listening

A person can't really try to be an artist. I think that it's a calling.  What you can try to do is become better at your craft. -Patty Smith

I often think of what Robert (Mapplethorpe) would say.  We can seek guidance from our departed, you know, as long as we listen.  It's a matter of listening. -Patty Smith

Artists are always translating the present into something else ...and that always makes you more removed. -Patty smith

I'm often feeling these things as I paint and prepare to paint and afterwards, when I stop and look at the paintings...one of the most interesting things is to see which painting strikes the fancy of someone first looking at a few I haven't yet put away.

...The most singular insight I get from that is to realize how far away I am from understanding what pleases others.