Artistic Courage

Feeling as intensely as possible the pain of how distant you are from your ideal is the best possible thing for artistic work.

If you have the courage and dare it, facing it constantly and without negativity - without self pity or frustration or despair or impatience - allowing time for its alchemy to work upon your soul, it will take you to what you are hoping to achieve - to the unsurpassable joy (even ecstasy) of it - faster and more directly than anything else.