All in trust the process
Sometimes it may take years for ideas to come to fruition. Artists need to keep hope alive so their work is received by receptive audiences, even if their art is ahead of its time. That’s why it is important to hold fast to stories of hope, to keep persevering, keep creating, keep showing up for yourself until the time is ripe for ideas to take root and flourish.
I am appreciating the strong titanium plates that now live within me. Playing with stencils of their abstracted shapes makes visible an inner landscape to explore as I emerge from creative hibernation.
It’s disappointing to reject artworks you know you have laboured over. Painful as it may be, we have to ‘kill our darlings’, the works that we have spent so long with, they no longer feel fresh. Instead, think of these as pilots, leading the way for the better works to follow.
It takes courage to follow that path less taken when the ‘crazy restlessness’ of creative adventure takes hold. Rather than throwing out your early artworks as ‘ugly ducklings’ they can be viewed instead as creative ‘markers’, leading you on a journey of discovery.
Some of the things we do as artists are audacious. If we want to make an impact with our art, we need to dream big and that often means we need to invest forward. Believing in your project and the timely opportunities that come with it only happen when you begin it.
Your body knows when it needs rest. Ignore it at your peril. So I travelled while I slept and woke up to icebergs for breakfast. An inspirational reset in Greenland.
Thinking with your materials means you allow the unique quality of that material to lead you into experimentation. “What if” becomes the starting point for my experiments with abstract painting using bright coloured paper pulp.
Looking for inspiration? You have everything already inside of you. This is what I remembered when I went on a research trip down the rabbit holes of the internet. What I was really looking for was in my own imagination, a journey back to myself.
