Arthur C. Brooks: The secret to human happiness is earned success

By: Arthur C. Brooks

Part three in a three-part series.

People flourish when they earn their own success. It's not the money per se, which is merely a measure -- not a source -- of this earned success. More than any other system, free enterprise enables people to earn success and thereby achieve happiness. For that reason, it is not just an economic alternative but a moral imperative.

People think that they will be happier if they have more money, but quickly find out that they're mistaken. When people are asked what income they require for a satisfying life, they consistently respond -- regardless of their income -- that they would need an income about 40 percent higher than whatever they're earning at the time.

Benjamin Franklin (a pretty rich man for his time) grasped the truth about money's inability to deliver life satisfaction. "Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it," he declared. "The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one."

If money without earned success does not bring happiness, then redistributing money won't make for a happier America. Knowing as we do that earning success is the key to happiness, rather than simply getting more money, the goal of our political system should be this: to give all Americans the greatest opportunities possible to succeed based on their hard work and merit.

This is the liberty our founders wrote about, the liberty that enables the true pursuit of happiness.

Earned success gives people a sense of meaning about their lives. And meaning also is a key to human flourishing.

It reassures us that what we do in life is of significance and value, for ourselves and those around us. To truly flourish, we need to know that the ways in which we occupy our waking hours are not based on the mere pursuit of pleasure or money or any other superficial goal. We need to know that our endeavors have a deeper purpose.

Free enterprise enables us to find meaningful work through free markets that match our skills and passions. In free markets, we can change jobs, work longer or shorter hours within reason, and take more or less vacation than other people.

Increasingly, we can flex our hours and jump into and out of the work force as our lives and our circumstances change. These free markets largely do not exist in Europe, with their mandated pay and vacation, cradle-to-grave systems of job security, and generous unemployment benefits.

Meaning at work comes from feeling productive. This is how we earn our success and what makes us happy.

People who feel they are productive in their jobs, regardless of pay, are about five times likelier to be very satisfied with their jobs than people who don't feel this way.

Of course, when we are being productive, we often get paid more. But the money is a nice side effect, not the cause of the happiness we enjoy.

Feeling productive does not mean being protected from competition. It means beating the competition through merit and hard work. It does not come from a collective bargaining agreement and the threat to strike, but from a job well done. And it certainly doesn't come from a welfare check. All of this explains why our free enterprise system produces happier workers than in most of Europe.

Americans prefer to find meaning in their jobs rather than through their after-work pursuits and to trade security of employment for the possibilities of earned success. The free enterprise system reflects these American priorities. The policies of the 30 percent coalition do not.

Free enterprise is not simply an economic alternative. Free enterprise is about who we are as a people and who we want to be. It embodies our power as individuals and our independence from the government. In short, enterprise is an act of self-expression -- a declaration of what we truly value -- and a social issue for Americans.

masters studies, to improve observation

I haven’t posted any of my work in a while, so I thought I'd put this up. It started out as a quick masters study, a free hand sketched using burnt sienna oil paint. But after reviewing it the next day it looked awful. So I added white to make some corrections but I still didn’t get it right.


I can see the importance in masters studies, following in the artists footsteps should put you into his mind somewhat and you can focus in on his observation skills first hand.

I’m going to try to do some more masters studies, hopefully with this practice my observation and drawing skills will improve.

Art Mentor......

I had a really strange dream last night that I was being judged unfavorably for my youthful ways by of all people my old high school art teacher..... Like I said it was a really strange dream.


But then I got to thinking ...... I never really had an art mentor as I child.. No one ever took me under there wing and gave me the guidance I needed grow. Sure my parents yelled at me “do this ! don’t do that !” but no one ever really sat me down and said “so you like art do ya kid ? Well here’s what you should be doing, let me show you."

Nope.....I had non of that growing up, not even from my old high school art teacher.

“Who incidently I looked up on Rate My Teachers.com and was not surprised to see he got a very bad review.” Lol !!

So as I try to make sense of this wacky dream, I look back on my youth and I see a kid with a ton of creative energy but little guidance to develop. I was taught nothing about drawing and painting growing up. I had to figure things out on my own and not always with favorable results.

Its taken me a long time to get where I am and I feel I’ve only scratched the surface. With a good artist mentor in my life I wonder where my art would be today. Don’t get me wrong I’m not feeling sorry for myself. But at “forty something” I feel like I’m still painting with the artistic training wheels on !

Anyway..... I guess my point here is if you have an opportunity to share your artistic talents with an aspiring young artist, then by all means do so. It’s a gift worth giving and it guarantees that you’ll never get a bad review on Rate My Teachers.com !

PS

Anything is possible if you believe in yourself, despite your crappy old high school art teacher.

The Barnes Foundation, an interactive tour of some of the old museum’s highlights.

The Barnes Foundation, an extraordinary collection of art amassed by Albert C. Barnes, has been one of America’s strangest art museums from the day its doors opened in 1925. Barnes’s unique juxtapositions of paintings and objects were intended to help the viewer learn to look closely at art. The original building, in Merion, Pa., closed at the end of June — the collection will be relocated to a new one in Philadelphia next year — but The Times has created an interactive tour of some of the old museum’s highlights.

Gesture sketches to loosen up

With life drawing classes starting up soon, I was thinking that I better get busy doing gesture sketches to loosen up.

I remember feeling rushed the last time in class, as a five minute pose can go by in a flash. This I’m sure is due to a lack of practice.

I have to start thinking of the body in terms of shapes like ( cylinders, cones, boxes, barrels, slabs, wedges, circles and eggs ) to give my drawings life.

All the sketches below were done quickly using photo reference. Not to much detail, I’m just looking to capture the pose.

Arts Guild of New Jersey

Inspired by all those Italian Renaissance Masters on my Italy Vacation, I signed up for open studio life drawing classes at the Arts Guild of New Jersey.

The ability to draw from life determines the artist's skill. This is why live drawing classes have always been at the top of the curriculum for properly structured academic workshops. ( Igor Babailov )

LINEA: The Journal of The Art Students League of New York ( PDF FILES )

Publications of The Art Students League - Linea


LINEA is the Art Students League's journal of art and ideas. Published twice a year, each issue contains exhibition reviews, interviews and topical essays of special interest to artists. Also featured is news about the school, its instructors, members and students, as well as information about the ASL Vytlacil Campus in Rockland County. LINEA is distributed to all members and maintains a national circulation to art schools, universities, libraries, museums, art galleries and the press. Click the link below to read the latest edition of LINEA:

I’ve just returned from an amazing vacation in Italy !

It took airplanes, trains , busses ,taxies, ferry boats and a heck of a lot of walking around, but I got to see Salerno, Pompeii, Naples, Capri, Sorrento, Ravello, Amalfi, Positano, Rome, Siena, San Gimignano, Montecatini, Tuscany, Pisa, Florence and Venice !!!!

I made sure to go into every Church, Basilica and museum I could find and I walked out of every one in sheer awe of the talent and passion of the Great Renaissance Masters.

You can read all the art books in the world and it will never prepare you for the colossal size and impeccable detail of Renaissance Art.

As I humbly stood in front of Michelangelo’s last judgment, I found myself over come by a surge of emotions, caught between tears of joy and a profound spiritual awakening... I’ve never felt more alive.

Ancient Roman statue of Venus visits US capital

WASHINGTON (AFP) – One of the best known ancient Roman sculptures, the Capitoline Venus, went on display Wednesday in a museum in the US capital, the statue's first trip ever across the Atlantic.


The nearly two-meter tall (six foot, six-inch) beauty is intact except for the nose, some fingers, and one hand that broke off and was reattached.

"This is the first time we loan a statue so important," said the Director of the Capitoline Museum in Rome, Claudio Parisi Presicce, who accompanied the statue to Washington. "It never went out of the museum voluntarily."

Presicce said that Napoleon Bonaparte took the statue in 1797 and put it in the Louvre museum in Paris, but it was returned in 1816 after Napoleon's downfall.

The full-scale female nude statue was unearthed in the 1670s, where it had been buried beneath a large garden in the remains of a building in Rome.

The statue is also known as the Modest Venus because she attempts to hide her nudity with her hands.

Museum curators have become cautious about displaying nude art since a woman in April attacked a painting by French impressionist Paul Gauguin because she felt it showed nudity and homosexuality. The painting, "Two Tahitian Women," was protected by a transparent acrylic shield and sustained no damage.

"We do have guards posted. We feel assured it will be safe," said National Gallery of Art spokeswoman Deborah Ziska.

The Capitoline Venus will be on display at the National Gallery of Art in the US capital until September 5. It will be in the West Building Rotunda, an area with a design based on the Pantheon in Rome.

"The visitor can walk entirely around the sculpture. It can be seen from any perspective," said the National Gallery's Chief of Exhibitions, Dodge Thomson.

The mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, was also in town to sign a sister-city relationship agreement with Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray.

The Venus exhibit is part of a broader show of art from Roman museums that will be on display through 2013 in major US cities including San Francisco and New York, as well as Toronto, Canada

Rome Travel Guide

Florence, Italy: Uffizi Gallery

The Frankenstein of Easels

I’ve been wanting to paint out side for a while now, but I never got around to getting one of those fancy french easels.


My art instructor ( Ray Horner) gave me a great idea a while back , for making a simple hinged easel on a budget.

I scrounged around my basement for the materials needed and in about an hour I assembles the Frankenstein of easels for my yard.

No frills and no cost, with old wood, an old door hinge and a piece of left over plumbing pipe (for a brush holder) I was off and painting in the yard in no time.

I like this easel because I don’t have to worry about it, I can just leave it outside and it’s there when I need it.

Making stretched canvases with left over materials

Now that most of the home repairs are finished, I might as well put some of those handy home repair tools to use for creating art.


With some small pieces of canvas left over from a project and some scraps of wood from all the home repairs, I thought I would recycle them into a few small custom sized stretched canvases.

Van Gogh study oil painting

The purple irises in my yard are in full bloom, so I thought I'd loosen up a little and do a study in the style of Van Gogh.

Art Students League of New York

A glimpse into a class at the Art Students League of New York.

Pink Flowers, Oil Painting

I worked on this painting a little more in class Wednesday, Using Golden’s palette of colors and Liquin as my medium.

I’m trying to paint in a brighter more vibrant fashion.

Frank Frazetta study, still working on it

I got up early this morning and decided to work on the Frank Frazetta I never finished.


Good thing I keep this blog, because I had to go back to see what palette and medium I used. I guess its been a while sicnce I worked on it.

I use Golden's palette of colors and the medium was walnut oil , Demar varnish with terponoid.

The Art Students League of New York

The Art Students League educates students in the language and process of making art in an environment where anyone who wishes to pursue an art education can realize his or her full potential. Classes are based on the atelier system in which a working artist trains students in a studio setting. You can register and start classes at any time. The average cost of a full-time, five day-a-week class (18.75 hours per week) is just $200. Part-time evening classes (two nights a week) are just $100 to $115 a month. The 2010-11 Regular Session of League classes opened September 7.


Summer classes start Monday, June 6 and registration opens May 2. Click the link for more information and to access a schedule.

There Are No Entrance Requirements or Examinations to Begin Classes at the League

Students are not required to have had any previous art experience. Instructors in some advanced classes may require an interview prior to class admissions. Come to the League office at 215 West 57 Street (between Seventh Ave. and Broadway) and see what the League has to offer or call (212) 247-4510. You can start classes today.

Areas of Instruction – Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking


Students can select from varied classes and workshops in six key areas of concentration. Classes and workshops are taught by working artist–instructors who represent a wide range of artistic philosophies and techniques and are practiced in working with students of all skill levels. Students also learn from their fellow art students. The Art Students League of New York also offers art classes for children. Click on a discipline below for a schedule of League classes in that area.



Painting

A wide array of approaches from realism to abstraction

Drawing

Artistic anatomy, drawing from life, design

Sculpture

Clay, carving in wood and stone, assemblage and casting

Printmaking

Etching, lithography, wood block, silkscreen and photo-etching

Mixed Media

Three-dimensional composition combining various materials



Welding

Oxy-acetylene, MIG and TIG welding, plasma cutting

Bronze Casting*

The lost wax process, investment mold making and finishing techniques

Seminar: The Literature of Art

Exploring some classic books about art and artists

Children's Classes

Children eight years of age and above may register in the children's classes, which are held on weekends and during the week in summer. During the week from September through May, no student under the age of 18 may be registered for morning or afternoon classes at the League unless permission is obtained from the administration.



*In addition to classes that teach bronze casting, The Art Students League of New York offers bronze casting services to currently enrolled sculpture students.



Tuition

Monthly registration and the League’s commitment to low tuition help students receive the best training available without accumulating debt. There are no prerequisites for enrollment.



http://www.theartstudentsleague.org/Classes.aspx

Pink flowers, oil painting in progress

Here I am three session into a still life assignment for class.

Degas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Degas