Right Here

This was fun to do.  Funny cut out flowers on a chalked background and the kind of inspirational quote that reminds me it doesn't have to hard work to journey 'out there somewhere.'

Inspired

I bought Taking Flight: Inspiration And Techniques To Give Your Creative Spirit Wings by Kelly Rae Roberts some time back and have been reading it like a novel – all words but no action.  After the funky week I had and the challenges of Art Every Day, I realised I not only needed some direction but also some inspiration.

This is the outcome of some mixed media and mixed source inspiration.  I did the background out of cloth on paper like I have seen on some altered books then added the painting in acrylic over it.  In keeping with the idea I stencilled in the word INSPIRED and voila.

I’m back on the learning curve.

Be...

Stop.  Take a breather.  Be.  That is the advice I am giving to me.

I wonder what I am when I stop to just be.

Why Not?

WHY?

Why am I doing this?
Why does it matter?
Why should I spend my time and effort and resources to make art?
Why do I care about how it turns out?
Why do my efforts suck?
Why do I ask why?

What am I trying to prove?

The only answer I can come up with is because I’m a sucker for punishment and an eternal optimist.  I never thought I would ever do anything special with my desire to create but I have found a small way to express myself.  I’m not where I want to be yet but I think it’s worth it.  Because something is telling me this is the way to go.

 

NOT

Not what I wanted it to be.
Not getting any better.
Not making the progress I wanted.

Not useless.
Not a waste of time.
Not impossible.

Just enough for me right now.

Giving myself permission to suck is a new unusual feeling.  It’s a lot like saying I don’t have to try but at the same time saying that it’s okay if I try and things don’t turn out right.  It’s about daring and sometimes falling flat on my face but other times it might be about trying and learning how to fly.

‘Why’ and ‘not’ are two words that on their own can be reason enough not to start.  About having no good reason to put myself out there...and no good reason to fight against my fears and make a dent in the world.  Together, they are about creative audacity; courage and listening to that inner voice that says to me, “You can do it!”

So I could listen to the dissenting voice that tells me I can’t or shouldn’t but I won’t.  I will create.  And if anyone should ever ask me why I’ll have to tell them ‘Why not!”

Excess

When you have more paint than you know what to do with and you can’t exactly put it back into the pot what happens?  Spontaneous art.  Impatient art.  Strange effects that can only happen when you are not sure what you are doing.  However, if this is the product of letting go then perhaps I need to hold on just a little tighter.

There is a difference between being flexible enough to let that Inspiring Grace to guide me and completely letting go of everything and not making any effort to align myself to Universal Creative Power.  This is the product of the later and it lacks the same ‘something’ I’ve been missing this week.

I could have crumpled it up and thrown it away.  I could have over-painted it and nobody would have known what I did.  But something has been telling me to keep putting these efforts out there.  They might suck but there is something about sucking that is part of the process as well.  Through these mishaps and mistakes I believe there is still a kernel of truth...of hope.  And that’s a good enough reason to create bad art.