Clarifying Goals....Need Some Help....

[dor]

Hello,
I have a couple of goals I have had trouble clarifying, and I thought I might ask people here for some advice.

a. Getting better at painting - I would like to paint at a 'master level' - I am pretty close to that now - but how do I clarify that ? Effective goals should have clearly attainable measurements, I am told....do I say paint like Sargent...wow, frankly that's just not comfortable (though I wish it were!) and I don't want to paint like him, but I sure would be happy with as good as....

b. I would like to run a 'creative studio' something like what Tiffany or Disney did - they produced many different things on a small scale - as opposed to being just a 'giant' furniture manufacturer. ...or 'giant' movie studio. (I mean Disney when ran by Walt, not the mess it is today) . William Morris did the same thing.

this may seem lofty but with the interenet and quicker and more efficient production tools it's not....but i am having trouble wording that as well.
So i would like to produce smalll films and revenue generating websites to begin with...

Any suggestions? thanks.

[John Wesley]

I'd like to help, but it's difficult for someone else to clarify goals you cannot clearly express yourself. It isn't possible for someone else to understand what is in your mind better than you do. I suggest spending some time alone brainstorming, trying to write down concrete goals, then simplifying them until you get what you want. I think this would be much more beneficial than soliciting advice from strangers that are unfamiliar with you and your plans.

[dor]

Originally Posted by John Wesley

I'd like to help, but it's difficult for someone else to clarify goals you cannot clearly express yourself. It isn't possible for someone else to understand what is in your mind better than you do. I suggest spending some time alone brainstorming, trying to write down concrete goals, then simplifying them until you get what you want. I think this would be much more beneficial than soliciting advice from strangers that are unfamiliar with you and your plans.

Hi john
thank you for responding...yes I realize that, but i thought some input from people had similar ones...surely I can't be the first person who wants to improve their painting - or some other non-measurable skill - that has used visualization/goal setting?
I realize there are 'measurable' ways to say you'll improve say, your painting - I will win this or that contest or get a gallery showing - but for me it's a serious, passionate important 'hobby' that the joy comes from producing great works....
however i realize just by writing the post that it's perhaps not even clear to me,

[Alvin]

Hi dor,

As an artist myself, perhaps you'd get clearer ideas discussing them with other artists?

I'm sure there are others out there, but my fave when I was a 3d artist was CGTalk

[dor]

Originally Posted by Alvin

Hi dor,

As an artist myself, perhaps you'd get clearer ideas discussing them with other artists?

I'm sure there are others out there, but my fave when I was a 3d artist was CGTalk

Thanks for the link!...and suggestion - there are other boards that I go to specifically for technique tips wetcanvas.com but heck, why not for goal clarification?

[dalante]

I can relate to your message, because I have a similar goal than yours, except it is in writing, not painting. When I read work that I admire, I wish "I would like to depict reality or a dramatic situation as well as they do." However, do I really want to be able to measure the quality of my art? Do I want art to be graded on a scale that would determine what is better art than the other? Personally, I don't. Moreover, if you define a level and reach it... what next? Do you stop evolving?

Therefore, I have set up goals that are a bit different:

*Improve the quality of my writing.
By reading classics, by always revising the rules of the language (French and English), by discovering new authors, by educating myself on fiction techniques, etc... (educating myself in general and see other people's works)

*Productivity goals, such as:
-showing up in front of my paper everyday (which is quite new to me)
-setting deadlines for projects
-introducing a word count objective (I'm not doing it at the moment, but at one point, I set a goal to write 500 words everyday
-Setting a number of editors/publishers to submit my writing to

Etc etc

So my answer to your question is to set a goal to always improve, even if you get recognition, good reviews, good money from it, etc.
Productivity goals also help improving because art is an activity in which you get better by doing it.

[dor]

dalante
yes i thought about productivity goals -and they definitely help but as you know its easy to get in a loop of just producing but not improving (though in the book 'creativity' by the guy who wrote flow Csikszentmihalyi ...says those plateus are what lead to the breakthroughs)
I remember an image of PG Wodehouse writing - a friend says he came when he was just starting out - at a top floor, poorly heated flat - wrapped in a blanket and huddled over his paper - merrily scribbling away
might it help to read about a writer -and 'model' their writing habits? In the same way you'd imitate the a golfers swing?

I have thought about doing this technique which i think napolean hill suggests in Think and Grow Rich..- imagine yourself as so and so or that writer advising you?

Side note, I have found that constant drawing helps - by constantly carrying a sketchbook - even a small pocket one...there is an author Louis Auchincloss- who worked full time as a lawyer and wrote his books (and they are good!) this way - just carying a little note pad and scribbling here and there!

[dalante]

Originally Posted by dor

the guy who wrote flow Csikszentmihalyi

What?

Originally Posted by dor

might it help to read about a writer -and 'model' their writing habits?

I have read or listened extensively about writer's habits and they all say: I do it everyday. That was the one common thing. I find that I've only been doing it three weeks, and it's done wonders already. One of my ideas of great art is that it is unique. In that case, why model your environment or your work conditions completely to the ones of other writers? I see in that a risk of loosing my uniqueness.

To improve, I do the following:
*Practice
*Expose and listen to feedback
*Education
*Read other people's work

[dor]

Originally Posted by dalante

What?

Flow (psychology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Flow (psychology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.
Contents
Components of flow

As Csikszentmihalyi sees it, components of an experience of flow can be specifically enumerated; he presents eight:

1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible).
2. Concentrating and focusing, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
4. Distorted sense of time - one's subjective experience of time is altered.
5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
9. When in the flow state, people become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975. p.72).

Not all are needed for flow to be experienced.

I see in that a risk of loosing my uniqueness.

don't worry! you're unique! you can't loose it!
regarding modeling, yes I agree, but its like writing and art, in art at least classical training - you start off by copying masters (and learning to draw on your own) eventually you develop your own style out of that.
Despite my posts here, I had a great rhetorical teacher in college and he suggested the same thing- imitate a style you like and eventually you'll develop your own style.

[dor]

FOREVERSPIRIT thank you for the spam that you've also put in 16+ other threads...

[esn]

Greetings dor,

Does "paint at a master level" suggest learning new techniques ? Specifically, what do you see in Sargent's painting ?

From :John Singer Sargent

"Sargent was trained, as it were, to be an Old Master. The Old Master style works from halftones backward to darks and forward to lights which, against the somber tonalities of the canvas, acquire a diamantine luminescence."

So, are you already an Old Master ?


Regards,
Eric

[renie408]

Is this really something you can manifest through analysis? The painting on a master level part, I mean.

[dor]

Originally Posted by esn

Greetings dor,

Does "paint at a master level" suggest learning new techniques ? Specifically, what do you see in Sargent's painting ?

From :John Singer Sargent

"Sargent was trained, as it were, to be an Old Master. The Old Master style works from halftones backward to darks and forward to lights which, against the somber tonalities of the canvas, acquire a diamantine luminescence."

So, are you already an Old Master ?


Regards,
Eric

well by that definition i suppose I am...but I am talking about a master level of drawing & painting.

renie408 not just through analysis, i but i do think it is, like sports one of the easiest things to manifest through visulaziation but i just think it's a bit tricky to verbalize the goal and set accomplishment specific points golf for example is easy - take X strokes off, or score X on this course... art is a little less tangible.