The Pain of Discipline or How to be a really successful artist
We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.” Jim Rohn, as quoted by Chris Guillebeau in his manifesto, The Tower).
Discipline and Sacrifice
You really do only have two options. You can have the discipline to pursue your art – which requires sacrifices, or you can look back years later and wish that you had. You will have regret or disappointment in the dream you never dared pursue. Which do you choose? Many people who don’t pursue art feel that the choice is made for them. Or at least they claim that. I would argue that most of the time this is false. No one has their choice made for them, unless they are in bondage. Most of the time, what it really comes down to is 1) willingness to sacrifice and 2) fear.
Sacrifice
It is said that sacrifice is giving up something good for something better. What are you willing to sacrifice to be able to pursue your art? Live in a smaller home? Drive an older car? Have fewer “toys”? What about time? Do you sacrifice watching TV for hours every evening? Do you sacrifice going out on the town each weekend? Etc.?
What are you NOT willing to sacrifice? Family? Faith? Health? Etc.?
Fear
But, what if it doesn’t work out? What if you never get good enough to “make it”? What if you fail? Which is easier to say: “I don’t have the option to pursue art, because of (insert obstacle here).” “I failed.”
Cinamatic Art
Nightwatching
Nightwatching (2007): Rembrandt and the Murder He Discovered.
Known for his exuberant neo-Baroque mise-en-scène, Peter Greenaway created a moving feature about Rembrandt’s professional and romantic life, including the controversy surrounding one of his best-known painting The Night Watch. The movie focuses on a conspiracy to murder within the musketeer regiment he depicted on the painting, and Rembrandt’s attempt to show it through the subtle allegory he deploys in the group portrait.
