Quotes – The Art of Nathan Parkinson

Art Lessons from Guitarist Rob MacKillop

03/26/2025 • Art Advice, Not Art, Other Creators, Quotes, Videos

Rob MacKillop is a guitarist with a great variety of experience, popular for playing classical music without nails.

As an artist I draw inspiration from other creative fields such as writing and music. There are so many parallels between the various art forms.

MacKillop inspired me with some powerful ideas in a few interviews. I watched them several months ago and have been affected by them since. I just re-visited them and found even more good advice than I remembered finding the first time. Here are the interviews with some quotes and paraphrases of my key takeaways below, but there’s plenty more in the videos; so grab your notebook and dig in.

“You’ve got to fall in love with music and let that be your guide . . . it’s so important that you love every note you’re playing on the guitar, and if you don’t love the notes you’re playing, why play them?” (59:20)

“Just be yourself because if you’re not being yourself, who are you being?” (1:07)
“The beginning point is to find a little kernel of something that is you, not to start with technique.” (2:19)
“There’s no reason to try to convince others that what you do is great; your own voice will come through; and there are people out there who will like it.” (3:18)

“Don’t worry about making a mistake; it’s the bigger picture, the bigger story that matters.” (55:49)
“I didn’t mind the little mistakes he was making here and there because I was listening, not to the guitar so much, but to the story behind what he was playing.” (59:58)
“Learn from lots of teachers. Be prepared to disagree, but don’t fight with them. Listen and absorb it all, but develop the strength to find your own way. The big journey is actually back to yourself, not out there to other people. It’s me with this box with strings on it — how can we communicate?” (1:07:02)
“The greatest teacher you can have is the score of music. When you study technique too much you tend to coat everything in that; but if you treat the score like a unique thing in the universe and listen to what it wants, it will teach you how to play guitar.” (1:09:02)

If you’re an artist I hope you’re able to see how MacKillop’s advice strongly applies to making pictures. Artists, writers, musicians – we’re all storytellers trying to discover our identity and master our craft. Just be yourself, love what you do, and tell your story. Technique and mastery will follow.

Lastly, please do visit Rob’s personal YouTube channel and website to hear his music and learn more about him and his work.

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“Everyone Is a Genius . . .” – Einstein?

08/09/2022 • Nathan's Thoughts, Quotes

Though it is disputed who first made this exact statement, I think it was marvelously said:

“Everyone is a genius; but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Though, I believe an important distinction should be made: if you judge the fish unwisely, then you (not necessarily the fish) will believe the lie; only if the fish judges himself by erroneous standards will he believe himself to be incompetent. When we judge ourselves according to truth, we can have great confidence (with humility) despite the dismissive nature of others.

This also reminds me of a quote by Mark Twain, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” I believe God has made each person uniquely special; there’s not another person exactly like you; so try lots of things till you find what you were made for and as Jim Elliot said, “Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

“You Don’t Know What Cannot Be Done.” – Toland

08/09/2022 • Nathan's Thoughts, Quotes • 2 Comments

In an interview of Orson Welles by Dick Cavett, Welles recounts the following situation early in his career. While beginning to make his first film, Citizen Kane, he was approached by cameraman Gregg Toland.

[Toland enters Welles’ office . . .]
Toland: I want to work in your picture; my name is Toland.
Welles: Why do you, Mr. Toland?
Toland: Because you’ve never made a picture, and you don’t know what cannot be done.

Leading up to his description of that brief conversation, Welles makes the following statement: “. . . Ignorance – there’s no authority in the world like it.” Welles’ and Toland’s statements really caught my attention. I’ve seen a similar saying by Shunryu Suzuki: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few”; that brings a couple more to mind: “It always seems impossible until it’s done” (Nelson Mandela), and, “They did not know it was impossible so they did it” (Mark Twain).

Inexperience is both a blessing and curse. Being blind to what is and is not possible, you may be willing to take risks more-experienced people would not; you’ll bring a fresh perspective and perhaps even attempt to do what others know “cannot be done”; that means you’ll probably fail quite a bit, but in challenging assumptions you will discover which ones are true and which are false. Young blood can really shake up an industry.

I greatly appreciate the wisdom of Solomon to “Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life” (Proverbs 4:13); listening to the counsel of wiser people is vital to our growth; but I also see value in respectfully, humbly challenging the presuppositions of those who came before us and proving the truth for ourselves. As another wise man once said, “Just because something seems impossible, doesn’t mean it isn’t easy” (Parkinson’s Law #21, T. S. Parkinson).

Citizen Kane went on to be enormously successful; though, I’ve not seen the film in a while, so I don’t necessarily recommend it, but rather the philosophy described by Welles and the others I’ve mentioned. Though experience is certainly desirable, your being a novice doesn’t have to be a negative.