Inspirations and Aspirations

While making a collage this morning, I listened to Rick Warren's TED talk and had to pause to write down his statement that we live toward a three-tiered aim: 1) Survival , 2) Success, or 3) Significance. I know the Survival tier very well. I've spent many years in that realm. These days I have been tasting some Success. Though it feels triumphal, it also feels like a dangerous seduction. There is always more success to be had, more work to be done to attain it. Though I don't shy from hard work, there is an emptiness to it. Even in my collaging, I suddenly noticed, I get to a certain point in the piece, when the general background and color scheme is blocked out, and my attention goes toward the home stretch, into making something cool, beautiful, interesting, successful. It is so easy to slide away from the push toward discovery, inquiry, meaning, investment.

I remind myself that these collages don't need to be anything more than a warm-up exercise. But still, what am I warming to? Something to think about...

More inspirations of the day:

Martin Venezky's It Is Beautiful -- Then Gone - a beautiful book about one designer and his personal and professional design practice. So much to look at, I can only absorb a few pages at a time.

Lara Cameron's 10 (Potentially Controversial) Tips for Starting a Small Craft/Design Business. The first tip is the best.

The artist Carol Blackwell. A true artist with a unique sensibility, actively teaching and showing her work, but didn't start doing a bit of it until she was over fifty years old. Just goes to show you, it's never too late.