Every Day Resolve

Funny, the things that drive us. I have found that things meant to deter or derail our progress, are often the things that ironically inspire us. Motivation is an intriguing, seemingly fleeting phenomena. Many people say that inspiration doesn't come often, so to grasp it while it's there. Though at times I feel I agree -- times when I'm blocked by these obstacles -- when it comes down to it, I realize that creativity, that artistic grit, the seeds of our consciousness (or is it unconsciousness?) are always there, just buried, overlooked like the dirt beneath our fingernails. All too often our creativity, our spirituality, our gusto and passion, can be glazed over by the blander but sadly, more forefront realities of our day to day life. Passion isn't something to make time for, it is something to be lived. For the artist, work is hardly but a verb used as a means to a [never]end, ingenuity and imagination seeping from our pores and creating a vibrating aura around us. But how often do we get caught up in our petty 'real-life' drama and forget to let that passion flow freely? We often fall into the trap of comparison -- comparing ourselves to conventional society, to enter the 'real' world, make a lot of money to buy fancy things, get married and have babies when we are 'supposed' to, and die with objects to leave behind. Maybe we will end up that way, but hopefully not with those as empty goals in mind. Maybe we'll live like kings, perhaps like paupers. Maybe we will leave behind houses and cars, or perhaps great stories, comforting recipes, or a trade. Maybe we teach our children to keep up with the Jones's, or perhaps we teach them instead to love one another, to celebrate our differences, that this is what makes us beautiful....as long as we treat each other with love and respect, for we are all alike in one way. We were made equal.

Though I am not much for New Years resolutions (because any day of the year we are ripe for change), I'm more of a goal-oriented gal, I challenge us all to reach for the goal to live more freely. To let our imagination out the way we did as children, to not ignore the silly or outlandish requests of our brain or our heart, to embrace our differences, and most importantly, to overuse the golden rule. Because, brothers and sisters, if we do, the whole world will be a more beautiful place.

Oops, I Wandered Off

I've been a bit of a flake lately, a bit lost in the land of Nod, perhaps....anyway, I've been gathering inspiration from the positivity of the past these past few nights while doing some creating. And for that, tonight's studio session is dedicated to John Sebastian.

The Future is Bright

I knew from the beginning that I was going to be an artist. Not to say that it was my fantasy career from the get-go. In reality my dream job was to be a fabulous waitress, and I spent my early days before I could read or write, scrambling around my house scribbling nonsense on stacks of restaurant pads, taking imaginary orders ("what can I get 'cha?") while donning an apron and a loud shade of red lipstick. Sadly, to this day, I have never waited a table, but I must admit it is still a secret dream of mine....

Anyway, I suppose art didn't start out as my dream job because, well, I never knew it was one. A job, that is. Art was fun, relaxation, exploration, an excuse to follow my big sister around and beg her to give me lessons. Growing up on my family's farm in Connecticut, my first sculptural pieces were vegetable babies that I made with my other sister (eggplants and butternut squash were always the best for the body, green bean smile, corn silk hair..) I soon moved onto whittling boats from bars of soap (yes, my parents gave me my first jack-knife when I was six.) I am blessed to have grown up in a place where my imagination could run free and I could spend nearly all of my time outside, exploring, creating, and pretending. So much of my present inspiration comes from this and when I go back, I really am a child again, reexamining every inch of it, my playground.

Drawing was my thing in the beginning. I drew all the time. I drew portraits, animals, dancers, sports scenes, whatever I could think of. But one day I came up with (what I thought was) a particularly amazing composition of a smug sunshine wearing shades, casting a rainbow to a cloud, also sporting John Lennon-esque specs and a Joe Cool smile. Man, what a masterpiece! I would draw it all day, every day, particularly in large scale on a giant chalk board in my playroom. In third grade I entered my drawing in a greeting card contest at school, and to my surprise and great satisfaction, I was chosen along with a few other individuals to have my design printed and sold in local shops. I was published! This award assured me that this design was in fact, as brilliant as I had thought. Even if my mom snatched up every card in the tri-town area, I had never felt so accomplished.

So this was my first taste of artistic success, and boy, it was sweeter than a scoop of black raspberry ice cream coated in chocolate jimmies. I was hooked.