Posts by Nicholas Wilton
NOTHING BUT MONEY IN ART
When I was growing up my father owned an advertising agency. As a result he was always involved in something creative. I loved this. I remember sitting on top of the kitchen table as he used those smelly, toxic ( I still LOVE that smell, do you know the one?) felt pens to design logos…
Read MoreIMPROVING OUR ART
How do we improve our art? I definitely subscribe to the 10,000 hours of hard work idea. This rule originally proposed in Malcolm Gladwell’s NY Times bestselling book “Outliers, The Story of Success” suggests that only by practicing 10,000 hours at a specific task you are able to become successful at whatever it is your…
Read MoreWAITING FOR ANSWERS
Today I was working on a large painting. It was mostly white and had tiny black square shapes all over it. It reminded me of a snowy landscape. I was feeling kind of lost, almost as if I was wandering in this enormous white field with black stumps where trees once were. It just felt…
Read MoreTHE VACATION IN ART
I love the quote by the philosopher, poet David Whyte…”Visitation, absence, visitation, absence this is how we learn” This totally rings true for me. When I come back to work on a painting the following day I have about 45 minutes of objectivity. Things seem more clear and fresh. Then I tend to slow down. After about…
Read MoreWORLD DOMINATION SUMMIT
I just returned from Chris Guillenbaum’s World Domination Summit in Portland Oregon. The conference was especially remarkable because of this year’s speakers. I especially was moved by Nancy Duarte visually mapping out the worlds greatest speeches, Jia Jiang talking about rejection, and Danielle La Porte firing up the audience with her search for Desire. This is a remarkable conference that seems to attract super creative people…
Read MoreORIGINALITY
When I was a in high school I took a stained glass class at a local art store. The first project was to make a Tiffany style lampshade. The pattern was basically a pansy repeating floral motif. The instructions said that I could choose any color of glass I wanted. Seeing as how I was…
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