I love this. Fantastic!

Ten out of Ten.

I’m smiling. I love it.

Oh wow…I needed this. Thank you so much!

Oy! Good timing! I am having such a hard time revealing anything on my site (which I really want to do), but everyone elses is work is fabulous that I am afraid they will laugh! Thanks for the encouragement!

My dear keri,
You are a wonderful artist and writer. I have been reading an article you wrote in 2003 How to make a living doing what you love. I recently retired from a job I did not love and I am old 60 years in June. My perspective is different. Be gentle with yourself and the flow will continue for you..as you have such a prism of insights into your soul and energy..you are a light not a shadow.
Thank you for stimulating my creativity..Enjoy your youth and dazzling brilliance.
Khani

Very very guilty of all of those, thanks for the wake up call. ;)

Good list! did you figure this all out yourself!? I’m impressed!

Hi keri,
I think you’re such an inspiration to everyone. Your creativity and art really inspiried me to keep going. I’m just starting to get back in the groove of being creative and trying to do art again… and you’ve totally inspiried me to keep going… even tho i am very guilty of #10. =p
Keep doing what you’re doing… you’re good at it!

isn’t it something else? #1 is the biggest crusher of the artistic spirit.

I love how this applies to absolutely every artistic field.

wow, number 2 is SO true… i never really thought about it until now but that is something that can really bring me down!

oh my goodness, this is all so true, especially the last for me! i’m definately taking myself and my path too seriously these days, as evidenced by my latest blathering post:)

OH my did you just read my mind or what!

((hugs)) and a sincere thank you for starting my day with a big belly laugh! Oh my, this list can be cross translated to most proffessions and or vocations.
To Live Your life genuinely without need for applause-this would be BLiss!
Namaste,
MB

ouch! the truth hurts.

The one time I get a perfect score… and it ain’t a good thing! ;) Thank you for this. It’s now on my desktop as a valuable reminder.

Wow- this really hit home. Just when I was thinking what was the point of my art, I read this list and realized that its the only thing that always gets me up in the morning. I am going to tape this on my wall- Thanks. :)

Whew!
Did you write this one, Keri?
I’m printing this out and sticking it on my studio door.
OUCH! So true. For me the “only do work your family will love” one is the most resonant right now. I have some big stuff to say but I’m afraid of people thinking I’m “not nice”.
Urgkk!

yes I did helen. i smirked the whole way through.
it is true you could substitute anything for artist and it still works.

I had the same immediate reaction — wonderful instructions for how to be miserable no matter what your pursuit, though they seem especially true for the creative realm.

Wonderful. Taming that inner critic is what it is all about.

This is so me…
I think I’m getting it…slowly!

Oh man! How perfect- I needed to read this right now at this very moment! Much thanks!

I’m loving this.

What excellent advice!

Nice.
To add: busting your arse for a client to turn around a project in a couple of days only to have to wait over a month to get paid!

There’s too many on there I’ve done!
By the way, I’ve been reading this blog for a while, and I admire the work you do.

i love #10 “to be accomplished by tomorrow”, LOL, isn’t that the truth!

this is fabulous.

yes – love the tell your family and hope they understand one – always dissapointing when you try to explain your thing to family

Oh yes all true.
I’ve finally managed to get hold of a copy of “Living Out Loud”. Took my bookshop two months to get hold of it. Do you know of any bookshops in London that stock your books please?
Living out Loud is wonderful. So playful, reminds me of stuff I had as a child. The dress up dolls. More please.

don’t we always know that we have set ourselves up for dissapointment even before we recieve it in these situations – but, i still look for the affirmation from friends and family who just don’t get it. fortunately i do have a collective group of creative souls who say “yes”. find your creative circle of friends – we’re everywhere! we need to embrace the creative spirit, and encourage the creative soul in all of us. so, today you have my permission to be creative, let your hair down, shake it out, and play!
enjoy,
xo – h

Brilliant.

Thank you so much for this. I’ve put it in the mailbox of my grad school classmates and it’s now on several studio doors.
Tammy

have you been talking to my psyche? love this.

Finding your blog today is a gift of grace for me. Thank you so much. I’m going to go write a letter to my future self now. Bless you – I’ve been in such a bad place creatively & emotionally the last few days – I think I see a teensy light now.
Best, Neasa

thanks, I needed a good talking to, especially concerning #1, #3, #5, #6 ummm… who’s kidding who, it’s the whole list!

How true! I’m sure we all know this to be so but deep down inside us but still we struggle with it all. Thank you for articulating it like you did. Wonderful!

Oh my, I am guilty of almost ALL of these so I really needed to read your post! No wonder I’ve been struggling lately. I love this so much I’d like to link it on my blog, is that okay? I’ll give you credit of course. ;-)

Amen to that.
;-)

thank you for that!

Excellent list (unfortunately, I can relate to it)! I wonder, when it comes to #6 and #9, how do we not let those things matter when there are bills to pay? Isn’t part of being a “professional” artist doing what the client wants so we get paid? How do we not do what the client/gallery owner/customer asks when our JOB is to illustrate their product/item/thing?

Ow that hurt–but it was good hurt, a productive hurt even. One should stop beating oneself up and honestly take this list to heart!! Thank you!!

six words…
to thine own self be true

That goes for how to be miserable as a person too – especially about constantly comparing ourselves to others! I do it all the time, and i just wish expand on what i already am, rather than trying to be someone else.
Well, i think you’re fabulous and always visit your site for refreshing inspiration and juicy living :)
charlie xx

as soon as i saw the title it was an immediate LOL — love it, thx for pointing out just how silly we can be sometimes…

I LOVE your blog, your work, your ideas… really :)

Do you have a higher res version, suitable for framing?

This is extraordinary. And just so true; I’d drink to it!
I love your blog; it’s awesome =)

wow! how did you know that i needed this?!
seriously, i think we all need this framed about our creative workspace!
you rock! and i love reading your blog!

Very inspiring – thanks a lot!

Thanks for that – that’s going in my studio (along with my much simpler ‘You’re a cartoonist – so CARTOON!’)
- pj

Bravo! This is really well done and hits the point home. I never ever let myself do those things or think those things-thank goodness. We do not need to feel misrable to create. Cheers to you Keri!

Touch

OMG…. this is so true… to my amazement, it does not take difference in locations to have the same consequence to those actions… I feel exactly the same way. As an asian, I thought this problem is even more obvious, but it does happen across the region… I am truely encouraged!! :)

THANK YOU.
all of those have been clouding my mind lately and i’m not sure if it’s just because I am graduating or what. I always have those feelings but now it is VERY intense. Driving me nuts. Thank you so much for this list! You are the best.

So true Keri, so true. Thank you

mmmm. thanks so much!

Brilliant, with a capital B!
I found you through Drawn and now I’m adding you to my favorite links…

you were linked over at drawn.ca and they referred to you as the “blogosphere

perfectly put, as always. i had it on my desktop for a week!

This is now the cover of my new sketch book :)

Phenomenal!!!

I would like permission to post this to my bead group. I love it! Thank you Jo

So true! Fantastic work.
Would it make you feel more miserable as an artist if I were to point out that the paragraph indents aren’t properly set? :)

This list is really good. I really needed to hear it. Thank you!

Thanks so much for this. I think I am especially guilty of point no. 10!

This is awesome…it’s so honest and true! I’m sure I’m one of the many who procrastinates by spending precious time surfing for other artists to see what they do, and how, and for whatever reason tell myself that I’m not “good enough”. Either that or often I think, “Hey, I could do that!…Hey! I draw like that too!” I make a mental note to start on my self-promotion plan the next day. But then I wake up and do the same thing all over again. It’s making my dream of “I’ll get there someday”, seem to take forever. I appreciate what you wrote. It’s how I feel sometimes. I guess the most clever and wonderful thing we can do for ourselves is break the cycle.

11:11

thanks for posting this…lord this is so true! I know a couple of these habits that I need to break!

Haha!! Fantastic!

Haha!! Fantastic!

Haha!! Fantastic!