The Artist Perplexed

Yep.  That’s me.  Trying to come up with a frigging idea…  Here you’ll find the results of the ideas I eventually did come up with.

Even if you are not a Patron of mine on Patreon you’ll find new articles here every week including serializations and excerpts from my writings, streaming audio versions of my music including outtakes and alternate versions, a variety of photographs including different compositions from the same sessions, and links to the best videos and articles on Dramatica I’ve published over the years.

My Patrons (sign up here for just $1 per month) see everything I post plus they receive frequent digital downloads of my most popular complete eBooks, songs, and art photographs (in full-resolution). For fans of my Dramatica theory of story structure there are downloads, all-new articles and videos about aspects of the theory never before published, and behind-the-scenes stories about how the theory was developed and what lies ahead.

In addition, they get regular posts about all my ongoing projects PLUS exclusive commentary about how previously published works were created including books, music, videos, photographs and more, providing detail into the thought processes behind them. They also get a first look at new completed projects before they are made available to the public and advance notice of new projects in the works.

AND, Patrons can message me directly through Patreon to let me know what you’d like to see more of or ask a few questions.

Either way – through free browsing here or by supporting this poor artist as a Patron – I hope you find my efforts are as interesting and illuminating to you a they are to make.

Melanie

The London Skyline from the Prime Meridian

The science fiction thriller book series I am writing, called The Event, requires more research than any other project I’ve ever created. For example, never having been to England, I knew nothing of what the area around Greenwich and the Prime Meridian looked like. Part of my research was to get a visual sense of what it was like to stand on the Observation Deck and look out over London.

What I’m working on today…

Here’s what’s going on today. Working on a new book called “They Live On My Shower Stall Wall.” Our shower stall walls are patterned to look like marble. Some time ago I saw a face in the random marks, then another, then dozens.

In two days, we’re having the bath redone as a walk-in shower and those panels are going to go. So, I’ve been photographing them in order to capture all those wonderful faces and creatures and such before they are gone.

Couldn’t quite get the lighting right, but last night, getting up to use the facility at 1:00 am, everything looked just right with the bathroom light. Apparently, trying to do it with daylight coming in the window just wasn’t working, even with supplimental (because of the shadows).

So, there I was in the dead of night, snapping away high res pics of all the key panels and close shots of some of the more wonderful images hiding in them.

Which means that today, instead of having to spend it all trying to capture the walls before they are torn down tomorrow, I can write this instead, with an eye toward the book..

Here’s a sample pic from what I’m planning on…

How to keep on creating when no one knows you are there

So here’s the thing… Reaching 70 years old next month and thinking that after a lifetime of seeking some recognition for my work as an artist in many media, and finding somewhere between none and scant little, how can I keep on going?

But I already have the answer. You put yourself out there as if you had a hundred million followers or fans. You treat each new work as an act of raw creation, thrusting it into the world with every fiber of your being to make it real, to make it shine, to give it life.

Destruction of you soul lies down the path of adjusting the intensity of your output to the size of your expected audience. Don’t do art to gain an audience and don’t underplay your best effort even if your audience is absent.

Feel the power of projecting your vision into the ether, splash the biggest ripple you can into a pond, whether calm or beset with the ripples of others. Forget competition, ignore obscurity, eschew anonymnity, and split your heart open until your blazing light bursts forth to illuminate the room with fire, whether there’s anyone else there or not.

Art is made by the totality of your commitment to the work. Throw everything you have into everything you create no matter if anyone sees it or not. Because it was never about the effect you have on others, but the effect you have on yourself.

Only by totally embracing the process can you evolve as a spirit approaching ever closer to that unattainable state where your inner and outer realities merge and you transcend the dissonance of existence.