★ You’re a Storyteller, Live True: Artist Kindling Letter From MrJayMyers

Storytelling is an inescapable way of life. It is in the conversations we share, in the work that we do, when we are at the bank and need to explain our frustrations—we want, we need, others to hear and understand our stories. Story is the primal driver of life—when denied, it creates a chasm of confusion, disorder, and dysfunction. However, when we embrace this part—this primal necessity of story—we bring clarity, order, and healing to ourselves and those around us.

How do we deny story? That’s the easy part. Here’s the hard part:

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, day and night, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.” —E. E. CUMMINGS

Because living our true stories, the ones we are created for is, “the hardest battle which any human being can fight”, it is easier to live the broken, counterfeit version of ourselves, our stories. I’ve done this. Most notably as a child with the most fantastic (to me) “stories”, I was always amazed how others could tell I was lying.

But when I used to live behind the excuses of my art, “not being good enough” to share and kept it all to myself, I was doing this too. Likewise, when I said, “I’m a dad now, there’s no time”, I did it. I have to and will need to continually fight to not do this in some form. Here’s what I know: we’ll never escape being storytellers, but will we be truth-tellers or liars? We get to choose this, everyday anew. These choices will either be our inciting incidents: that lead us in new adventures/misadventures or they will be part of overcoming our crisis which leads us toward our climax.

Our world started, with “In the beginning” and since we have seen the rise and fall of many. We live in the conflicts and crisis, and the rising action of our world’s story. That’s good news. But we each need to share our part of the story.

Your story matters. You need to believe this—we all need to.

We have no idea the miraculous power held in our seed sized actions toward believing the importance of our part, but I can tell you it is transforming. When we walk in our true stories with freedom, we give others permission to do so as well. The great news here is this is not a pressure on us, the miracle is in the seed.  Plant well this week. Have faith that we are living and breathing in a design that has us each here for a reason.

Find someone to share your art, your story, with this week.

---

Storyteller:

Keeping with my assertion that in sharing we will grow: Here is another short “story”—I am writing a compilation of stories called, “Consider the Ravens”:

 

Kings

The winter treats us all

Like kings

It paints a carpet

of glittering gems

And waits for us to fall.

 

 

 

---

Commissions Available:

Recently Finished Commission

Here is what you will get:
An 8×10 watercolor on watercolor paper (cold press 140lb)

Examples of commission ideas:

• Characters from your favorite films
• Scenes from your favorite book
• A Woodland Wanderers, Homemade Heroes, Handcrafted Hooligans, or any all-age character of your choosing (this could be a superhero, a film character, etc. I will email you regarding which character)

Each painting will be bagged, protected, and shipped as soon as it’s complete.
If you follow any of my networks, you will see process shots of the project (ex. I just wrapped up the Hagrid above.)

All of this will only cost $100. Shipping, in the USA, is included.

Thank you everyone for your support! From being a part of my community to sharing these posts.  As for the commissions, I have set up a commission spot on my store and it is available immediately.

---

 

Have a great week everyone. Create, be happy, create more,

Jay

P.S. As I mentioned before, Raynna and I have been concocting something that we’re hoping to announce soon. Thanks for being here everyone!

Also, get the free one page PDF: Fourteen Commitments for Artists to Cultivate Inspiration. My wife and I have packed it full for you.

Please share this with anyone else you think may be encouraged by these kind of updates. Thanks!

Other ways to connect (MrJayMyers): Twitter , FaceBook and Instagram.

Check out my free western fairytale webcomic: The Adventures of Tomy and Jon. Or buy your own copy here.

 

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★ Sharing Grows Us: Artist Kindling Letter From MrJayMyers

Last week, I began answering some objections and questions to sharing. I am going to continue with this direction—if you have any other questions/objections please feel free to ask/share them in the comments below.

Can’t I become masterful without sharing?

Yes. But how will we ever know we’ve gained it? What will measure our growth by?

The reality is that without sharing neither we, nor anyone else will know how good we are, we will never achieve the much needed, critical, critique, and our growth will only be self-defined—which as I mentioned last week leads to two possible outcomes.

Sharing frees us from self defeat and false pride.

Why does it matter what others think?

It doesn’t—it doesn’t if we are only bettering our skills for ourselves. In other words, if our skills goal isn’t professional (full-time or on-the-side) use, then none of this sharing stuff matters. If, however, we are working toward a profession then sharing matters—because it will prepare us to confidently show our clients the work they’ve paid for. (An added benefit is that when we share openly we can learn to take critique—all clients freely give this—in order to produce something better.)

Sharing—communication—is the main reason we are on this earth. Sharing causes us to grow naturally and in a healthy way.

I don’t want to share subpar art, writing, music.

I get this. I’ve had the feelings myself. As I shared before, this isn’t about putting out cheap, lame, work—it’s about putting out our best possible work. Because we are practicing this will constantly change. What was good for us three months ago likely won’t be now. But, if we let that stop us from sharing, then we could be dead before we ever believe that we are good enough to.

If, as I mentioned before, we treat our art form/skill as a day job, we’d be learning on the job and we’d have to share what we’ve done—no matter how good or bad it was.

Do you feel you’re where you want to be as an artist?

I don’t have the opinion that my art has arrived. I have a healthy discontent. I am studying and working hard to become better. Sometimes, I get that much needed feedback and other times—I get crickets. But, my confidence in sharing has grown and I am no longer afraid I am not good enough. I am as good as I can be—now. I have just decided that no good will come from me hoarding my art until I am “good enough”.

Create. Be happy (today with the art you make) and share it. Then, aim to create something better the next time. Create. Be Happy. Create More.

---

 

Storyteller:

Keeping with my assertion that in sharing we will grow: Here is another short “story”—I am going through a compilation of stories called, “Consider the Ravens”:

 

Spindle

Round and round the world turns on the spindle of God’s kindness.

The yarn He spins is a tale that’s true.

 

 

 

 

---

Commissions Available:

 

Here’s more info on the commissions I am opening up.

Here is what you will get:
An 8×10 watercolor on watercolor paper (cold press 140lb)
Examples of commission ideas:

• Characters from your favorite films
• Scenes from your favorite book
• A Woodland Wanderers, Homemade Heroes, Handcrafted Hooligans, or any all-age character of your choosing (this could be a superhero, a film character, etc. will email you regarding which character)

Each painting will be bagged, protected, and shipped as soon as it’s complete.
If you follow my any of my networks, you will see process shots of the project (ex. I am currently working on the Hagrid above.)

All of this will only cost $100 shipping, in the USA, is included.
It would be great to get 5 commissions. Thank you everyone for your support!
I have set up a commission spot on my store and it is available immediately.

---

Remember, find someone to share with.

Have a great week everyone. Create, be happy, create more,

Jay

P.S. As I mentioned before, Raynna and I have been concocting something that we’re hoping to announce soon. Thanks for being here everyone!

Also, get the free one page PDF: Fourteen Commitments for Artists to Cultivate Inspiration. My wife and I have packed it full for you.

Please share this with anyone else you think may be encouraged by these kind of updates. Thanks!

Other ways to connect (MrJayMyers): Twitter , FaceBook and Instagram.

Check out my free western fairytale webcomic: The Adventures of Tomy and Jon. Or buy your own copy here.

 

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I always want to disclose to you that I do use affiliate links on the products I recommend but never at any extra cost to you and never just to make money. I’ll only recommend products I believe in. Thanks for your trust. My full disclosure policy is here if interested.

via http://www.mrjaymyers.com/2017/06/sharing-grows-us-artist-kindling-letter-from-mrjaymyers/

★ Why is Sharing In Public Important: Artist Kindling Letter From MrJayMyers

Hello world. This is the first code that most people will produce when they begin to learn coding. There are a lot of technical reasons for “Hello World”, but let’s look at the emotional impact—there is a successful sharing with everyone (who can see it). You succeeded.

“Hello World”—is the coder’s refrigerator art. It’s the, “Hey! Look at what I’ve done”. This gets more difficult the older we get. As children, we share freely. We grow (or we are stunted) by the response to our art, but we continue to share. That child-like sharing becomes discombobulated over time and we lose boldness to share our art and our heart.

Yet, this discombobulation is only in our head. Our definitions of good or bad are being made in the dark. We can’t know how well we progress once we quit sharing out loud because we have cut off all critical feedback. Forcing ourselves to refrigerate our art again opens us up to input and insight. This then allows us to grow a thicker skin around our heart (in a good way) and grow with foresight into our weaknesses.

This week I want to address a question I have had or have been asked, but first…

---

Personal update:

I’m opening up five more commission spots! Due to a reorg and a miscommunication between my last employer and the recruiter, I was working for, my contract job ended. I ‘m leaving on good terms but I have found myself without a job a month earlier than expected. I am thankful to have found some freelance in the meantime, and I am opening up commissions in this in-between.

More about that below.

 

---

The question:

You say I should keep putting my work out there, but I only want to share my best. So, why share if I’m not fully satisfied with it?

I get it. I want to put my best out there too.  But how do we know what our best is without sharing? When we don’t have a critique group the only voice we have is our own. This creates one of two problems: thinking too highly of our skills or not thinking highly enough.

On the first note: The failure of perfectionism is that it keeps us out of the “spotlight” and light in general and that keeps us from needed course corrections and a humble evaluation of our current skills. Our tendency in this situation is that we are better, in our head, than anyone else. The “I could have done that better” bug litters our brains and we never strive toward true betterment—because somehow we already are great.

This was my attitude through much of my youth. It tried to plague me when I returned to art, after a 10 year hiatus, 2010. I remember seeing children’s book illustrators and thinking, “I could do that better”.  Maybe I could have, but I wasn’t. I was afraid to share—and I knew it.

The people who were doing children’s books—were doing children’s books. They were doing it and sharing their art—in whatever state they found themselves in. They were going to grow. I determined that the “I could” bug was not how I would live. (Honest insight here—yes, sometimes it still hits me. I’m sorry.)

On the second note: productive feedback, which we get from putting our work out there, frees us from the fear of imperfection. It builds us in confidence and leads us toward clarity of voice.

When we are stuck with only our own voice our work, skills, understanding—nothing will ever be good enough. We get trapped in revision and reevaluation with a tendency to never put anything out because we are afraid that we aren’t good enough—whatever that means. It’s a lie.

This fear isn’t healthy. When we enter into our first job as working adults, we don’t know it all. We learn openly and make mistakes openly. Sometimes, those mistakes affect the world, sometimes they affect no one. But we learn publicly and become better for it. This is our refrigerator and our successes and failures are on display. If we are humble, we become better for it.

If this feels hard to you, I get it, you are not alone. Check out last week’s post: Practice Leads to Mastery.

Create. Be happy today with the art you make and share it. Then, aim to create something better tomorrow.

 

---

Storyteller:

Keeping with my hypothesis that in sharing we will grow: Here is another (I have shared this one before, but I am going through a compilation of stories called, “Consider the Ravens”) short “story”:

Hunter Child

The day grew long as the hunter came upon his prey: the last dragon of the valley.

He made taut his string and nocked the arrow. Everyone believed this thing should be killed and in doing so they would rid the valley of evil forever.

The hunter paused.

With the last dragon gone who would they blame if evil persisted?

The dragon woke.
The arrow flew.

A deadly stroke
The hunter knew.

photo by Raynna Myers

 

---

Personal Update:

As I said above, here’s more info on the commissions I am opening up, due to a reorg and a miscommunication between my last employer and the recruiter, I was working for, I have found myself without a job a month earlier than expected. As I  look for my next steps I am thankful to have freelance and I am opening up commissions in this in-between.

Here is what you will get:
An 8×10 watercolor on watercolor paper (cold press 140lb)
Your choice of:

• Woodland Wanderers (any scene of one or more characters in a woodland setting)
• Homemade Heroes (you send a photo of your child in their homemade hero outfit and I will capture their essence, not portrait. I will email you for a photo.)
• An all-age character of your choosing (this could be a superhero, a film character, etc. will email you regarding which character)

Each painting will be bagged, protected, and shipped as soon as it’s complete.
If you follow my any of my networks, you will see process shots of the project (ex. I am currently working on the one above.)

All of this will only cost $100 for Woodland Wanderers and $75 for Homemade Heroes & Character of your choice, shipping, in the USA, is included.
It would be great to get 5 commissions. Thank you everyone for your support!
I have set up a commission spot on my store and it is available immediately.

 

---

Even if you choose not to share widely, share with someone. Don’t let your voice and eyes be the only ones who see your work.

Have a great week everyone. Create, be happy, create more,

Jay

P.S. As I mentioned before, Raynna and I have been concocting something that we’re hoping to announce soon. Thanks for being here everyone!

Also, get the free one page PDF: Fourteen Commitments for Artists to Cultivate Inspiration. My wife and I have packed it full for you.

Please share this with anyone else you think may be encouraged by these kind of updates. Thanks!

Other ways to connect (MrJayMyers): Twitter , FaceBook and Instagram.

Check out my free western fairytale webcomic: The Adventures of Tomy and Jon. Or buy your own copy here.

 

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I always want to disclose to you that I do use affiliate links on the products I recommend but never at any extra cost to you and never just to make money. I’ll only recommend products I believe in. Thanks for your trust. My full disclosure policy is here if interested.

via http://www.mrjaymyers.com/2017/06/why-is-sharing-important-artist-kindling-letter-from-mrjaymyers/

★ Practice leads to Mastery: Artist Kindling Letter From MrJayMyers

Hey there. I am getting this out a bit later than usual. I hope your week is off to a great start. Below you will find encouragement, a story, art, and a personal update.

Everyone knows the unreasonable phrase: practice makes perfect. I call it unreasonable—because it is untrue. Practice creates passion, it leads to betterment, it grows mastery, but it never, ever, makes perfect. Perfection as we know it is a lie.

I’m sure you’ve heard the fingernails-on-chalkboard-scratching-question/comment: “How did you get so good? I bet you were born with it.” (or some form of these misguided ideas—they normally run in pairs). It’s true some people were born with a certain inclination to see, hear, understand, or remember things that makes it easier (I’m thinking about the Mozarts of the world), but none were born with the skills to do their inclination masterfully (draw, maths, write, sing, account, etc) without practice. Practice just simply means doing it.

Each of us must practice within our chosen fields. Yes, we might have inclinations toward science, coding, managing, whatever, but without the passion that it takes to apply ourselves these skills will languish and will never develop.

Practice makes better and passionate practice leads to mastery. The opposite of this is also true: never better and never masterful.
Practice often. But most important: create, then be happy, and create more. This will lead you toward a life of humble growth and enjoyment in your work. If you hate what you do, if you disparage it, if you slander your work, then you can’t be happy with it—even if it is masterful. You will never know it. Practice, Be Happy, Practice more—you’ll grow.

 

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Storyteller:

Keeping with my suggestion that you share grow. I will be adding a short “story” (in various forms of drafts) to each of my new posts. I would love to hear what you think.

Warning

The giants were forming their battle lines,
A lone warrior stepped out to meet them.
Stepped out to defeat them,
“I warn you. You shall not survive today.
I warn you. I warn: Flee stinking giants, flee in dismay.
I will confound you—astound you.
Step off you miserable beasts.
You face defeat.
I warn you.”

photo by Raynna Myers

 

 

 

---

Personal Update:

Last week I had a surprise waiting for me in the morning. My contract job ended. I hadn’t done anything wrong, there was a miscommunication between my contract agent and my work. So, I have found myself without a job a month earlier than expected.

In order to continue to provide for my family I am continuing to look for work but I am also opening up commissions.
Here is what you will get:
An 8×10 watercolor on watercolor paper (cold press 140lb)
Your choice of:

• Woodland Wanderers (seen above)
• Homemade Heroes (you send a sketch of your child in their homemade hero outfit and I will capture their essence, not portrait. I will email you for a photo.)
• An all-age character of your choosing (I will email you regarding which character)

Each painting will be bagged, protected, and shipped as soon as it’s complete.
If you follow my any of my networks, you will see process shots of the project.

All of this will only cost $100 for Woodland Wanderers and $75 for Homemade Heroes & Character of your choice, shipping, in the USA, is included.
I need 10 or more commissions.
I have set up a commission spot on my store and it is available immediately.

 

---

Don’t fear practice. No matter how something looks keep creating.

Have a great week everyone. Create, be happy, create more,

Jay

P.S. As I mentioned before, Raynna and I have been concocting something that we’re hoping to announce soon, if you like free encouragement. Thanks for being here everyone!

Also, get the free one page PDF: Fourteen Commitments for Artists to Cultivate Inspiration. My wife and I have packed it full for you.

Please share this with anyone else you think may be encouraged by these kind of updates. Thanks!

Other ways to connect (MrJayMyers): Twitter , FaceBook and Instagram.

Check out my free western fairytale webcomic: The Adventures of Tomy and Jon. Or buy your own copy here.

 

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I always want to disclose to you that I do use affiliate links on the products I recommend but never at any extra cost to you and never just to make money. I’ll only recommend products I believe in. Thanks for your trust. My full disclosure policy is here if interested.

via http://www.mrjaymyers.com/2017/06/practice-leads-to-mastery-artist-kindling-letter-from-mrjaymyers/