{"id":1914,"date":"2011-08-17T06:32:46","date_gmt":"2011-08-17T10:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifewithhappiness.com\/?p=1914"},"modified":"2018-10-02T13:36:48","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T17:36:48","slug":"learning-from-the-masters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/2011\/08\/learning-from-the-masters\/","title":{"rendered":"Apply the Learning of the Masters to your Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>When I entered the rotunda of the Galleria dell\u2019Accademie <\/em>in Firenze <\/em>(Florence) for my first live look at this Italian icon, it literally took my breath away.<\/strong> 17 feet tall, sleek and powerful, Michelangelo’s David is truly a marvel — accurate down to the veins on the back of his hands and the chipped toenails on his feet, I fully expected him to start breathing any second. The European Renaissance<\/strong> was a time of great innovation marked by a surge of new knowledge and captured in architecture, sculpture, music, and painting.\u00a0 Before I visited Italy this spring, I imagined gifted Renaissance masters spending their days in sunlit studios, painting or sculpting great works of art in a flowing, effortless climate of creativity and support. I now appreciate that the works of the masters really was WORK.<\/strong> Sure, some of them were brilliant.\u00a0 Yet it was their attention to the tiny details that led to \u201cperfection.\u201d\u00a0 Before he created the David in its full splendor, Michelangelo made hundreds of sketches and miniatures, gradually increasing in size and detail.\u00a0 The final product, then, was not a singular act \u2013 it was the manifestation of practice, practice, and more practice.<\/p>\n Follow the example of the Masters to improve your probability of success:<\/p>\n When I entered the rotunda of the Galleria dell\u2019Accademie in Firenze (Florence) for my first live look at this Italian icon, it literally took my breath away. 17 feet tall, sleek and powerful, Michelangelo’s David is truly a marvel — accurate down to the veins on the back of his hands and the chipped toenails … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5789,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,274,40],"tags":[162,168,352,281],"class_list":["post-1914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coaching","category-happiness-tips","category-practicing-happiness","tag-goal-setting","tag-joy","tag-michelangelo","tag-practice-does-not-mean-perfect","infinite-scroll-item"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u201cThis,\u201d I thought, \u201cis a work of brilliance!\u201d<\/strong> Ah, but there\u2019s more to the story, as I learned.<\/p>\nInspiration AND Perspiration<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
\nThe truth, I learned, was far from my fantasy.<\/strong> Many of those whom we now call Masters were, in their time, mere wage slaves, often struggling to live on a fixed budget set by a wealthy patron who wanted a specific project done on a deadline.\u00a0 Good oil paints, gilt, quality canvas, and fine Carrera marble were not cheap, so these artists were very careful in their use of resources.
\nOut of necessity, then, they spent long hours preparing for their commission.<\/strong> A painting would be sketched in parts and done in miniature to work out spacing many times before moving to a larger field.\u00a0 Then there would be endless pencil and charcoal sketches before final application of oils and gilt onto the final medium (e.g. wood, canvas, or the dome of a cathedral).
\nSculptors followed a similar process.<\/strong> First, multiple sketches; then multiple miniatures of different sizes and in different poses and in different media (e.g. clay, stone) and with varying levels of detail attended to in each piece, so that by the time they put chisel to marble they literally “knew” the work in their head, hands and heart.<\/p>\nPractice is the surest path to Mastery.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Apply the Learning of the Masters to YOUR Goals<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Achieving Mastery of you and your life is simple, yet not easy.\u00a0 Good luck on your Master\u2019s journey!<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"