“Jump Around” by Jason Kotecki. 16 x 20. Oil on canvas. Original is SOLD 🔴 Shop this art!
This painting was inspired by a tradition that Badger fans have at University of Wisconsin football games. Between the third and fourth quarters, the song “Jump Around” is booming through the loudspeakers, and all of the red-clad fans do exactly that.
It reminded me of those old electronic football games in which tiny plastic athletes buzzed around on a green metal field. Readers of a certain age will know exactly what I’m talking about, and this painting will bring back all sorts of memories.
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, well, I guess you had to be there.
With football season now upon us, I am reminded of a cool idea the leader of an insurance agency shared with me at one of my speaking programs. During pigskin season, he allows his employees to wear jeans and the jersey of their favorite college or pro team. (He even buys the jersey as a welcome aboard present!) Then, if their team wins over the weekend, they can wear it again on Monday. He reports that those days are always the most light-hearted and energized.
Even if you work in an environment where jerseys wouldn’t be appropriate, perhaps everyone could represent their favorite team with a necktie, lapel pin, socks, or coffee mug.
I think it’s worth figuring something out, because this sounds like a pretty good way to keep a team buzzing to me.
“Monkey Business” by Jason Kotecki. 16 x 20. Oil on canvas. Original is SOLD 🔴 Shop this art!
“He’s all business.”
“Let’s get down to business.”
“It’s not personal, it’s just business.”
Business is usually regarded as serious stuff. Too bad, because it doesn’t have to be.
Some people seem to think that when it comes to business, you can’t have fun and be successful at the same time. Which is the dumbest thing ever. Leaders who see the power in bringing fun to the workplace are smart enough to understand that having a little fun in no way diminishes the seriousness in which one takes his or her responsibility.
The cool thing is that fun can be a competitive advantage. The old saw is true: People like doing business with people they like. If two real estate agents or financial advisors or home child care providors are equally proficient in what they do, but one is way more fun to work with, which one will make more money?
The truth is, there is no reason you can’t have more fun at work, even though Adultitis likes feeding you plenty of excuses:
“But my work is really serious.”
If your job is super serious, you’d better make sure you have some sort of humor outlet somewhere or you can plan to burn out in short order. Being a 9-1-1 operator is a high-stress operation, but the ones I’ve talked to who last have a top flight sense of humor that keeps them sane.
“But my work is really boring.”
Sometimes the actual work you might be inherently fun. (A Lego Master Builder or teaching at a clown school comes to mind.) But even if you’re not in that camp, there’s still hope. Have a job that requires you to perform the same boring task over and over? Online videos abound proving that some flight attendants have figured out how to make their safety instruction speech fun while others drone on in the same way, day after day.
“But my workplace is so bleak.”
You can always make your work environment more fun in some small way. There are famous examples that feature foosball tables and indoor slides, but you can easily turn your workspace into a whimsical art gallery or give your office supplies faces.
“But my co-workers are riddled with Adultitis.”
Even if you work with Adultitis-ridden colleagues (or mostly alone), you’re still not off the hook. You can bring an attitude of fun. First, quit hiding behind corporate speak and excuses about policy. Have a personality. Add a little fun to your wardrobe. And don’t take yourself too seriously. Our family doctor is very good at what he does. And he is really, really funny. In fact, I’m not sure I can describe my first ever prostate exam as fun or enjoyable, but somehow, by telling jokes and stories and keeping things light, he made it not the worst experience ever. Which is saying something. Oh, and never, ever underestimate the power of a red clown nose.
Yes, it’s technically possible to be successful in business without having any fun.
“Invasion” by Jason Kotecki. 20 x 20. Oil on canvas. Original is SOLD 🔴 Shop this art!
I love macarons. I only had my first one a few years ago, but it was love at first bite.
Not only am I always on the lookout for ways to get them in my belly, but I decided it was time to get them into some paintings. They’re so cute and colorful, after all, and perhaps keeping myself busy painting them would help distract me enough to keep me from eating them.
I like the whimsy that comes from playing with scale, making something smaller or bigger than it would be in real life. Perhaps this reflects my early fascination with dollhouses, dioramas, and Micro Machine cars.
One day, as I was doodling in my sketchbook, it occurred to me that a macaron looked a little bit like a flying saucer, and that was all she wrote. My imagination concocted a great scene in which an army of macaron UFOs descended upon a field of grazing cows. Naturally, one would have to be taken as a specimen for further experimentation, sucked up by some powerful tractor beam.
I like the idea that a painting like this begs the viewer to ponder some questions. What kind of planet did these strange, sweet ships come from? What will become of the cow? And where will the farmer imagine it went when he awakes in the morning to find one missing?
Yes, it’s all nonsense. But that doesn’t make it useless.
“I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells.”
–Dr. Seuss
Perhaps these nonsensical questions will wake up our brain cells so they will be firing on all cylinders when it comes to tackling more vexing challenges in our life. Answers tend to be found by people asking the most questions. And sometimes the answer to a problem is hiding in something that looks a lot like nonsense.
Maybe someday soon, one or more of Earth’s most pressing problems will be solved thanks to a discovery on some faraway planet.
After all, it wasn’t that long ago that space travel was nothing more than science fiction.
“Someday (Cubs Win)” by Jason Kotecki. 16 x 20. Oil on canvas. Original is in Private Collection 🔴 Shop this art!
This is my tribute to the 2016 World Series Champs, the Chicago Cubs. (Did I just write that?!)
The 2016 season was as magical as it was historical for the Chicago Cubs, who had not been to a World Series since 1945 and had not won a championship since 1908. I started this painting after the Cubbies won the pennant, but could not get myself to finish it when they fell behind in the World Series. The path to the top of the mountain is paved with baseballs, which represent the 108 years of futility. The ball in the mouth of the cub has the year 2016 written on it, a year I will never forget.
As a lifelong Cubs fan, there are no words to describe the satisfaction of finishing this painting with the strike through the word “someday.” Finally, after so many years of ups and downs, the Cubs are the World Series Champions.
“Duck, Duck, Goose” by Jason Kotecki. 12 x 12. Acrylic on wood. Original is SOLD 🔴 Shop this art!
This clever painting is a fun mashup of a vintage Nintendo video game classic and the old-school game from childhood, Duck, Duck, Goose!
Apparently, the game originated with Swedish immigrants and was originally called “Anka Anka, Gråttanka.” Which doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.
Meanwhile, folks in Minnesota call it Duck, Duck, Gray Duck.
The object of this game is to walk in a circle, tapping on each player’s head until one is finally chosen; the chosen player must then chase the picker to avoid becoming the next picker.
Whatever you call it, you can plan on people giving you a knowing smile once they figure out the meaning of this witty work of art!
“Celebrate Everything” by Jason Kotecki. Digital. Shop this art!
Too many people treat the calendar as the utmost authority on what constitutes a good reason to celebrate. If a holiday is written in fine print on a particular day in the calendar, we assume it’s safe to throw a party.
So, if the calendar says it’s Halloween, we dress up in costumes and go bobbing for apples. If the calendar says it’s Independence Day, then we’ll throw meat on the grill and go blow something up. If the calendar says it’s New Year’s Eve, we stay up late, wear funny hats, and use instruments made of paper to make noises that sound like diphtheria-ridden ducks.
Contrary to popular belief, your calendar is not the boss of you.
Making your last mortgage payment is a good reason to throw a party.
The night before the last day of school is a good reason to throw a party.
Baby’s first laugh is a good reason to throw a party.
If a reason seems good enough to you, well then, it’s good enough.
The calendar as we know it is woefully incomplete. Every single day is a holiday.
It’s just that most days, what to celebrate is up to you.
“Open Gate” by Jason Kotecki. Digital. 🖼️ Shop this art!
There’s always been a danger in naming this brand “Escape Adulthood.”
You see, it’s easy for people to discount all of us as irresponsible, immature, cotton-headed ninny noggins who are avoiding the responsibilities of adulthood and trying to escape the pressures of the “real world.”
As a pragmatist, I guess I might be tempted to think the same way if I didn’t know any better.
It gives me solace to know that we are not alone. J. R. R. Tolkien, author of those little-known books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, was often accused of writing fairy tales that were nothing more than the escapist’s way out of this so-called real world. His reply was simple and brilliant. He proposed that everything was dependent on that from which one is escaping:
“We view the flight of the deserter and the escape of a prisoner very differently. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home?”
–J. R. R. Tolkien
Exactly.
Paying bills, upholding responsibility, and making hard decisions; these are important and necessary hallmarks of adult life. But the deep-down person we were when we were kids is much closer to the real us than the stilted version we often present to the world around us.
Cynicism, common knowledge, and the rules that don’t exist have imprisoned us from being our true selves: passionate, playful, and curious creatures who dream big dreams and are filled with faith, hope, and love.
So no, we’re not about shirking responsibilities or ignoring reality.
