A detail of a painting set in the early 1900’s. This detail is of a baby (an uncle of mine) named William whom I renamed “Charlie” when I was a little girl. Uncle Charlie fit his comical personality better. Sure do miss him.
Ideas – where do they come from? How does one consistently come up with good creative ideas for one’s artistic endeavors? Norman Rockwell had an interesting pattern of coming up with good ideas. “Getting good ideas is always a problem. It takes a lot of digging…When I get discouraged I stop – go for a walk, a bike ride, or look at books and magazines. Coming back at it after a delay I may find a good idea rather quickly….A picture will never be better than the idea. To persist with a mediocre one wastes time, and the picture will be mediocre, too.”
“I recall hearing Pastor Bill Hybels from Willow Creek Church talk about taking long walks just to think up the right phrase or words for his sermons.
In our rush rush pressured meet a deadline culture it is so tempting to run ahead with ordinary ideas when the extra time and space can yield original results that extend way beyond ourselves. It is of great value to discipline ourselves to “smell the roses,” gain a different perspective and quiet our souls to hear the whispers of our Great Creator God.
