Scenius vs Genius

Austin Kleon has titled the first chapter in his book, Show Your Work! 1. "You don't have to be a genius." Then he says "find a scenius" - the word, to me, sounds really dorky. But it makes sense when you read this, from Quora:

 

Scenius is like genius, only embedded in a scene rather than in genes. Brian Eno suggested the word to convey the extreme creativity that groups, places or "scenes"  can occasionally generate. His actual definition is:  "Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius."

Being part of a scene, you are contributing to the whole creative endeavor, that one big giant organism. There are SO many artists in the world today that being unique is much harder than it used to be. Sharing what you learn can help others and as Kleon says, "the world is changing at such a rapid rate that it's turning us all into amateurs."

Slough at Amalga (study)        triptych mid-panel ~5 x 5 in     oil on Arches Oil Paper

This wonderful quote by H.W. Longfellow is also in the book -

"Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think."

I believe I have found my scenius (still think it is a dorky word) and hopefully this blog will continue to contribute to art and artists around the world in its small way.

Happy painting!