On Art

Other people's good art works to inspire me. It makes me feel like I can write better, take better pictures, create better pottery and gardens and lessons. If the art makes me laugh, it makes me feel funnier. If it makes me cry, it makes me feel more alive.

Sarah Heller's "Waste Not" at West 6th Brewery, Lexington, KY

I know not everyone feels this way, and some, upon seeing something great, complain that they could never do that. Jealous, paralyzed, incapable: these are all words I've heard people use to describe themselves when they hear or see something great.

"I could never do that."
"I wish I could paint like that."
"This designer does things I can't do."

Yes, all those statements are true. You can't do that, paint like that, do what the other designer is doing because that is the way he or she works; you can only create the way you create, unless you tell yourself you can't. Then you can't.

All those people out there who have created beauty should prove something to everyone else: Beauty, in its many different forms, is createable. Get to creating.