Keep Your Ear and Create
How did this blog get its name? Well. . . . there is a (short and) winding road that goes like this: Vincent Van Gogh “removed” his ear and everyone knows it. Everyone. It’s a pretty famous story. Of course, there are a few different versions. One version says two nights before Christmas in 1888, he used a razor to cut it off after a severe bout of depression. He was in France, so this makes me sad. I’ve never been, but I’ve always been under the impression that France is a happy, beautiful place to get in touch with oneself and have a lovely time.
Another version says that he got into a little tiff that perhaps got a little physical with artist Paul Gauguin, and afterward, he chopped that ear off and gave it to a prostitute. I mean, what a thoughtful gift, right? Nothing says “true love” like a hacked off ear. After the no doubt romantic gift giving, he was admitted to a mental hospital in Arles.
Yet another version: he broke. Seriously, the man was under enormous pressure: 1. Theo, his brother, and principle source of Vincent’s financial stability, was engaged to be married and would undoubtedly be unable to pay for Vincent’s lifestyle any further. 2. Vincent and Gauguin had been hanging out intensely for just way too long. 3. He had cranked out so much work that his creative, mental, and emotional limits had been taxed beyond the normal scope of where those levels should be.
All this to say that I think we can take a lesson from Vincent. Regardless of how anyone wants to analyze it, Vincent was quite passionate about what he created - paintings, letters, drawings, etc. Can we be as passionate and still live a perfectly normal innovative life? I believe we can. I believe we should. And I believe we ought to while keeping our ears in tact. See, I think living creatively can indeed mean making sacrifices here and there, but I think we can keep a balance so that our most important entities - our families, our friends, our ears - don’t have to suffer. I also believe we must have aspects of creativity at the very least scattered into our daily lives whether we paint, sculpt, whittle, write, sing, play an instrument, cook, dance, or act. Or whatever other really awesome creative thing you enjoy doing. If you’re the parent of any age child and you are aware you and the little one are spending way too much time on the technology, if you are a creative who just needs a little inspiration and motivation, if you are a person who knows you need to be doing something in the creative realm but your ADD hinders you from making a decision on exactly what (welcome to my world, btw), or if you are the most non-creative person you know, this blog is for you. There will be lots and lots and lots of creative morsels for you to enjoy through the course of this blog. Welcome to the studio, Friend. I’m glad you’re here.
