No one told me it was Wednesday!

I can't blame this post being late on anyone, but I can say I was a little disappointed to not receive an email asking about my missing post yesterday. I will be posting something tomorrow though to try to stay on track and you get this post today. Yeah!

I don't believe in excuses. I believe that people have priorities and they get done what they feel like they must get done. If they really thought something else was more important they would do it. Would you agree?

You don't have to agree with me, but hear me out:
I think artists are a peculiar people. The ones that are really dedicated and can get by on caffeine will do all nighters because they have determined that making art and reaching a deadline is more important than sleep.

Other artists (Like myself) are not able to pull all nighters. Sleep is just more important to us than art making at midnight so what does that mean? It means if we want to reach those same deadlines we have to say "NO" to other things before that deadline so that we aren't forced to do all nighters.

The word "No" is just as powerful as the word "Yes". In fact it can be even more empowering. When we say NO to something it allows us the opportunity to say Yes to other things. Take a minute and think about your day. What are you saying No to and what are you saying Yes to?

Doing this exercise myself looks like this:

This morning I decided to say "NO" to waking up when my alarm went off. What that means is that I was saying "Yes" to being late to work. I was saying "Yes" to being more stressed at work. I was saying "Yes" to eating out since my lunch wasn't prepared. But It also meant I got to say "Yes" to an extra half an hour in my warm bed.

Hopefully tomorrow I can say "Yes" to my alarm clock so that I can say "Yes" to a better lunch than a hamburger off the dollar menu. So that I can say "Yes" to more money since I will be at work longer. I will also get to say "Yes" to less stress too!

Do you see how this works?

This principle works with your time, with your money, with everything!

Something that I have recently been able to say Yes to was taking an art class with J. Kirk Richards. He has been a wonderful mentor and boss for me this past year and when he offered to let me take his class with him this week I just knew that was what I was going to do.

To iterate I would like to tell you all the things I said No to, so that I could say Yes to this class. Every year for the last couple of years I have gone with a really good friend of mine to his parents house up in North Idaho. It is right on the edge of a beautiful lake. His parents have a boat, three wheelers, and not to mention wonderful company!
Here are some pictures of it!

This year I said No to that so that I could say Yes to learning how to paint better.
My wife also said No to this so we could say Yes to another week of work and the pay check that would come from that.

Here is a progress shot of what I have been working on in the painting class. It is a master copy of one of my favorite artists, James Christiansen.

Stay Tuned to my blog. I will be posting the finished product in about a week or so.

Also thank you for reading my blog. I realize that at this point most of my readers are friends on face book. I hope to share my journey as a maturing artist with some insights for everyday life. If you get something out of a post share it with a friend. Thanks.

Also if you have feedback for me please feel free to email me at guapolsen@gmail.com

Take Care

The Key to Inspiration

In the early hours this morning I found myself awake. It was really nice to lay in bed for a minute and listen to the birds chirping, but then I thought I must write a blog post! I want to write today about finding inspiration. So, here it goes...

Inspiration-

In life sometimes Inspiration comes in the early mornings when you have to make the choice to listen to it or ignore it. Sometimes it comes when you least expect it. A lot of times we talk about inspiration as something that isn't actually coming from us but some other source.
While in school studying illustration someone once shared this Ted Talk with me by Elizabeth Gilbert who is the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" She talks about Inspiration in an incredible way. See the video Here.

My favorite part of that video is maybe the part where she describes a poet who sometimes franticly runs to the house to try to catch an idea that is barreling through her like a train and sometimes she catches it by the tail end writes the poem backwards as she pulls the train back to her by the caboose!

Here is a picture of a train by Greg Newbold 

I had the opportunity to take a class from him while I was at BYU.

Some people have found surfing the internet as helpful for gaining inspiration. I will admit I have used websites like Pinterest. You can look at my page here.

I feel like there is some danger in only using the internet as your source of inspiration though. If you only copy the styles of other artists you may never fully develop your own style. Now don't get me wrong copying another artists piece to learn how they solved problems and planned composition, color and line is incredibly important in your development. I think I will just leave that thought there.

I once took a sketch book class where I had the opportunity to drive around Provo/Orem area with some other students and we would just sketch for a couple of hours. This was incredibly nice and brought me tons of inspiration. Use a sketchbook. I know some people out there that are reading this might think I am just talking to artists, but I think everyone in this world should keep a sketchbook. Whether their are drawings in it or it becomes more like a journal to you, you should have somewhere to capture inspiration as it comes to you.

Here is a sketch I ended up drawing on a Sacrament Meeting program maybe because I forgot my sketchbook or maybe because I just like drawing on the Sunday Church Programs.

It is my interpretation of the first Angry birds or Cavemen throwing Chickens...

Always keep a pen and some paper handy. You just never know what little nuggets of inspiration will come to you!

Also go out and be in nature. Go for hikes. I know that I love music and Podcasts and getting information. But I also love camping and watching the sunrise. As a world we should take some time out of our busy schedules to look around us at the beauty that has been created by God. Don't get stuck at your computer or if you are reading this from your phone. Pause and look around you at the world. That is where inspiration can come from. Talk to people. People have some crazy stories and the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction!

Painting by James Christensen

I once had the opportunity to visit with James Christensen. He is a former BYU Professor and incredible artist. In talking to him I asked him how he gets such fun, crazy ideas? He told me he gets ideas out of his sketchbook and if ever his inspiration runs dry he does yard work. He explained to me that he hates pulling weeds so after just a few minutes his brain is sure to come up with something to paint instead of pulling weeds.

I guess to end this blogpost today I am going to throw out some challenges!

1. Go out in nature and just enjoy the sounds, sights and smells for at least five minutes today. I am sure you have five minutes!

2. Start carrying a pen and paper with you and record ideas, thoughts and Inspiration as it comes to you! Maybe you are a secret song writer and you just don't know it yet.

3. If you are still reading this and you like it let me know! :)