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I have wandered the pathways of my adult life, perhaps unfairly, under labels such as cynical, pessimistic, and negative. The first, cynical, absolutely nails who I was in college, which is nothing remarkable given that tens of thousands of college male Holden Caulfield wannabes annually lay claim to cynicism as if they had invented it. They think, as I thought, that cynicism exhibits supreme intellectual prowess. It doesn’t, of course; cynicism untempered by a willingness to delve deeper is jackassery. But over time we learn.

 

I will also own up to being occasionally pessimistic, although with some chagrin. While my pessimism is never the morose Eeyore variety, I have been observed to voice less than affirmative motives and/or predictions regarding people, things, and events. It’s kind of like one of my brothers-in-law, whose approach to following his favorite sports teams is to proclaim loudly that they stink and are going to lose (even if up by 17 touchdowns with 32 seconds left). That way if they win – great. And if they lose he’s covered. He does this (performs is the better word, actually) to be silly, for laughs, which he gets. In my case, I’ve been known to apply the same automatically-say-something-pessimistic tactic to pretty much anything. It’s not always the most productive thing to do, but I think I look wise those random times my statements prove to be accurate. I try to go there less frequently as I age, but I’m still, on occasion, guilty.

 

I never thought negative was a fair description of my behavior, as I am actually a fairly positive individual. But I rarely see the world solely in terms of rainbows and bunnies and in my experience the Pollyannas of the world invariably chalk up non-rainbow-bunniness to being a grump, so there you have it.

 

“Realistic” is the one term I claim most frequently and proudly as a catch-all descriptor of all things outlined above. May not be on the money, but it does afford me my allotment of nightly rest.

 

Let’s take the foregoing out of the theoretical and apply it to real life. For this exercise, I will evaluate the business world thought experiment known as Mission Statements. Until very recently, I considered mission statements to be so much banana cream pie. Agreeable, even tasty, but ultimately inconsequential. I attribute this to having spent most of my professional life in the private sector. Every company with a mission statement salts it with phrases like “best widgets ever” and “highest level of professionalism” and “put our customers first,” but every dang one distills down to “We do stuff to make money.” Companies do stuff to make money or they would not exist. How’s that for a cynically pessimistic negative conclusion? To which I happily steal from Seinfeld to say “not that there’s anything wrong with it.”

 

But now I work for the gummint, at the Virginia Department of Health. VDH has a “vision” of Virginia being the healthiest state in the nation. I am admittedly cynical-pessimistic-negative about this vision because it is broad and not particularly measurable. The VDH’s mission statement, however, is something I do get behind. Our mission is to protect the health and promote the well-being of all people in Virginia. Simple, straightforward, worthy, and noble. No matter what I am working on I can relate it to that mission, and if I can’t I am able to gauge how to get back on track. And that my friend is a downright positive attitude and I propose to you that it is realistic as well.  So yay team. 

 

Seven paragraphs in now and you may be forgiven for wondering what all this has to do with art. Is this another one of my Infinite Shakespeare Writing Monkey Experience diatribes? (See March 8, 2017, Blog). No, it is just a lengthy prologue to my wondering what would be a good mission statement for me as an artist. I would like to avoid a Paint Stuff to Make Money type of statement (although wouldn’t that be nice?) and come up with a protect the health and promote the well-being type statement.

 

So, with varying degrees of silly and serious, here goes nothing:

 

ONE:  To apply paint media to a flat substrate in a manner that at least doesn’t suck

 

Nah. Just getting the silly out of my system

 

TWO:  To create art that nurtures the human spirit

 

Hmmm, not sure about that word “nurture.” It’s fine if I’m painting a rainbow or a bunny, but what if my subject is to expose racism or some other hate? Got to add some other verbs such as “challenge” and “inspire” if I plan to use nurture. It could get too wordy real quick. Not to mention the risk of becoming mundane.

 

THREE:  To be unafraid when painting, so that magic is not restricted by convention

 

I like the be unafraid part, and do make honest effort to avoid convention, but “magic” sounds too fluffy. Readers: I need a word better than magic, stat!

 

FOUR:  To challenge myself so that my art can challenge the viewer

 

Remember what I said about mundane?

 

FIVE:  To capture the essence, one painting at a time

 

Hmmm, I kind of like this one. Brief. Punchy. Not quite there, but on the right track anyway.

 

As you can see, the creation of a mission statement takes time, care, and no small amount of pondering. So far, I like the words unafraid, challenge and essence and would like to convey my willingness to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no-one has gone before. With some snap. I’m not there yet, but keep watching this space.

 

And, hey, contests are fun. Maybe we should vote. Feel welcome to share your votes and/or thoughts in the comments.

 

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Addendum:  Lots of great feedback on this one.  Multiple folks over time have heard me say that I cannot not paint and suggest getting that message in there somehow.

 

A shout out to fellow painter Anne, who calls managing to complete a painting without amputating her ear a win.  

 

And special kudos to my friend Greg, who came along as cynical etc etc as I did back in the day.  While not disputing that company mission statements all boil down to "We Do Stuff to Make Money," he astutely points out that a proper corporate mission statement makes it clear the we don't do stuff just to make money.  Consider me wised up.