Making art now means working in the face of uncertainty it means living with doubt and contradiction, doing something no one much cares whether you do, and for which there may be neither audience nor reward. Often the work we have not done seems more real in our minds than the pieces we have completed. We stop before we have mastered our materials, or continue on long after their potential is exhausted. We do work that does not feel like our own. We leave drawings unfinished and stories unwritten. Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgement difficult. Ted Orland began his professional career working as a young graphic artist for designer Charles Eames, and later served as Assistant to photographer Ansel Adams. If you're just some dude or gal that loves doing art, then you'll find so much of what you experience during the process of creating art in here, and there's something almost therapeutic about reading this book. If you're a creative genius, you don't need this book. This is a book for the average artist, as terrible as that might sound. Both authors are working artists, grappling daily with the problems of making art in the real world. This, then, is a book for the rest of us. The difficulties artmakers face are not remote and heroic, but universal and familiar. But while geniuses may get made once-a-century or so, good art gets made all the time. After all, art is rarely made by Mozart-like people - essentially (statistically speaking) there aren’t any people like that.

Ordinary art means something like: all art not made by Mozart.

Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking My book highlights: The authors are two friends who worked on this book over a period of seven years, both of them artists themselves, and you can tell that they have the wisdom that comes from both having lived an artists life, and discussing it with fellow artists. In a nutshell review: This book helped me understand my own creative process and struggles more clearly. In fact, this is a great book to listen to while you’re working, or walking, or working out.

I got the Kindle version with Audible narration, and both are great. If you ever felt alone or misunderstood when it comes to your creative impulses, this will book will almost be like the hug of an understanding old friend. If you’re an artist and struggle with the creative process- and isn’t that what art essentially is? An eternal struggle with the creative process-then this is a fantastic book.

Art and fear bayles