I'll Go On (amateur hour artist!) / John Coltrane

Durable Reality, RTomens, 2018

Forget about being an expert or a professional, and wear your amateurism (your heart, your love) on your sleeve. Share what you love, and the people who love the same things will find you. ― Austin Kleon 

Is anybody there? To quote Samuel Beckett: I'll never know, in the silence you don't know, you must go on, I can't go on, I'll go on.

Not that I expect Comments. Who reads blogs anymore, never mind leaves comments? Apart from you, of course (the reading part, not the Comments).

I can't help but like Austin Kleon, not that I visit his blog much these days (oh these days, what makes them different?). Although he's yet another professional success with soundbite advice it's often good advice, such as the quote included here. The trouble is, it's a little too optimistic, as in chiming with reality. Oh, the thousands of dead blogs by artists who thought they'd share 'what they love' (their art!) only to find themselves virtually alone. He means share other people's greatness, doesn't he? Or does he. That's what he does and he gets a lots of visits.

I've thought about 'amateurism' a lot these last couple of days and concluded that, yes, it's nothing to be ashamed of, ever. I've made the point before and will do so again; too many amateurs seem a little embarrassed by their efforts because they compare them to those of their creative heroes. That's one sure way to fall off the page.

Comparisons are one bad thing, imagining what others might think is another. The world's full of smart-arse 'critics' who do nothing. It's the one sure way to avoid criticism of something you might create, eh? From a position of non-productivity you can look down on the efforts of all those amateurs!

Here's something I love. John Coltrane and his band weren't amateurs yet the very best Jazz transcends notions of 'professionalism' which plague art. Here, music is not about clinical craft but the mastery of an art in the name of feeling and inter-connectivity to convey the beauty of a tune.