TheClayArtist.com | Peter Holland, Ceramic Sculptor, Clay Modeler | The War Of Art, Self-Motivation, Self-Help for the creative process, The Right Mind Set

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The War of Art

"What is this about? How will knowing about it help me?"

Read on below to find out. But first, do you recognize yourself?.....

This ‘newness’ is already inside you, waiting to be discovered and then rediscovered”.
Ancient Zen law

You look at the work of others with wide eyes, wondering how they did it, how they made that jump to excellence. Then you find one day after working until you drop, that you glimpse an inkling of merit in your own endeavors. You can’t stop looking and smiling, wondering how it came to be, wondering if you have won the war or just fought the first skirmish.

Peter Holland

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without the work.

Emile Zola

The Big Picture

Patience and inner peace is everything. Find your neutral space. Connect.
Experiment with new techniques, (but be prepared for a few unsuccessful initial attempts).
Don’t rush things. Be deliberate. Less haste more speed.
Look at other people’s successes and copy them shamelessly. Your influences and inspirations can hold no shame.
Don’t stint yourself on anything. This is important. Prioritize.

My ebooks on self development are available here

My free tutorials on sculpture technique are here

Now, onto 'The War Of Art'

"What is it about and how can knowing about it help me?"

In 2002 an author called Stephen Pressfield published a book called 'The War Of Art' - subtitled 'seize the potential of your life in three inspirational steps'.

I have a beautiful hardback edition, it is one of my most prized possessions. I take it everywhere with me and look into it every time I need to know how the world works. It made me understand what had been happening to me, good and bad..

Its main idea is that if you are engaged in any creative endeavor, whether it's a business enterprise or Art, you are confronted with a big, ugly brick wall called 'Resistance'. It never lets up and is at its most awkward when you are an inch away from success. The people who succeed in their creative endeavor are the ones who find the way to scale the wall. The ones who fail just walk away defeated.

If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

Once you've climbed one wall, there's another smack bang in front. Now, you can take this information in one of two ways - "How depressing, I can't be bothered" or "Great! Now I have the know-how and equipment to get over the wall, then the next one will be easier, then the next one easier still." The choice is yours.

There are three other books I regard as essential reading for anyone I care about and they are:

Stephen Pressfield's 'The War Of Art'
Robert Kiyosaki's 'Rich Dad Poor Dad'
Deepak Chopra's 'The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success'

If you know about these three books already, you will find my ebooks stimulating, if you don't, read my ebooks anyway!

Good luck. Please let me know how you get on.

Peter Holland Sculpture The War Of Art