January 2, 2011

“bring new light”

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I drew this car­toon this mor­ning. My first of the year.

The fellow in the car­toon is “Gloop”, a cha­rac­ter I’ve been using since college. He pops up in my work now and again. Part Alter-Ego, part Everyman.

Most peo­ple who read gaping­void are crea­tive peo­ple; that’s not just an opi­nion, that’s just how it wor­ked out. This car­toon is for them. For you.

“Bring new light to what life might be.” That’s what Crea­ti­vity means. That’s why you were born; that’s why you are here. To bring some new angle to the human con­di­tion– if not to the broa­der world in gene­ral, then at least to your family and the peo­ple around you.

You don’t have to believe this– this drive may not be your drive, may not be the thing that pro­pels you for­ward. That’s fine.

Howe­ver, if you DO have that capa­city within your­self and you DON’T act upon it, then everything around you turns to desert.

“Bring new light to what life might be” is my wish for you in 2011. Godspeed.

 

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19 Responses to ““bring new light””

  1. RobinJP says:

    “Bring new light to what life might be.” Happy 2011 to you too. And I thought I might just cruise through to 2012. Now I have to sit here in Tempe, Ari­zona, and worry about how everything around me tur­ned to desert. When I wan­ted everything around me to turn to dessert.

    Gloop. That’s not a bad name for some dessert.

  2. Jen Brentano says:

    Hugh, of course this speaks to me but I have to say that I firmly believe that we are all divi­nely crea­ted and uni­quely desig­ned for something spec­ta­cu­lar. Many someone isn’t con­nec­ted to a ‘drive’ to embrace their divi­nity but we all have it within us. I ima­gine a com­mu­nity where we all step into this light… ima­gine the brilliance.

    Bles­sings, Jen

  3. Hugh MacLeod says:

    Jen,

    “I firmly believe that we are all divi­nely crea­ted and uni­quely desig­ned for something spectacular.”

    Yes, that’s what they mean when they speak of “the christ within you” (Small “c”).

    But fin­ding that inner “christ” is not for every­body. Which is OK…

  4. Fin­ding light and sta­ying in it, is har­der for me in the win­ter, and as an loner/independant entrapreneaur.

    loved this quote from simi­lar theme: “It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.” –G. K. Chesterton

    Keep the faith, Julie

  5. Sam Price says:

    Loving your work Hugh,

    Do you do ani­ma­tions, or just sim­ple car­toon stills?

  6. Marsha Stopa says:

    Love it.
    Espe­cially since I teach peo­ple how to use light to beat the blues and I firmly believe we all need more light in our lives.

    Then again, I love all your drawings.

    Thanks.

    • Hugh MacLeod says:

      Hey Marsha, having spent many win­ters in Scot­land, I know all about how impor­tant light is… and what hap­pens to poor souls when it goes away.

      One of the rea­sons I’m currently in Miami.…

      Thanks :)

      • Marsha Stopa says:

        Scot­land. Oh. My.

        Trying to move south myself, to the Carolinas.

        BTW, is there any­way I could use this dra­wing on my site, with attri­bu­tion and a link back to you? It’s so perfect.

  7. Ferdi says:

    >Gods­peed

    Amen!

  8. These days I feel suc­ked dry. I’m tired and feel as though I don’t have the capa­city to “bring new light”. But that’s all I want to do. It’s hard to feel so empty when all you want is to give.

    This is the first post I’ve read in 2011 and it’s exactly the one that nee­ded to be first. Thanks for your brilliance.

  9. Love the spon­ta­neity and the fact that it’s the first crea­tion of the new year. Gloop on!

  10. gwen fox says:

    Hugh.…what a fabu­lous post. I have always felt we as crea­tive peo­ple are the luc­kiest peo­ple in the world.

    Art opens ima­ges of the world which
    have been seen by the eyes of
    the artists soul…creating a new world to love.

    Thanks for your con­ti­nued crea­tive insight and inspiration.

  11. Hi Hugh,

    This reso­na­tes so well with my per­so­nal out­look on life and busi­ness. Never have I seen a sin­gle sen­tence that says it so clearly. Thank you so much for sha­ring it.

    @muchiri

  12. Christian says:

    Hugh,

    Great piece. I find the easiest way to bring the “light” to ran­dom stran­gers is just smi­ling. It’s something that I was dared to do a cou­ple of months ago (once the depres­sing win­ter des­cen­ded on Mon­treal), and it’s totally working.

    Smi­les beget smi­les from com­plete stran­gers. And they make me feel bet­ter, so hope­fully they’re doing the same for others.

    - Chris­tian

  13. […] a good con­cep­tual reso­lu­tion, check out Gapingvoid.com’s “bring new light”. Or for a more prac­ti­cal list of reso­lu­tions for 2011 (espe­cially if you’re a communications […]

  14. […] Bring new light by Hugh Mac­Leod at gapingvoid.com. I love Hugh’s work and this car­toon and post were espe­cially ins­pi­ring. Go check this out. […]

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