Steady Hand, Quiet Mind

$19.95

Steady Hand, Quiet Mind Stoic Wisdom for the Working Artist

The hardest part of painting is not mixing the color or getting the drawing right. Those things yield to practice. The hardest part is everything that happens between your ears. The comparison. The fear of starting. The overworking. The praise that inflates and the criticism that wounds.

Marcus Aurelius wrote his Meditations in a war tent, talking himself into staying steady while everything around him asked for more than he had. I found those same pages and started carrying them into the studio and in the field. This book is what came of it. Twelve chapters that take the most durable ideas from Marcus and translate them into the language of paint, light, and the daily work of making something true.

It is not a philosophy lesson. It is a working book for working artists. Read it slowly, with a highlighter, mark it up, and keep it near the easel. Come back to the chapters that hit hardest.

Then pick up the brush again.

Steady Hand, Quiet Mind Stoic Wisdom for the Working Artist

The hardest part of painting is not mixing the color or getting the drawing right. Those things yield to practice. The hardest part is everything that happens between your ears. The comparison. The fear of starting. The overworking. The praise that inflates and the criticism that wounds.

Marcus Aurelius wrote his Meditations in a war tent, talking himself into staying steady while everything around him asked for more than he had. I found those same pages and started carrying them into the studio and in the field. This book is what came of it. Twelve chapters that take the most durable ideas from Marcus and translate them into the language of paint, light, and the daily work of making something true.

It is not a philosophy lesson. It is a working book for working artists. Read it slowly, with a highlighter, mark it up, and keep it near the easel. Come back to the chapters that hit hardest.

Then pick up the brush again.