In my monthly newsletter (April edition), you’ve been introduced to Austin Kleon, a writer who draws. He thinks everyone who creates should show their work. With that in mind, he poses some serious questions for creative types (like us) to consider:
What do you read?
Do you subscribe to anything?
What sites do you visit on the Internet?
What music do you listen to?
What movies do you see?
Do you look at art?
What do you collect?
What do you pin to the cork board above your desk?
Me interjecting for a moment: Wait a second, you don’t have a cork board. That’s ok. If you did have one, what would you pin to it. What do you pin in Pinterest?
Wait a minute (it’s me interjecting again) Let’s go back a couple of questions to…Do you look at art? and What do you read?
This is super important. To be an artist or a writer or a musician or a dancer (anyone creative), you need to fill your head and eyes with art, writing, music, dance…whatever art form you admire and want to emulate. Get ready to steal some ideas, too! Kleon wrote an entire book on the topic called Steal Like an Artist.
Kleon writes further: Your influences are all worth sharing because they clue people in to who you are and what you do–sometimes even more than your own work.
If you want to comment on what I’ve shared about Austin Kleon and sharing work, please fill out a comment form. I’d love to include one or more of newsletter and blog readers’ ideas in future newsletters/blogs.