Today’s thoughts are about challenges and successes and the whole big picture.
When I paint, or turn wood or am writing a story, frequently, a moment or a detail pulls me in and I spend a LOT of time fixed on that detail, hoping to conquer it – to turn it into what I think it should be. Quite often, a wood-turned piece will break at that point of fixation., oil paints will muddy if you try to force them, stories dry up and lose their interest. These moments lead to a frustrated artist and the piece ends up on the time-out shelf.
Months go by and I find myself working on something else when I realize “hey, I need a stem for that one goblet” and then I find the old piece sitting on the shelf. Inspiration, and a little bit of shaping, with much less demanding, and BOOM! I am allowed to be the privileged conduit for the art that was waiting to happen.
It’s not that I think “everything happens for a reason”. Things are not that simple. What I have learned is that life has patterns and paths and we cannot always see what the image is going to be. So when adversity hits us – as it must – I try to view it as a small part of the full picture. We, as the artists cannot always see what the piece is meant to be. When everything seems like fighting against the tide, I will take a moment…
…and just breathe.
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