An actor friend of mine believes that ‘preparation frees you to be creative,’  and this is borne out in the work of so many artists.  Van Gogh, for example, is seen by many to be this wildly expressive painter whose rugged brushstrokes seem to be the result of uncontrollable emotion.  I guess the image of the ‘mad’ artist cutting off his ear and ultimately shooting himself in the chest enhances our imaginings of how Van Gogh made art.

In fact, we know that he made art in an incredibly rational manner.  Fortunately, thanks to the existance of the hundreds of letters Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, we now have vivid documentation of the creative process.  And what we discover is that Van Gogh was amazingly methodical in his work.  He wrote to Theo that regardless of how quickly he painted, “I’m in the middle of a complicated calculation that results in canvases done quickly one after another, but calculated long beforehand.”

Indeed, Van Gogh’s sketches – many of which appear within his letters to Theo – demonstrate how meticulously he did create each picture. 

Great art – be it acting or painting – always looks effortless. That’s part of what’s so great about it.  It appears authentic , natural, and easy….when, of course, it only does so because it has been the result of such a painstakingly disciplined process.

The great creatives in our business recognize this fact; and they have the professionalism and discipline to do the preparation, explore all alternatives, continuously improve, test their hypotheses and continuously improve their work.   There sure isn’t anything ‘crazy’ about that!