The first week of the new year is almost over. Here are some things I've learned/realized this week.
10. It's not easy to be an artist. There is this misnomer out there that lots of folks hold ... that the life of an artist is easy and fun. It's not. It's hard and frequently not fun.
9. It's not easy to stay true to who I am. As an artist, as a human being. There are so many ways to second guess what you make, what you say, what you put out there. "Is this who I am OR is this who people want me to be?" But I do believe that to be a great artist, I need to put out into the universe who I truly am ... even if it's not who people want me to be and even if it makes some people uncomfortable. That's hard.
8. I love poached eggs. With fresh tomatoes.
7. No matter how much I kick ass in my weight lifting classes, I'm pretty much convinced that I'll never be able to do a pull up and never really do push ups well. It's a mystery that frustrates me.
6. At every stage of parenting, there's this voice inside my head that says "THIS is when you'll end up failing as a parent." Like I thought that when I was potty training my kids because I thought I could never do it. But lo and behold, they were potty trained. Same thing for sleeping in their own beds, drinking out of normal cups, and taking showers on their own. So this week, I gave Andrew his first driving lesson. And that voice said it to me again: "THIS is when you'll end up failing. You'll never teach Andrew how to drive." And lo and behold, he started to drive pretty darn well. Go figure.
5. I've finally come to a point where I can forgive people who classify people who want to be fit as being shallow. Kind of. This is not to say that all fit people are deep. But not all fit people are shallow. And fit in and of itself isn't shallow.
4. It bothers me when people say things like "Why can't people enjoy the moment rather than taking a photo of the moment and posting it?" It reminds me of sentences from the past like "Why do you have to send an email when you can fax or telephone a person?" Times they are a changing. And what makes anyone think that taking a photo of a moment and posting it isn't a way of enjoying the moment? How we experience and how we enjoy moments have never stayed the same. They've always been changing. And they are changing as we speak. Each person chooses to the degree that they keep up with and participate in the changes.
3. I don't like being told what kind of art to make. And I really hate being asked what kind of art a person should make. It's like the most awkward thing.
2. I realized once again, the importance of reading labels on food products. Like there is this almond butter made by a company called Maranatha that boasts "all natural" on its label. I've been eating it for several months, only to read the ingredient list this week to find out that it is filled with sugar and oil along with almonds. Total bummer. So now it's back to almond butter that lists only one thing as its ingredient: almonds.
1. Nothing feels better than receiving deep, sincere praise for your art by complete straingers. It happened tonight. From an accomplished sculptor and her colleagues who came to see my paintings and my free motion stitching. It felt so good. Like I'm doing the right thing pursuing my art. Like it's causing an audience to feel something. So even though #10 is the truth of the matter, it's when #1 happens that I think to myself that I'll continue on my path for now.
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