What is success? Be honest with yourself. Do you truly believe that a successful person is defined
by the car he drives, the title after her name, or their number of Twitter
followers? Life is bigger, wider, deeper than what you can fit into
a shoebox. Walk onto that beach with confidence, knowing that you
are a success.-- From Start Your Week with Steve, a free weekly
e-mail newsletter to help people start Monday off on the right foot, or just to
start it at all.
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Many times, we can benefit by heeding the advice we give to others, including
the children in our lives. Sophie and Rose, an original oil painting, signed
limited edition print, miniature study, and note card by Steve Henderson. |
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Maybe it's because
I've raised four kids. Maybe it's because I homeschooled them. I don't know, but
what I do know is that when it comes to your children, your primary goal is
that they turn out to be decent, kind, sympathetic, understanding people, and
you hope that they'll be happy.
And then you look
around you, and you see scores of famous, wealthy people, some of whom seem
decent, kind, sympathetic, and understanding and many others who do not, and
you think, money and fame must not be enough. And they're not.
We know that deep down because didn't all of our mothers tell us so? Yet, we persist
in defining our success by our name (Do people know us by one like Shakespeare, Lincoln, Napoleon, Madonna, Renoir are?), our sales, or our bank
account.
If we want to be successful oil painting artists or top watercolorists or stellar acrylic painters, then let's start with what people often pay attention to least when it comes to the idea of success in the fine art painting world: the quality
of our art. Get good. Get really really good. Work hard, struggle through, yell
with triumph over your latest oil painting, and then go kiss the dog. That's success.
--Carolyn