Hola friends,
First I wanted to let you know about an interview with me that just got published online at INSPIRATUS. I think it is pretty good and it has tons of my work showing as well as many of the artists who have influenced me over they years. You will learn a lot about me, if you care to!

Ok, now onto the napkin. THIS is one of those semantic pet peeves of mine.

People say it very casually, ‘Well, I did the best I can’. But, did they really? I had a heated discussion about this once with a friend. She was of the opinion that people ALWAYS do the best they can. I was of the opinion that people very often don’t.

I was basing it on my own experience. I know I very often do not pull out all the stops, focus myself entirely on doing the very best I can. It might be edging the lawn, it might be building a new fence, it might be in a relationship. But I often see where I could have done better. I didn’t do the best I could.

The one area I feel I always do the best I can is in my art. I am sure if I evaluated close enough I could find times I don’t, but as a rule I think I do. But I know in the promotion and business side of it I don’t do the best I can. I try, but do I try my best? I don’t think I do.

It is also philosophical to me. If you feel that people always do their best, then where is the incentive to progress? Where is the need to become better? I am not sure I get how those elements all work together in someone who always thinks they do their best.

What do you think?

Drawing © Marty Coleman

“The rarest thing a man ever duz iz the best he can.” – Josh Billings, 1818-1885, American aphorist and writer.

By the way, the misspellings are intentional. He purposely misspelled words often to build on his ‘homespun’ reputation.