I took this collage I recently created and made two black and white copies of it. I gave a copy to each of my kids and asked them to take the images further, however they wanted. I provided colored pencils, markers, stickers, pastels, and other random tools and they went at it.
This is Sophia's (she's 4):
This is Nick's (he's 7):
PHOTOGRAPHER (to subject): Bend forward, let your hair fall in front of you covering your face, kick your heels out. Now hold that. Perfect.
Steve Earle on getting loaded to create something:
The idea that numbing yourself out and preventing yourself from feeling what you should feel and then thinking that you're going to translate that into a piece of art that's worth anything -- that is so flawed. It's cheating. You're writing about feelings and not really feeling them.
[From the book Moments of Clarity by Christopher Kennedy Lawford.]
Remember what you were like when you first started doing what you do?
You're raw, still taking shape, and probably not very good, but you damn sure have the desire, talent, and cojones to do it.
That's what I think about when I watch this video of Talking Heads from December of 1975: raw, still taking shape, kinda okay. Pretty rough version of "Psycho Killer," almost a year or so before it appeared on their debut record.
Nine years, several albums, and many shows later, I give you the opening tune from the Talking Heads film Stop Making Sense.
Just look at David Byrne -- entertaining, confident, creative, and full of the cojones it takes to prance around the stage by himself performing a song he's been singing for 10 years.
It's so hard to picture that success when you're at the beginning -- not getting the gigs, still refining your style, getting the word out about your talent to anyone who'll listen.
Watching these videos puts it in perspective for me. It takes time, whether you want to be a world famous artist or just well-known and maybe liked enough to live comfortably.
These days that's hard to swallow. Things happen so quickly and "stars" are made with one You Tube video, a snarky blog, or reality teevee show. But that's not the kind of fleeting notoriety you want to be known for anyway. You want distinction and respect, regardless of what you do.
Like it or not, that stuff takes years (and maybe a tiny bit of luck, right-place-right-time, and meeting a few good people along the way).
You may not become one of the most popular musicians ever, but stick with it and you'll damn sure make whatever you want to happen happen. Just look at David Byrne.
Now if I would just relax, be patient, and take my own advice.
What you are today and what you will be in five years depends on two things: the people you meet and the books you read.
Twyla Tharp
This is the first book of 52 books I will read this year. One book a week.
I thought this passage about how Twyla Tharp began The Fugue captures my endeavor well.
There's a difference between a work's beginning and starting to work.
I learned this with one of my earliest dances, The Fugue. Being a novice choreographer I didn't know where to begin. So I stood up in the center of the room, took a deep breath, stamped my foot, and shouted "Begin!"
To this day that's how The Fugue starts out -- with a stomp that rings in my mind "Begin!"
If you're at a dead end, take a deep breath, stamp your foot, and shout "Begin!" You never know where it will take you.
My wife hand makes dresses for little girls and sells them at an Etsy shop called sweet little bird. She recently set up shop and sold her dresses at an Etsy craft fair here in Charlotte.
Our six-year-old son Nick wanted to make and sell some things at the craft fair, too. So he cut up some paper and bound them with staples, found some fabric scraps and glue, and used a few colored pencils and his imagination to create the 4×4 inch, 5-page Firetruck Counting Book.
Pretty cool, huh?
I think so. So much so that I ended up buying two of the books he made from him.
I love that my boy is this creative.
A few months ago we had an idea for a fun little promo here at ABP.
The idea was simple: Why not make a photo of myself in front of a few ad agencies here in Charlotte? As if I was on a tour of agencies in Charlotte and had my photo made in front of them -- kind of like people do in front of Cinderella's castle at Disney World or in front of Niagra Falls or the Grand Canyon.
The next step was to turn the photos into postcards with a nice big "Greetings from Charlotte" slapped onto the front of the postcard, like so.
As you can tell, I wore a loud Hawaiian shirt, big shorts, socks pulled up to my knees, and slip on loafers to add to the cheesy tourist vibe.
How I did it was simple: I visited all the agencies very early on a Sunday morning to keep the project as stealth as possible. I put a camera on a tripod, set the timer, ran to my spot, waved, and smiled.
I was only hassled by security once.
The final touch came on the back of the postcard. I wrote variations on "Having a great summer! Wish I was there!" and sent the postcards to the art buyers, art directors, and creative directors at each agency.
I've received great feedback from a few of the folks that received the postcards. And best of all, the postcard was the push I needed to finally get in and work with one of the bigger shops here in town.
Success!
What I liked most about this promo campaign was that is was quick and easy. No marketing plan, no nothing. We came up with the idea on a Wednesday, shot it on Sunday, designed the cards on Monday, sent them to print on Monday night, got them back a week later, and put them in the mail the following day.
Easy and effective. I like it that way.
File under ad agencies, boone oakley, charlotte, corder philips, creativity, lga, lkm, marketing, postcards, promotion, tourist, wray ward
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