“The object isn't to make art, but be in that
wonderful state that make art inevitable”
Robert Henri
For many years now this quote has tickled my core self. But why? Henri just put to words what is basic to the human experience that all of us, as artists' should feel each time we stand before our easels...if you don't have these special feelings then stop and search for that spirit of “State” Henri is talking about.
What does a “State” of our minds mean in general? What does it mean to YOU?
Do you need to be in a certain STATE to paint/create?
Edmund Spenser has said: “It is the mind that maketh good or ill, That maketh wretched or happy, rich or poor.” (In other words, we are what we think we are)
Henry Ford once said: “If you think you can or if you think you cannot. You're right!”
So. nothing is inherently bad or good. Value is how we represent it to ourselves. We can represent things in a way that puts us in a positive state, or we can do the opposite, take a moment to think of a time when you have been in a powerful state.
It's one thing to talk about the power of state. It's another to experience it.
The key to producing the results you desire, then, is to represent things to yourself in a way that puts you in such a resourceful state that you're empowered to take the types and qualities of actions that create your desired outcomes.