It seems to me that the desperation for fame usually does not lead to it, it just leads to more desperation, then disappointment. The key is to not ignore the possibility of fame, but to understand it’s reason.
The question can be asked about anything that is pursued for its own sake. Why stay fit? So you can live a long life in health? Why live a long life? So you can do what exactly? What will you do with that long life? What will you do with that fame? What is the reason for reaching for those things (and many others)?
Pursue the next question after the question. See where that leads.
“Fame usually comes to those who are thinking about something else.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Here is my process of creating the napkins. Each morning I start with a quote. I think about the day before or that morning and see if there is a particular idea that comes to mind. Then I go looking for some good quotes about that idea, either in the many quote books I have or online. Sometimes I make the quote up, but not too often.
After I write the quote on the napkin, then I think about what the drawing might be. I don’t take a long time with that decision, since I originally was drawing these while I was making lunches for my daughters and had to work fast.
I usually trust that I will come up with something interesting and just go for it. But trusting your mind, your eye, your choices, also means you are sort of walking a high wire. You have committed to do this thing and even if half way across a big wind blows, you still need to finish. Sometimes my ‘big wind’ is a odd color choice, or a pretty bizarre creature or person I have drawn into the napkin.
I like the challenge of figuring out how to make something work within the limits of that odd thing I have in the drawing already. In this case the idea of having a mind stretched was obviously the starting point. But I didn’t want a bald person so I chose to have the hair stretched out to signify the mind being stretched. B the funny hand/bird lips/sucking stretching things on either side were a bit of a mess. Then I added the volcanoes, which I always like as signifyers of something momentous and powerful. But the lava turned out to be sort of confusing and dark, obscuring the volcanoes a bit more than I wanted it to. I just kept going until I felt it looked interesting and stimulating to the eye.
Sometimes this process can lead to beautiful images, and sometimes to very strange images and sometimes to failed but interesting images. I am not sure if this one is in the 2nd or 3rd category, but it doesn’t seem to belong in the 1st, as best I can tell.
What do you think?
“A man’s mind, stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. – USA, Supreme Court Justice, 1841-1935
“I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
Honestly, I have never understood why so many people get so angry about paying taxes. I think it sometimes shows a lack of gratitude for the country we live in (USA).
If you get angry about paying taxes, explain it to me, ok? But, don’t get all angry about it!
“I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of it.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
“The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light it gets, the more it contracts.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
That means you have to shine your light on them. It also means you have to be willing to have light shone on yourself since all of us have something we don’t understand or see correctly. We all have things to learn and areas in which we can grow and the first step in that is being open minded about new ideas and new ways of looking at things.
It is like Jesus said ‘Don’t worry about the speck in your friend’s eye until you get the log out of your own’.
