Success?

#0828 "Standing Outside the Fire"

How do you know if you have succeeded with your art?

The best art grabs you – affects for feelings – your mood. Hopefully in a positive way. There must be an unspoken connection between the artist and the audience. If you have accomplished that even once as an artist, you are on your way. You can do it again. Keep trying.

The art can be almost anything: visual, music, dance, writing … there is a host of creative disciplines that provides the artist with an outlet for expression and maybe even an audience. What excites me is that sometimes those outlets fuse and the sum is greater than the parts. 

Leonardo da Vinci wrote “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”. My friend Marko Burrows has fused Leonardo's concepts and put them to music. 

Marko Burrows, England

Marko Burrows is a one man music machine creating a library of music in much the same way that I create a garage full of art. We are driven to create. My art connected with Marko and he reacted by writing a song… I love it and maybe you will too.

I have his songs on my playlist and I smile whenever their turn comes up. Marko was able to distill my art into the poetry and music of "It's Hot in Here" and "Painting Life". I find it truly remarkable how he actually hit the bullseye of my character. Life and the planet are fragile and we need to become better stewards of both for the sake of nature and the generations yet to come. Great responsibilities must come with the equally great rights and freedoms that we enjoy - paid for by our parents - the Greatest Generation. I do not believe in entitlement - merit is all that matters. Work, effort and learning to be better are important. We are all the same so let's strive together to make the planetary paradise better for those yet to come.  

Here is the poetry of "It's Hot in Here" by Marko Burrows.

• It’s hot in here 
• The weather’s weird for this time of year
• It’s hot in here I’ve been watching steam rising from my beer! 
• A working man 
• My rich boss says, “Strip the land” 
• There ‘ain’t no plan 
• Just more and more wealth in his hands 
• I look to the sky, and I’m in awe. 
• However we change it, it’s so beautiful
• It’s hot in here 
• 
  
• And the world cries! 
• It doesn’t matter what you’ve done 
• Like the weather you cross my face 
• I’ll still be here when you have gone 
• A very different place 
• 
  
• It’s hot in here 
• Its’ raining more, the sky’s not ever clear
• It’s hot in here 
• My car needs oars, it’s the floods fear 
• I look to the sky, and I’m in awe...
• However we change it, it’s so beautiful 
• 
  
• And the world cries! 
• It doesn’t matter what you’ve done 
• Like the weather you cross my face 
• I’ll still be here when you have gone 
• A very different place 
• 
  
• It’s hot in here 
• They say the tipping point is awful near
• It’s hot in here 
• From this viewpoint it’s our last frontier 
• A working man, How we stop it I don’t understand 
• There ‘ain’t no plan. 
• There’s no-one out there to lend a helping hand 
• I look to the sky, and I’m in awe. 
• However we change it, it’s so beautiful 
• It’s hot in here

Painting Life by Marko Burrows. Marko told me that he was not happy with his voice on "Painting Life" but it is honest and that is enough for me. This is the poetry of music, art and life explained in song. Marko wrote the words and music as inspired by my art. Here are those words. 

• The paint on my brush keeps on flowing 
• In small dabs and long strokes it feels right 
• Blending, colour and texture, that’s going
• To reflect, almost dance, in the light
• But up close, you can’t see any structure
• It’s a jumble of chaos and strife
• But step back and look at its wholeness
• A painting is a lot like life
• 
  
• You see life through the lens of a camera
• It’s so sharp and digit’ly bright
• But the light that you see is so filtered
• You’re inured to the feelings of life
• When you look at the light from a canvas
• Made by Artists, with Brush and a knife
• You step back and you look at its wholeness
• A painting’s a lot like life
• 
  
• The paint flows, the brush goes
• The shapes that it forms
• The knife on my palette
• And the hue that is born
• Take what I see, with a little part of me
• And the painting of life is formed
• 
  
• The paint on my brush keeps on flowing
• In small dabs and long strokes it feels right
• Blending, colour and texture, that’s going
• To reflect, almost dance, in the light
• But up close, you can’t see any structure
• It’s a jumble of chaos and strife
• But step back and look at its wholeness
• A painting is a lot like life

I have lost track of Marko over the past few years. I guess that happens when you make friends over great distances and the linkage is as fragile as the web. 

In my mind, Marko is tremendously successful and I hope that he feels the same. This is for you Marko and I hope that you and your family are safe... best to you my friend... 

Keep you paddle in the water and warmest regards... 

Phil the Forecaster Chadwick