to teach them words like “transient,” “ephemeral,” and “fleeting” and to talk about art and artists who make art that is intentionally so.

Smell Art Ideas:

Sprinkle jello on a paper and let them use their fingers to make art (this is a great sensory-rich way to help them learn to write their letters and numbers, but save that for another more structured time ) Enhance the smell factor by letting them dip their fingers in lemon juice first!

Dip paper in strong tea, coffee, fruit juice.

Use berries to make dyes, paint with them!

Finger paint with (a little) peanut butter. (Maybe even jelly, too?)

Put glue on the paper and use aromatic spices as you would glitter.

Take one item—how about a lemon?—and do a whole picture out using all parts of the lemon.

And, this is a whole other article, but don’t forget: edible art! Pancakes with food colouring, popcorn ball people, rice cake worlds.

LINKS

Here’s a lovely website
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0110299/html/index.php made by three young people about the brain and the mind, including pages on creativity (take the How Creative are you? quiz), the senses and memory.

The Ephemeral Arts - check this one out. it’s all about ephemeral arts on the Indian sub-continent; here’s another link to the same site, one that gives examples of these kinds of art. Use them with your kids!

Stayed tuned for my own Ephemeral Arts article. Coming soon!

Have fun and never forget that anything you can do with kids and creativity, you should be doing for yourself anyway. Tapping into our childhood well, keeps creativity flowing strong!

Cooking is one of the few creative activities that I engage in pretty much everyday. However, I realized recently that somewhere along the line I stopped giving cooking the respect it deserves.

I have always enjoyed cooking but I guess my children—over time—with their penchant for the bland and the familiar, ate away at ( )the amount of creativity that I generally poured into daily meals. I remember my younger son exclaiming that a quickie “Sloppy Joe” dinner was “The best meal you’ve ever made, Mom!” That’s okay. As a busy mom, I’d take any compliment I could get.

But for years now, it’s ordinarily just my husband and myself and since we’re both adventurous eaters, I have free reign over what to cook. I’m not much of a planner. I work until my tummy tells me it’s time to eat, go downstairs, think about what I’m hungry for, see what’s available— sometimes pulling out three times as much as I’ll use—and start cooking. I rarely use a recipe for evening meals. The results are usually good and often delicious (my rule of thumb is Would I be happy if I’d paid for this at a restaurant? and often I can answer “Yes!” to that question)

However, I don’t usually think of it as part of my creative day.

Recently, I had a different kind of cooking that needed to be done. We—like many people this time of year—have a surplus of zucchini from our little garden. I don’t even particularly LIKE zucchini so I knew that I needed some creative ways of using up these mass quantities. I looked on the internet for zucchini breads and ran across a beautiful cooking blog called 101 Cookbooks by Heidi Swanson. There, I found a recipe for a zucchini bread with an ‘Indian’ twist. This looked perfect as I was having my book club over that weekend. Our book club does a pot luck dinner with food suggested by the book we’ve read and this time it was Indian.

I set to work making this and what I ended up with was not only a yummy dessert and a little less zucchini to deal with but also a renewed appreciation for cooking as both a creative outlet and catalyst.

Right from the start this zucchini bread recipe offered me two things: 1) the opportunity to bake—which I love but don’t allow myself the time to do and 2) a recipe to follow. Nothing earth-shattering there, but it dawned on me as I got into it that following a recipe was allowing me a mental escape. Follow the directions. Do this, then do this, then do that.

Relaxation was the first thing I noticed. I scooped and measured the dry ingredients, enjoying the gentle mess of flour as it sifted across the counter. I used my food processor with childlike glee to shred that huge zucchini in the photo in a just few seconds.

Then I noticed that the relaxation was overlaid with something else: stimulation. My sense of smell became activated in a major way by the ingredients. Lemon zest! Wow, what a virtual explosion of associations: summer and heat and childhood and so many others—all good! Then there were the more familiar but homey smells of pecans (being from Texas where pecans grow, I used them instead of walnuts), cinnamon and vanilla. My senses were further delighted by surprising ingredients such as crystallized ginger and curry powder. What yummy smells and sooo delicious.

By the time I popped the two pans in the oven, I was as relaxed, happy and energized as if I’d had a late-afternoon walk on the beach or a great yoga class. I felt raring to go! Ready to take on more baking (I used up more, though not all, of the zucchini on Heidi’s gorgeous chocolate zucchini cupcakes! which we are still enjoying around here) and more of anything creative I could get my hands on.

I would have come upstairs and written this post right then if I hadn’t had Book Club coming the next night!

What I realized—remembered—is that cooking, when we can relax into it involves the senses as few other activities do. Not only smell and—of course, taste—but touch and sometimes even hearing. And it’s one of those activities such as walking or riding a bike, driving or taking a shower that can put us into a C-mindful state. I’ve often worked through plot knots while cooking. The activity is absorbing enough that it distracts but it doesn’t require a great deal of concentration—sometimes none at all. Perfect for c-mind problem solving!

So here’s the reminder: We have to eat, so why not approach the occasional cooking *chore* as an opportunity to delight our senses, relax our minds and catalyze whatever we want to do with our excess creative energy.

bon appétit

[-painting, process, interview-]

Interview with artist, Donna Marsh
by Nancy Waldman

what I’m reading; oil on canvas, 8 x 16; © 07 donna marsh all rights res.

Donna is an internet friend whose juicy paintings have inspired me to begin painting again after a long time away from it. I knew that she had stopped painting for years and has returned to it fairly recently, so I asked her questions that are pertinent to this process of picking up a “lost art” and also ones that her paintings made me wonder about. I share my questions and Donna’s answers with you in the expectation that there are others out there who have gotten away from a creative activity that they love; those who need a push to get back to it.

Whether or not you’re in that situation, I know you’ll enjoy reading Donna’s story, her thoughts about painting and of course, seeing a few of Donna’s more recent paintings. If you are thinking about picking up a lost art, here is your nudge in the right direction.

green room with mirror; oil on canvas, 14 x 18; © 2007 donna marsh all rights reserved

What got you back into painting after a long time away from it?

I was working as a cashier at a grocery store. An old painter who has a name around here started talking art to me whenever I tallied his oranges. He gave me a book of his paintings. I also accepted an invitation to go see some of them. This was really exciting for me because I hadn’t thought about painting in a long time. After two years in a college fine arts program life moved on the way it does and I just forgot about it. I never really decided to stop. I just forgot I did it. When Mr. Nemeth found out I had bothered to study he wanted to see my paintings. I didn’t have any. He said, “But you don’t stop. You never stop. You can take a rest sometimes but you don’t stop.” Then he never stopped asking for that painting until I produced it. He had an answer for everything too. When I told him I didn’t have any paint he picked a day to go downtown and buy some. He gave me brushes. Later on he advised me to quit my job because I wasn’t painting enough.

I told him I needed the money. His answer, “The world looks after artists.” What a wonderful way to think. I thought it was a bit nuts but he was born in 1919. He had to know a thing or two.

It was like coming back to life to paint again.

houses, Dorval; oil on canvas, 20 x 20, © 2007 donna marsh all rights reserved

What’s been most difficult about getting back into it?

There was a lot of fear in the beginning. People see paintings. They’re hard to hide. Maybe I didn’t know how anymore and people would see that. I had to get over that “doing things right” anxiety because to get it back and then go forward, I had to be willing to let things go wrong. Also, painting is messy and takes up a lot of physical space. I had to learn how to take that space and defend that space because it was important. The same applied to the time. Defending the time has probably been the most difficult part of getting back into it. In school I was studying so nobody ever questioned it. It was hard to teach others and myself that “I’m home painting” does not equal “I’m doing nothing please interrupt me.”

balconies and fire escapes; oil on canvas, 30 x 36; © 2007 donna marsh, all rights reserved

Do you have any tips for other painters in the same situation?

People actually have opinions about what painters should paint. This can be a shock at first. But if they’re really dying for a certain image to come into being they can go paint it themselves. Paint what you want and don’t worry about it making sense or fitting in with what’s going on at the other easels or even fitting in with what you most admire. Sometimes these things don’t work out to be the same. I can sit for hours in front of large minimalist works that appear to be one grey, taking in the sweep of the brushstrokes and subtle gradations of light on the work. Though it wouldn’t excite me to paint that myself, I’m glad it excited Charles Gagnon enough to paint it. It’s taken me a few years to know what I want to paint. I find if it excites me I’m on the right track. Execution becomes a fascinating challenge.

let’s get lost; oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches; © 2007 donna marsh, all rights reserved

Do you paint from photos? what’s in front of you? memory? imagination?

I paint from photos and from what’s in front of me. I’m interested in painting more from memory. I think there’s always imagination in a painting. I admit I’ve been working out some guilt over the use of photos. I wasn’t trained that way. It wasn’t allowed. But I like to have something to look at as a starting point and I found the terrain too limited for what I wanted to do if I only painted “in situ”. I still enjoy getting out for some plein air work or I’ll drag the outdoor easel over to something in the house that interests me. There’s a different feeling to translating space that’s all around me and in front of me. I like to stay in touch with that.

a hotel window; oil on canvas, 20 x 24; © 2007 donna marsh, all rights reserved

In what ways has your painting changed over the years?

The big difference between now and then (when I stopped) is that my colours are brighter and I’m less inhibited. I like to feel the paint and really muck around in it. Impasto is no longer a stranger to me. In the years since I’ve restarted, I find my understanding of what I want to paint has become much clearer and the paintings make more sense to me as a group. Also as I gain more control over the paint I get looser.

drive-thru service; oil on canvas, 22 x 28; © 2007 donna marsh, all rights reserved

And now, my turn—why Donna’s work is so inviting and appealing to me.

Part of it is what Donna talks about when she mentions Charles Gagnon. Often what we like is something that we would never choose to paint ourselves. I am drawn to Donna’s urban and suburban landscapes because I wouldn’t think to paint them but I like seeing them. Her use of thick paint and bright colours for these seemingly drab subjects makes me want to re-think them. It makes me believe that I haven’t really seen what’s there.

I am also drawn in by the energy in these paintings. The brush strokes, the lines drawn into them, the runny paint, all impart the bodily energy that Donna uses when she paints. The paint may have dried and hardened but the energy is still there as I look at them.

I also notice space, or lack of it, in Donna’s work. In ‘houses, dorval’ we get a long wide open view. The paint is applied going away from us, stretching out in response to the scene. In ‘balconies and fire escapes’ the lack of space is part of what makes it all so effective. The representation of over-lapping structures makes me feel the crowdedness of a city.

Being representational scenes, there is also light to consider. With Donna’s paintings, the light is conveyed through colour. I don’t get the feeling that there is any separation as she paints, between the objects and the atmosphere and quality of light that is with them. This gives the a glow to the work that seems to radiate from within.

Energy, colour, looseness, inner light. It’s not ’safe’ painting and, for me, that’s why they work.

Thanks, Donna for sharing your work and your thoughts with us. You can see more of Donna’s paintings at her flickr site. Donna lives with her family in Quebec, Canada where she just manages to carve out time and space to paint.

[-warm-up, drawing-]

Here’s a creative warm-up exercise that uses categories.

Choose a category each day to draw in your journal. Divide your paper into 8 - 12 small sections. Decide on the length of time you want to devote to this. My suggestion is to start with no more than ten minutes. Quicker sketches will loosen you up. Later on, you may want to devote more time to the sketches.

Draw a version of your chosen category in each of the sections.

The idea is to warm-up your creative brain by doing quick, non-threatening, simple drawings. Doing a lot of drawings of one thing helps you explore your visual knowledge of that category. You will find that you’re going to learn a lot about yourself, your visual memory, your ability to express a simple thing quickly and you’ll find yourself being more observant of that category once you’ve done the exercise.

Here’s my “Fruit” category page:
As you see, this isn’t great art. They are quick simple, even iconic sketches. And yet, I found out a lot from doing them.

I found out quickly that to distinguish between a drawing of an apple, a peach, a plum and even a lemon is tricky, but can be done. I found out that though I have removed plenty of them, I couldn’t, when I started, remember what the stem of a pineapple looks like. I found out that in order to make a peach look like a peach, you have to turn your pencil on its side to get a softer edge. I remembered that the skin of a lemon is pitted and that’s a bit of a different pencil mark that the tiny seeds of a strawberry. I found out that in order to sketch a bunch of grapes, it’s easier (and more fun) to sketch the dark, negative spaces that just draw the overlapping grapes. I found that sometimes a fruit is best depicted by the drippy, wetness that ends up on the surface below it. I found out that it was hard for me to come up with twelve fruits and that I didn’t seem to have a clue what shape a fig is.

Try it. It’s fun and you’ll be amazed how much it will stretch you.

Here’s a list to get you going:

I threw in the last three to remind you that these don’t have to be solid objects. But stick with the simpler ones at first. See what happens. After doing these for a while, revisit a category so you can see how the first sketches compare with ones you do after sensitizing yourself to this process and to thinking visually.

And, let us know what you learned by doing this exercise!

[-quick tip, practice-]

A Quick Creative Practice
~simple habits can have profound impacts~

Keep a tablet and a pen or pencil on your bedside table at all times!

DREAMS
If you wake with a dream still in reach, jot it down immediately. If you want to fall back to sleep, don’t worry about transcribing the full dream. If you write the most important words and images you’re likely to remember the connecting links later.

SOLUTIONS
Those transitional times just before falling asleep or waking—especially from a nap—are rich times for problem-solving and inspirational ideas. Having paper and pencil nearby will allow you to capture these gems that might otherwise disappear from your mind as the world crowds in.

SKETCHES
The tablet isn’t just for words. If you’re like me, you’ll sometimes *see* images that need to be painted or drawn. Make quick sketches before they too are lost to time.

[-photography, process-]

red carnation

Originally uploaded by nuanc.

This photo is one I took over two years ago. It came up this morning while I was playing the game Free Association! on flickr. The game involves posting an image in response to the last one posted by someone else. I did a flickr search through my photos for “window” and “silhouette” and this popped up. I hadn’t seen it in a long time and I found that I enjoyed it—really for the first time.

It has unexpected qualities. The distorted shape of the window. The gradation of blue from the top of the window to the whiter light at the bottom. The reflection of green on the window sill and the way the light between the tree branches seems to slide inside into to the corner of the window. The pop of red! And there’s something going on between outside and inside. That’s open to interpretation, of course, but either the flower faces the window as if yearning to be outside or perhaps the bare birch tree is admiring/envious of that splash of living colour. I’m not sure, but there’s certainly a hint of communication between the two.

All of this, of course, was unintended.

I took the photograph with my LOMO LC-A. It’s a refurbished version of a cheap camera made in Russia decades ago and it gives erratic and often impressionistic results—which is why LOMO’s have become popular and lucrative long after the cameras stopped being manufactured.

This photo was of a truly unremarkable scene. My step-son had been visiting and left an empty can of 7-UP on his window sill. Also in his room (this was after he’d gone home) I found a red carnation that he’d picked up in some restaurant we’d been to. Rather than toss both of them immediately into the waste basket, I put the carnation in the 7-UP can and took some LOMO’s.

This morning when I really saw it for the first time, it made me think about the act of creating as one of constantly expecting the unexpected. This image isn’t just about the unpredictability of the LOMO, though that’s a big part of it. It is also about taking the time to photograph an unremarkable scene and to chance shooting a dull, unsuccessful photograph in order to come up with something that has something different to offer. It took combining the colours of what was there: the metallic green 7-UP can and the red carnation against the white and blue background and taking it from a low angle in order to catch the super blue of the highest sky. It took depending on the unpredictability of the little Russian camera.

Each act of creation is an act of faith. We don’t know if it’s going to work out or not. That’s never the point. Doing it is the point. Doing it with an open heart and sense of expectancy that will allow us to recognize—once it’s done—when we have indeed caught the unexpected.

[-exercise, un-blocker-]

by Nancy Waldman

Do you feel creative but still have difficulty creating?
Is something holding you back but you’re not quite sure what or why?
Are you feeling blocked?
Do you feel that your output is a trickle instead of a flood?

Here is a exercise designed to explore these kinds of problems in a new way.

In Marks Have Meaning, I made the point that small, quick, abstract marks can and do communicate emotions and concepts. This same concept can be used as an effective tool for problem solving.

The idea for and way of using marks as problem solving devices came to me from Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Artist Within, which I highly recommend.

Get several pieces of paper and a pencil with an eraser.

Sit down for a moment and think about your life. Choose an issue that is a challenge or an on-going problem, something that you don’t really have a handle on. It does not have to be a creative problem but if one of those questions at the top of this article is bothering you, it might be a good place to start.

Once you’ve decided on a problem, don’t think about it. Begin to draw.

Ms. Edwards suggest that you first draw a boundary on your paper. She calls this a format for the problem. It does not have to be a rectangle or square. Make it any size or shape that seems right.

Then begin to draw the problem. This drawing should take focus as a photograph developing before your eyes. Be in the mind of the issue you’ve chosen but don’t control this drawing with words. Let it come. The main thing to remember is that it should not include any representational or symbolic icons or figures. No hearts, or words, or lightning bolts or pictures of any kind. Just lines and abstract imagery.

Draw for as long as it takes. Remember, you are letting another part of your brain work for you. You are letting the r-mind communicate in the way it can. Enjoy the feeling of being wordless.

If one drawing doesn’t seem enough, do another. Don’t forget to ‘format’ it first, even if you choose to let the edges of the page be the boundary line.

Once the drawing or drawings are done, take a moment to assess how you feel. Are you refreshed? Frustrated? Feeling lighter? Or do you feel silly? Whatever it is, jot the word(s) on the back of the drawing.

Then think about what the drawing is telling you about your problem. Now is the time to try and put it into words. Say out loud what you see, how it makes you feel, what you observe about what you’ve drawn. It’s a similar process to recounting a dream. Often in retelling a dream, there is a process of identifying, of focussing. We might say, “There was a cat in the corner and that cat was—spooky…no, not really spooky, that’s too strong a word. More eerie. That cat gave me an eerie feeling that was like…well, surprisingly it reminds me of Great-grannie Gertrude!” And so on.

Turn your drawing over and on the back write the words that your r-mind has communicated to you. Ms. Edwards suggests that you “memorize” the drawing and the words. The idea is to hold both in your mind at once. Don’t let the words take over because the drawing may have more information in it than you can see right away. Before leaving this exercise, close your eyes and try to picture the drawing you did. Is it memorized? Then think about the words and hold them both in your mind at one time. It isn’t that hard, since you created both. They came from you and therefore are not foreign. The process has simply put them into your awareness in a new way.

Here’s a drawing I did years ago. I was trying to figure out why I couldn’t sustain creative efforts to completion.

In the same way that my dream would have significance to me, but would not to you, this drawing will mean nothing to you. Even if I point out the barriers and the difference between one side of the drawing and the other, it’s not your mind, your problem or your experience and therefore, not significant. However, what you should know is that I gained multiple insights from this and similar drawings. Doing these drawings over the years helped me deal with situations in my life with a broader understanding and awareness of them. In the same way, if you go through the process with openness, your drawings will have deeper significance because they came out of you.

Give it a try and see what happens in your life. For those of you who try it, share your experience with our readers by making a comment below.

[-inspiration, photography-]

metAphorism is a PCQ coined-word that means a simple, everyday thing, concept or event that points us in the direction of a deeper lesson. metaphor - figure of speech giving an implicit comparison: this is that. aphorism - concise statement of a truth or opinion.

The metAphorism:
The Artichoke Plant
The Lesson:
Things Take Time

by guest metaphorical thinker and photographer, auer

© 2007 auer all rights reserved

If you eat artichokes you know that the middle part, full of thistles has to be pulled and trashed so you can get to the heart of the matter. But left to nature, this prickly trash becomes a lovely flower with soft filaments that blow gently in the breeze.

Sometimes all it takes is time and nature to turn a problem into a thing of beauty.

© 2007 auer all rights reserved

This lovely reminder was sent in by one of our readers after seeing the new PCQ. If you feel similarly inspired by anything that you’ve read here, take a chance on submitting your own MetAphorism or anything else that might be of interest to other creative people out there.

Thanks auer, for taking the time to send this in and for the timely message!

[-essay-]

by Nancy S.M. Waldman

I have a close friend who has compared herself unfavorably to me in terms of creativity ever since we were girls. According to her, I’m creative and she isn’t.

But I never bought it.

She’s a elementary school teacher and I’ve seen the way she tackles a challenging situation in her classroom. She goes at that challenge with a buoyancy, inspiration and mental ingenuity that can only be described as creative.

Human beings are, by nature, creative. But there’s an odd dichotomy in evidence that people who are inclined toward the arts are labelled “creative” and those who aren’t are said—often by themselves—to be “non-creative.” This harmful labelling ignores other kinds of creativity.

My friend’s is a practical kind of creativity.

On the other hand, there are throngs of people who are clearly creative in the realm of the arts who have trouble getting started, staying on track, producing, finishing, keeping their confidence up. And, having been one of these people from time-to-time in my life, I can tell you that it’s not a situation that can easily be ignored. This kind of non-productive creativity is frustrating and painful.

I think of it as being impractically creative.

The Practically Creative Quarter is a zine for both ends of this extreme, as well as for those who are in the middle. Here, we explore ways in which the practical and the creative within each of us can learn to co-exist in peace and flourish in whichever direction we need to go.

If you are a compulsive type who can be creative but is overly focussed on the end product, delve into our process articles and see if you can’t experience the mind-healing, freeing flow of simply being involved in a creative experience that has no intended product.

If you are one of those people who starts many things but finishes nothing, take in some of our more practical tips and graphic reminders to discipline yourself to focus a little more on the outcome.

If you are like my friend (used to be) but you desperately want more hands-on kinds of creativity in your life, try some of our tutorials. Being creative is about taking the steps to learn how, to allow yourself to be a beginner, and not to get discouraged if one kind of creativity doesn’t turn out to be ‘your thing.’

And everyone needs an occasional dose of inspiration, creative cross-pollination or a light-hearted reminder about not expecting perfection.

Being Practically Creative isn’t about what you create. It’s about harnessing a creativity that works for you. Whether your kind of creativity needs more focus on practical discipline -or- on having a freer flow of creativity, you are capable of unifying these two aspects of yourself. The more fully we can integrate the practical and the creative parts within us, the less likely we are to be that other kind of practically (meaning: all but, nearly, almost) creative!

Make peace between the practical and the creative within yourself and enjoy the experience as well as the results.

[-essay, self-evolution, process-]

by Nancy Waldman

I make marks, therefore I am.

Durham Dr. & Center St. (Houston, TX)

Originally uploaded by Mr. Waldo.

Since the days men lived in caves, human beings have demonstrated the need to make their mark on this world.

From those cave paintings, to the tick marks on a prison wall, to Kilroy was here! during World War II, to graffiti through the ages and up to today, making marks is a way to say, Look at me! I was here! I am special! I exist!

Making these kinds of marks is pure self-promotion.

I picked this illustration of a lively painted Waldo by Mr. Waldo out of the Practically Creative flickr pool because it is a wonderful photograph (from a city I lived in and know well) that illustrates perfectly this rather strong desire that people have to make their mark.

In common language, we also talk about “making your mark” as meaning gaining success. Whether that means being famous, getting rich or being respected in one’s field, it is often referred to by this artistic metaphor. This metaphor not only works with the achievement of success but also with the process of seeking it.

Self-promotion is a necessary part of gaining any kind of success in the arts. It’s also something that many creative types do badly or not at all. We’re often uncomfortable putting our work, ourselves, out there. We all know people who are natural self-promoters. Sometimes these people over promote themselves. Everything they do self-generates a spin that makes that endeavor the best, the most, the tops. Whether it’s deserved self-congratulations or not, these super-promoters often grow tiresome. Because of this, the rest of us may come to think of self-promotion as the last thing we want to be associated with. But this is a mistake.

When the graffiti artist (please note the emphasis on artist) makes his mark on the storefront wall, he is putting his work out there. It’s a step way beyond doing art in his school notebook or in his room at home. He’s self-promoting just by the act of creating. When the artist takes his portfolio to art galleries or the photographic journalist to a newspaper or magazine, it is necessary self-promotion. When the writer sends and re-sends (and on and on) her short stories or novels out to agents, publishers, new markets, she is self-promoting.

Once we admit this to ourselves, we may also want to admit that other kinds of ‘marks’ may be admissible and helpful. Having a web presence is a perfect example. Those of us who were around long before there was an internet grew up believing that we needed permission from someone with power before we could call ourselves artists. Because of this, there can be sheepishness about claiming space on the internet. When you buy your first web address—yourownname.com—you may feel that it’s not quite proper for you to have a personal web-site because you haven’t published anything yet or you don’t have gallery representation or a record label.

Get over it! It’s a new age. The web is littered with self-promoters who’ve garnered well-deserved attention that would not have happened under the old system.

Make your mark whether it’s exhibiting in a local art show, entering a contest, getting a myspace account or making your own fabulous web-site.

And if your thing is public art, perhaps you can, as Mr. Waldo has done, make your mark all over the globe and become a legend just as Kilroy did.
Thanks Mr. Waldo for letting us use your photo.

Please click on Mr. Waldo’s image to see more of his work.

See these other posts on making your mark:
Graphic Reminder
Art Tutorial