Saturday, April 18, 2009

Creative Finds: Coal Miner's Daughter

As I listen to my neighbor's daughter practice the piano, my mind returns to music and the correlation between musical art and tangible art.

MoonKatty studios has had a few posts on music that have made me think: like the post on how Georgia O'Keefe created some of her works to music or that, like a violin's bow, we need tension in our lives to express our art.

I'll be coming back to music from time to time. But, this post was prompted by watching the movie, Coal Miner's Daughter, a bio-pic about Loretta Lynn, one of the influential women in country music. I watched it for the first time in the early 90's when I was just starting to listen to country music. I watched it again last week with some different impressions as I embark on a creative business.

One thing that struck me when Loretta started out, she and her husband 'went confidently in the direction of their dreams.' Her husband had incredible confidence in her ability. He learned bits and pieces about the music industry as they went and learned to do a lot himself...take the artist picture, recorded her first record, sent out copies and letters to the radio stations, drove around in person to the radio stations. The learning process was quite interesting. It reminds me a lot of what needs to be done as the artists are launching their own creative and the fact that you do a lot yourself.

Regarding the above quote, I couldn't remember who said it, so I looked it up. The full quotation is even more interesting. The full quote is by Henry David Thoreau, from Walden, "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

An additional thought in the context of this paragraph, "In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex." I like this thought because it fits with some of the ideas I had around the upcoming article for the May Kanna Spark! newsletter, "Creating Your Mission Statement."

I'm going to start having bead giveways soon. I'm only doing spacers right now, to refresh my skills, but they are in juicy, bead berry colors. Stay tuned!

2 comments:

  1. My dad recently told me that in his life he has been told, by some successful men, that "if you do something you love, and do it well, the money will come." I don't know if that really applies, but it sort of encouraged me....not that I am so brilliant at what I do, but I do love it. lol!

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  2. I think it's true. It seems like there are two sides to the thought: go confidently (sometimes even blindly) in the direction. How many of us would start if we really saw all the obstacles along the way? The second is "in the direction of your dreams" which to me, interprets into doing something I love.

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