The Van Gogh Blues

Rating:
Summary: A "meaningful" message
Review: "THE VAN GOGH BLUES" tells us that there is another route to the one that van Gogh took, and that is by creating meaning or rather meaningfulness in our own lives. I especially got a lot out of reading the exerpts from other people about depression, creativity and the meaning of life. Meaning is a difficult concept, and I think Eric Maisel makes a brave attempt to break it down and pull it apart from all directions. However, towards the latter end of the book, I felt that trying to label everything with a "meaning" label, lost meaning for me. Nevertheless, the main thing I got from this book is that there are a lot of people out there trying to make sense of their lives, artists or not, and finding ways that give us pleasure in creating things or admiring others' creation is one way to achieve this. I feel the core message of this book is that when you feel depressed, identify it, accept it and find your own personal way out, whatever that may be, to deal with depression when and as it occurs - which it undoubtedly will and on a regular basis for many of us.

Rating:
Summary: A "meaningful" message
Review: "THE VAN GOGH BLUES" tells us that there is another route to the one that van Gogh took, and that is by creating meaning or rather meaningfulness in our own lives. I especially got a lot out of reading the exerpts from other people about depression, creativity and the meaning of life. Meaning is a difficult concept, and I think Eric Maisel makes a brave attempt to break it down and pull it apart from all directions. However, towards the latter end of the book, I felt that trying to label everything with a "meaning" label, lost meaning for me. Nevertheless, the main thing I got from this book is that there are a lot of people out there trying to make sense of their lives, artists or not, and finding ways that give us pleasure in creating things or admiring others' creation is one way to achieve this. I feel the core message of this book is that when you feel depressed, identify it, accept it and find your own personal way out, whatever that may be, to deal with depression when and as it occurs - which it undoubtedly will and on a regular basis for many of us.

Rating:
Summary: Hard going
Review: Eric Maisel is my hero. When he gets an idea for a book, he actually writes the book. I have read this book in pre-publication draft. I think it would be illuminating for any creative person, whether or not you think you've wrestled with depression. Maisel's topic is how to live meaningfully.

Rating:
Summary: In a Rut? Read this book!!
Review: I'm so ready to make it happen -- this is the feeling I had after reading "The Van Gogh Blues"

Your job as an artist is to live in a way that makes you proud of yourself. Tell the universe where you stand, then take action.

...Of course, there are so many other roadbumps, & Eric Maisel deals with them all -- the facts of existence, our ego & narcissism, our anxieties, our relationships -- and sorts them out.

You'll get depressed, because you've opted to matter. Read this book thoroughly & understand that you need to restore meaning each time it takes a blow. Creative troubles may be complicated, but the solutions here are simple. This one's a true treasure!!

Rating:
Summary: a unique look at creativity and depression
Review: So many books are available about searching for meaning in your life. But what if you haven't found this meaning? Dr Maisel proposes that you create your own meaning. This is a more practical and useful technique for most people. Putting the responsibility for creating meaning squarely on the individual makes sense. No more wasted time seeking something you may not happen across.

This book could benefit every person. Every person is a "creator" in some aspect of their life. Read this book then get on with creating success on your own terms.

Rating:
Summary: Good start for ANYone seeking meaning
Review: This book will be useful to just about anyone who seeks meaning while trying to create. Even if your creation is a business or a marketing plan, not a book or a painting, this book will offer rare and helpful insights.

Maisel argues that creatives become depressed when they lack meaning in their lives. Drugs? A review of the past? Possibly helpful but, for most creatives, depression will be alleviated when people learn to find meaning in what they do. Given the rejections and setbacks of the creative life, Maisel's message is, "Find meaning in what you create, regardless of whether you find a buyer....

And the book is realistic: some people have to come to terms with creating art as a sideline, not a main source of income. We could have learned much more about this difficult topic.

As other reviewers have noted, this book is considerably stronger on insight than on guidance. We get page after page of notes from other "creativity coaches," presumably trained by Maisel. I found myself skipping those accounts after awhile, which left a fairly thin book. After all, we buy a book to gain the author's expertise -- not a series of anecdotes by those who have not traveled as far on the knowledge highway.

The author urges us to come up with a mission statement for ourselves along with a series of "core operating principles." In practice, I have found this prescription difficult to follow for myself and my own clients. A life purpose tends to evolve out of one's own experience and I believe we gain purpose from serendipitous discovery, not from sitting down to set guidelines.

Despite these concerns, I recommend this book for the gems that can be found, especially in the first part of the book. Understanding the source of creative depression is a good first step. Unfortunately, it is only the first step, and we could use a lot more follow-up.

I also can't help noticing that Van Gogh Blues communicates nearly the same message as The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, just packaged differently. The message of "show up" and "it takes less energy to do the work than to resist" appears in both sources.
A blocked creative -- the target of Cameron's work -- seems to resemble the depressed creative that Maisel writes about. Some readers will undoubtedly prefer one approach to the other.