What's the Deal?
5/14/2009 04:50:00 PM Posted In ink drawings , Musings Edit This 5 Comments »
So, there's often talk among artists about our insecurities. Sometimes it's referred to as our muse abandoning us, or our inner critic is coming through loud and clear rendering us paralyzed. It can be a crisis of confidence that we'll never be able to create any art again. Anything we ever did in the past was a fluke, never to be repeated. There's the voice that says, "what makes you think you're an artist, anyway?", - that's always good for some time in the wilderness.
There's another stumbling block that doesn't just relate to art. It can affect almost any area of life. We know it's important to keep our word, and we really try to do that all the time. Except that we don't. All too often we don't keep the commitments we make to ourselves. I can't tell you how many times I've fallen off the exercise wagon (as in, right now I'm laying on the ground with the wagon continuing to move on down the highway without me). There's the intention to do our art every day, and sometimes we keep it, and sometimes we don't. The thing is, usually these intentions are very important to us - they're not something trivial. So for me, the mystery remains unsolved as to why I find myself in that place of not doing those things that I believe are important to me and feeling really crummy about it! This is today's journal page that I did while pondering that very question.
There's another stumbling block that doesn't just relate to art. It can affect almost any area of life. We know it's important to keep our word, and we really try to do that all the time. Except that we don't. All too often we don't keep the commitments we make to ourselves. I can't tell you how many times I've fallen off the exercise wagon (as in, right now I'm laying on the ground with the wagon continuing to move on down the highway without me). There's the intention to do our art every day, and sometimes we keep it, and sometimes we don't. The thing is, usually these intentions are very important to us - they're not something trivial. So for me, the mystery remains unsolved as to why I find myself in that place of not doing those things that I believe are important to me and feeling really crummy about it! This is today's journal page that I did while pondering that very question.
5 comments:
Nancy,
Are you trying to guilt trip me???
Are we going through the same drought??
I returned from my Mom's on Monday and haven't been able to get any art done this week at all!
On the bright side - I am still walking an hour on the treadmill at least every other day and I did clean out under the kitchen, the refrigerator and the freezer. I've been to two t-ball games and a kindergarten music recital.
Sure hope my muse returns this weekend when I have some time off.
We should really try to get together next week.....
The cleaning wasn't actually under the kitchen, but under the kitchen sink HAH!
We do seem to put a great deal of pressure upon ourselves. Even something good like EMD and Every Day In May can become burdensome. How to approach our own art as a gift to ourselves is a challenge. You journal page today was itself a part of solving the mystery. You asked those questions but you were drawing all the while. The shape is most intriguing. Did it just happen or does it symbolize something for you? At the very least and overly simplistic I see a Y and a J: Why not Just do it? ;-)
I think there's a gentleness we need to have with ourselves when we aren't perfect at keeping up with everything. That helps me. Love the journal page!
I LOVE this doodle...make me want to creat a introspective alphabet in this same style! Very unique! :)
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