Devil Canyon (art)

Good Evening, my Darling,

Well, I'm home and I'm off. Just kinda getting squared away here. I did go to Devil Canyon this morn, only I really wasn't on the "canyon" (i.e. shady) part of the trail. To access that part of the trail, you have to go up to the top of a different boulevard (Topanga Canyon, famous from back in the Hippie days). And when you get to the top, where Topanga ends at the Santa Susana mountains, the road becomes private and it is lined with townhouses. To get to the trail, from what I read online, you have to walk through a complex of townhouses and to the backside, where you will find the trailhead. I did drive up that street with the townhouses, but I had no idea which complex was the one with the trailhead in back, and I didn't wanna get out and start lurking around, what with it being a "private" road and all.

So, I drove back a half-mile to another major boulevard called Canoga Avenue, and went to the top where it meets the mountains. I'd read of another trailhead up there, and it was easily accessible, right off the road. To get to the true "canyon" part of Devil Canyon trail, I'd have had to hike farther than I did. I would guess I went about a mile in. The entire trail is 5 miles. It's in the same general area as Stoney Point park, and also the same general area as some of the other Chatsworth trails I've visited. Anytime you see those big sandstone rocks, you know I'm in Chatsworth, a ten minute drive from Northridge. Anyhow, I will do some Googling and see if I can find the right townhouse complex to walk through to get to the shady part of the trail, where there is supposed to be a small creek. That might make for some good pictures.

I like all your recent posts, and boy, I could write a book about your friend Sarah Smiley's comments about art vs. commerce and being true to your art. Wow, that takes me back to when I was still writing from the Oviatt, and talking about Emily Dickinson, who wrote firstly for herself. I know I expounded on the subject, and I may do so again, or at least add another thought or two, a little later this eve. But, you know how anti-pressure I am, and it's not because I'm a wuss or because I don't believe in striving for something.

It's because I believe that pressure, whether you put it on yourself or whether you allow it to be put on you by someone else, is a false or artificial condition. Unnatural, in other words. It is the antithesis of what the artistic spirit is all about. Well, maybe I will add more later on the subject, but I will be back later.

I will mostly do the usual tonight, on the usual schedule, but I may add a movie if I can find one. Gotta do a little straightening, too. The Pad gets messy when I am go-go-going all the time.

And that reminds me : Go Kings Go! (yeah, sports, I know........)

I Love You!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Midnight : I think the thought I'd like to add has to do with the Latin saying of "Ars Longa, Vita Brevis". I first heard that saying back in the early 70s because it was the title of a piece by The Nice, which was Keith Emerson's band before he was in ELP. But I was thinking of that phrase this morning, interestingly enough, and probably because of your Sarah Smiley post.

The thing is that art has nothing to do with society. Nothing.

It has everything to do with The Individual Artist (and remember that artists are the ultimate non-grouped individuals), and it has everything to do with that particular Artist's inner world.

Girl, you know what I mean by Inner World.

And you know that all you owe to art (and it's really not a debt anyway, cause art won't care) is to express, in the most holistic and creative way, what you are thinking and feeling.

And you can even express it inside yourself! You do this all the time, every day. And in this way, you were born to be an Artist (and I like the title on your new FB page).

An Artist is not a commercial entity. Now by the same token, an Artist can be and should be noticed (for the right reasons of course, not just for being a loud, aggressive "squeaky wheel" ala current pop culture). An Artist should never dismiss the monetary aspect of art, but I think that is different than the commercial aspect, which, as your friend Sarah has discovered, tends to make the Artist feel pressure that she "owes" someone (a client, or peers, or family) something. A status, perhaps.

Status seeking is for people who live on the surface, and God Bless them, but that is not for the Artist.

Money will come, one way or another, and remember, it's all only about getting your bills paid. Everything else is gravy. But it's The Creative Impulse that is the lifeblood.

Your art is between you and yourself. You can include God and The World, too, cause they are your subject matter. But art is never about pressure or commerce. Money is always there, trust me.

David Lynch, a great Artist, made as his major filmmaking debut the movie "Eraserhead". It is so uncommercial and so devoid of thought for "outside world conventions", that he could only have made it in the way I am speaking, inside himself, with no care whatsoever for pressure or commerce.

And the money was there for him to complete it, because it always is. The people with money look for Artists who go all the way and stick to their guns and express what is inside themselves, no matter what that expression is.

Of course, it helps to have technical talent, and an eye (or ear) for things. But you have that.

The biggest point of all is that your Art is bigger, and will last longer, than any outside concept of it. Remember Emily Dickinson's poems sitting in a drawer for many years.

Were they any less powerful?

Her's is an extreme scenario, but I mention and return to it again and again because I believe she knew something. She knew she had done good work, and knew it's power, and she knew that was all that mattered because those poems were going to live on. And they have, and she knew that.

So, I think in the modern age you can strike a happy medium, and not only create your art (of all different kinds) but most importantly, live at all times intellectually as an Artist, inside yourself.

I use the term "intellectually" in the non-pretentious sense, because I can't stand the idea of a person considering themselves an intellectual. That again speaks of trying to be part of a "select group". I use the term in the literal sense of paying attention to your flow of thoughts and emotions, and making your "inner self" your best friend.

In this way you will discover, as you go along, just how enormous your life is, and I do not say that lightly. You will see what I mean.

There is a reason you think the way you do, and you must never let go of that. It is the most valuable thing in your artistic life. Your art, your thoughts, that stream, is You.

Don't worry about the rest.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)