Friday, April 14, 2006

My Olympia, My Studio

Tonight I start my firstborn on my Olympia. This is the manual typewriter Theresa gave to me. I think, as I recall, that she said I had to give her my first born;-) Well, let me tell you, it is just starting out to be very, very good.

When was the last time you typed on a manual? The typing is hard and rhythmic, like drumming and you are doing the dance. It is intimate and personal. I love it.

I promised I would let you know some of the quotes I wanted to write on the walls of my writing studio a la the art gallery I visited this past summer on my road trip. Too many quotes, too little space: would you care to vote on your favorites, or offer something of your own?

Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone. – Picasso

Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible. –Paul Klee

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. – Picasso

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better. – Andre Gide

Everything you can imagine is real. – Picasso

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. – Picasso

Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers. – Rilke

My art has allowed me to bare my soul. – Edvard Munch

Art enable us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. – Thomas Merton

Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it. – Savador Dali

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. – Michelangelo

My favorite piece of music is the one we hear all the time if we are quiet. – John Cage

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. –Albert Einstein


I think my personal favorite might be the Michaelangelo. What think you?

7 comments:

Theresa Williams said...

I like the John Cage quote! So glad to hear the Olympia is working out for you! It is rather like drumming, isn't it? I love my 3 typewriters as well. Love, Theresa

Cynthia said...

I love the Michaelangelo, but I think my favorite is the the Thomas Merton. I have negative vibes about typewriters going back to my teenage years, but there's something significant about your hands doing the work of writing.
computer keyboards just don't offer the same physical involvement in writing. (I love the drumming part.) I find my best writing time is spent with pen in hand. I love the callouses on my index and middle fingers indented in the form of a pen. they remind me of who I am and want to be.

Vicky said...

Oh my - I came to comment with my mind made up - and see that Theresa beat me to it! I love the John Cage quote too! And here is one I found:

"I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality."
Frida Kahlo

And this echoes how I feel about writing:

"I feel as though I haven't seem an object until I actually start painting it." Janet Fish

This is great - thanks for sharing all of this!

Vicky

Vicky said...

Just had to share this one that made me laugh:

"How important are the visual arts in our society? I feel strongly that
the visual arts are of vast and incalculable importance. Of course I
could be prejudiced. I am a visual art."
Kermit the Frog, muppet

Paula J. Lambert said...

Definitely, most definitely, the first Picasso quote:

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone."

Merton, too, and certainly Kermit when I saw it! (Haw! Thanks, Vicky!) But the first Picasso hit me like a fist.

Thanks, Beth! (And I just finally got my red "fire engine" oiled up and working nicely. I like the drum analogy...gives me courage.)

;)

DEREK said...

My mom has been a secretery for as long as I can remember. She loves her manual, I only type on it when I go visit her. I love it too.

Loving your blog!
Derek

V said...

I like the Rilke. These are wonderful comments on the experience.
I guess my favorite quote is that which I named my blog:

"To grow is to be anxious." Rollo May.