Quotes from Kandinsky

I recently read Concerning the Spiritual in Art by Wassily Kandinsky. It’s a really great little book that offers a fresh perspective on art, art theory, color, form, and spirituality. I highly recommend it!

You can buy the book here:

At any rate, here are some of my favorite quotes, interspersed with some of his incredible paintings.

The Blue Rider
The Blue Rider

“… the most extreme principle of aesthetic can never be of value to the future, but only to the past. No such theory of principle can be laid down for those things which lie beyond, in the realm of the immaterial. That which has no material existence cannot be subjected to a material classification. That which belongs to the spirit of the future can only be realized in feeling, and this feeling the talent of the artist is the only road. Theory is the lamp which sheds light on the petrified ideas of yesterday and of the more distant past.”

Painting with White Border
Painting with White Border

“Literature, music and art are the first and most sensitive spheres in which this spiritual revolution makes itself felt. They reflect the dark picture of the present time and show the importance of what at first was only a little point of light noticed by few and for the great majority non-existent. Perhaps they even grow dark in their turn, but on the other hand they turn away from the soulless life of the present towards those substances and ideas which give free scope to the non-material strivings of the soul.”

Overcast
Overcast

“Generally speaking, colour is a power which directly influences the soul. Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.”

In Grey
In Grey

“It is evident therefore that colour harmony must rest only on a corresponding vibration in the human soul; and this is one of the guiding principles of the inner need.”

Points
Points

“So it is evident that form-harmony must rest only on a corresponding vibration of the human soul; and this is a second guiding principle of the inner need.”

Multi-Colored Circle
Multi-Colored Circle

“It is clear, therefore, that the choice of object (i.e. of one of the elements in the harmony of form) must be decided only by a corresponding vibration in the human soul; and this is a third guiding principle of the inner need.”

Bustling Aquarelle
Bustling Aquarelle

“The inner need is built up of three mystical elements: (1) Every artist, as a creator, has something in him which calls for expression (this is the element of personality). (2) Every artist, as child of his age, is impelled to express the spirit of his age (this is the element of style)–dictated by the period and particular country to which the artist belongs (it is doubtful how long the latter distinction will continue to exist). (3) Every artist, as a servant of art, has to help the cause of art (this is the element of pure artistry, which is the constant in all ages and among all nationalities).”

Transverse Lines
Transverse Lines

“The spirit, like the body, can be strengthened and developed by frequent exercise. Just as the body, if neglected, grows weaker and finally impotent, so the spirit perishes if untended. And for this reason it is necessary for the artist to know the starting point for the exercise of his spirit.
The starting point is the study of colour and its effect on men.”

100 Day Project Three – Day 20

DAY 20 (July 1st, 2018)

LETTING GO

there is something like death in it—
this letting go.

flushed and sodden,
the heart grasps, like a shipwrecked child, at empty air.

finality is a face like ice
it will melt into grace
it too sheds cold tears.

cup your clay hands
slake your tired thirst
twice born, thrice born
born-again born, from these
wine dregs drink deep.


Novel X

Daily Word Count: 127

EXCERPT

She pounded back the last of her Molten Stinger and got up to leave in a huff.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on June 12th, 2018. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything, really (or nothing at all) and to write at least one hundred shitty first-draft words of my novel. I’ll post the results here.

Enjoy!

100 Day Project Three – Day 19

DAY 19 (June 30th, 2018)

SPARROWS

a ubiquity—
a troupe of sparrows
dance a soot brown feather hop
and flit higgledy–piggledy between
bread crumbs tossed
like playground balls
from one squawking beak
to the next


Novel X

Daily Word Count: 115

EXCERPT

“Wait just a minute … I didn’t agree to any mission. I just want to attend the communion.”

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on June 12th, 2018. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything, really (or nothing at all) and to write at least one hundred shitty first-draft words of my novel. I’ll post the results here.

Enjoy!

100 Day Project Three – Day 18

DAY 18 (June 29th, 2018)

TIME IS A CRUTCH

time is a crutch
for the dying.
hear yourself breathe.
sense yourself distinct.
a world presses in upon you like a mold–
the last dimension is pulled out
like a rug from under you.
what is life without it?


Novel X

Daily Word Count: 111

EXCERPT

Quite smooth, he thought, as he shook it … somewhat too vigorously. He had thought to kiss it, but thought the better of it. He again smiled awkwardly instead.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on June 12th, 2018. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything, really (or nothing at all) and to write at least one hundred shitty first-draft words of my novel. I’ll post the results here.

Enjoy!

100 Day Project Three – Day 17

DAY 17 (June 28th, 2018)

A CITY IS BURNING (UNFINISHED)

A city is burning on the riverfront,
waxen spirits dance upon the embers—
there are millions of them.
I stand, tarry, wait
to be yet another
among their countless number.

I taste copper in my mouth—
the crippled trees, raven sky
behind me. It is dark.
Too dark to see.
I stumble like a blind man
toward the ferry.


Novel X

Daily Word Count: 171

EXCERPT

Charlot studied Burt for several moments. She searched his eyes. He smiled awkwardly.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on June 12th, 2018. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything, really (or nothing at all) and to write at least one hundred shitty first-draft words of my novel. I’ll post the results here.

Enjoy!

100 Day Project Three – Day 16

DAY 16 (June 27th, 2018)

A MOMENT

A moment weightless in love
lingers in its own eternity
it swept through you—a furious, elemental wind
that felled you, root and branch—
an ancient cypress,
palpably impermanent despite
the countless centuries it had endured.


Novel X

Daily Word Count: 172

EXCERPT

“I suppose that’s possible. I mean, I don’t have proof to the contrary. But it’s hard for me to believe. It goes against everything I believe about you, about the CIA, about our whole damned corrupted government.”

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on June 12th, 2018. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything, really (or nothing at all) and to write at least one hundred shitty first-draft words of my novel. I’ll post the results here.

Enjoy!

100 Day Project Three – Day 15

DAY 15 (June 26th, 2018)

SILHOUETTE (UNFINISHED)

An old woman knit a silhouette
from a patchwork of dreams and threadbare trances,
between wisps of moth-eaten memories on a park bench tottering
between clots of madness and enlightenment—
and walked into it.


Novel X

Daily Word Count: 108

EXCERPT

“You shouldn’t always believe what you read or see in the news, Charlot. I’ll let you in on a secret. Sometimes we intentionally leak bad press just to keep our enemies on their toes.”

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on June 12th, 2018. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything, really (or nothing at all) and to write at least one hundred shitty first-draft words of my novel. I’ll post the results here.

Enjoy!

100 Day Project Three – Day 14

DAY 14 (June 25th, 2018)

THE FLUTE (UNFINISHED)

upon my deathbed I lie inert—
enfeebled heart,
mind aground,
command lost and naught to follow—
when I hear her play.

her instrument—
a company of angels,
all but imperceptible
to the untrained ear.
neither doctor nor prodigious
am I, but my forty futile years
of an uncelebrated novitiate
have earned me this one consolation—
ears to hear her play.

the chorus pulls me out of lumbering shadows—
out of the soft, dark earth
and melts my glacial melancholy.

I wake and wash my face in the dun-colored dawn.


Novel X

Daily Word Count: 105

EXCERPT

” … My mission … our mission, if it suits you, is to attend that hearing, gather intelligence, and get information concerning our lost agent, if at all possible.”

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on June 12th, 2018. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything, really (or nothing at all) and to write at least one hundred shitty first-draft words of my novel. I’ll post the results here.

Enjoy!

100 Day Project Three – Day 13

DAY 13 (June 24th, 2018)

DRAWING A CIRCLE

I drew a circle to find
that God dwells
in the beginning
and the end—
not in the fiery score
seething from the orchestral pit,
foretold in dreams,
to which my desperate soul
listened in vain for meaning.


The grotesque quality of everyday life conceals from you a real misery of the passions.
    —Barnave

Copied from the the book The Red and the Black, which you can buy here:


Novel X

Daily Word Count: 108

EXCERPT

Burt considered that. She’s an expert with expert knowledge. That could, in fact, be useful.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on June 12th, 2018. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything, really (or nothing at all) and to write at least one hundred shitty first-draft words of my novel. I’ll post the results here.

Enjoy!

Year 2018 365 Photo Journey (May 1st thru June 1st) – NYC Edition

Here are some pics from my most recent trip to NYC. Enjoy!


365 Photo Journey

Apparently, this is a thing. Consider it a challenge, a journal, or a journey (I prefer journey). Take a picture a day and post it to your blog. Here are some reasons why you should try it, too.