Making Art in the Midst of Life
/My friend John, who is a writer, told me last time we were hanging out that his needs to be done regularly, daily, and with some kind of consistently even in the midst of life. There is a good chapter in Eric Maisel’s book Coaching the Artist Within entitled Creating in the Middle of Things in which Eric talks exactly about how we must learn to do our art even in the middle of our every day lives. To quote from this chapter; “ Unless you are impervious to the facts of existence – and no one is – you must learn how to create in the middle of things. You must learn how to create when wares are raging and when your hormones are raging. You must learn how to create even if you hate your country’s policies or your own painting style. You must learn how to create even if you are embroiled in a bad marriage or living alone and lonely. You must learn how to create even if you work eight hours a day at a silly job or, sometimes worse, find yourself at home with time on your hands.” I whole heartedly agree. We can’t be waiting for the perfect time, mood, or place. The time is now to make our art. It will never be perfect even when we have millions in the bank and are sitting cozy and comfy in our little retreat cabin. The time and place is now, in the midst of our lives, just as they are! Currently I have just moved with my daughter (now 6 years old) – third move in the last eight months, this was the biggest move from Southern California to Washington State. Thank God my Dad came down and helped us drive the UHAUL the 1500 + miles. That on top of being in the middle of a divorce, unpacking, re-doing my website, finishing my 08 taxes, filing for UI, editing a short video about my techniques and latest Pure Abstraction work, that on top of making daily meals and dishes and laundry and the other day to day of life. So there is a full life here but still room for art in the midsts of it. Always room for art, for the joy that it brings its worth the discipline to go and do it. Boxes may be left unpacked, dirty dishes in the sink, but I’m still doing some art – however small. The photo in this blog is one my friend Lyza caught me when she brought by some boxes for us. One of my art tables folded up, ready to be packed, made the perfect little painting area and I started hand painting some journal covers the day before we packed the UHAUL the next day and drove up north…. SO WHAT, I’m going to do some art anyways!
