"To be an artist is to recognize the particular. To appreciate the peculiar. To allow a sense of play in your relationship to accepted standards. To ask the question 'Why?'
"To be an artist is to acknowledge the astonishing..."
I'm reminded of an old friend whose creativity and playfulness I adored. Walking into his house the first time was mind-bending. He lived in a tiny place and had some of his furniture affixed to the walls! I've lost touch with him. Part of me hopes that even if he's moved on to a place that's large enough to accommodate all his furniture on the floor, he still has some of it on his walls...
Cameron spoke to me in many ways this week. Here's a sampling:
Stability and Flow
The discussion about different artists requiring different mixes of stability and flow (and perhaps different mixes at different times in one's creative life) brought me back to the job question I've been struggling with. My brother (the same one who gave me that great day off a few weeks ago) suggested I think about changing my perspective rather than changing my job.
I'd been resisting that--not because I don't think life is all about perspective, but because I DO. I'm the Queen of Perspective, the Queen of Flexibility, the Queen of Optimism. All my life I've used these skills to cope with whatever came my way. Like the kids in my last picture book, Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli, I know how to turn "yucky" into "yummy." And another door opens when one door closes? I'm there!
BUT... I have used this skill to my detriment. Sometimes it has not been about closed doors but about closed eyes. I've stayed both in unhealthy relationships and at unsatisfying jobs too long because I can see through the other guy's eyes, I can go with the flow, I know things are going to get better...
This time, because of my work in The Artist's Way, my eyes aren't closed. I'm very clear about what I want in a number of arenas. And this time, changing my perspective means I can see the job as a tool to get me where I want to go. I've figured out how to organize it so the time I spend is mostly enjoyable--and so that I have MORE time to pursue my art! It's not perfect. Some things about it will never get better. But it is getting me where I want to go. It's a pesky bug instead of a nine hundred pound gorilla. Right now, it's giving me a chance for BOTH stability and flow. I know what my bottom lines are and I know what my life will look like at the moment it's time to let go.
Moving Meditation
I sometimes forget that as an artist I must live in my body as well as my mind and spirit. I remember with great fondness one summer when I took a dog named Daisy for a walk in the woods every morning. I'd landed at a friend's house in the Sierra Nevada in the midst of a road trip with that boyfriend of the furniture-on-the-wall. He found a job, stayed in town and did stand-up comedy at a local club. I stayed in a cabin across the driveway from my friend's house and worked on a novel. And Daisy helped me work out my plot points every morning. The combination of exercise, fresh air and someone to talk to about my work-in-progress was pure magic as far as creative inspiration. (Great thing about dogs--they never tell you that your ideas are ridiculous!) That summer was one of the best of my life. Perhaps I need to think about recreating it...
Perhaps I am. I felt the same creative inspiration this week after going to visit Nancy (yes, our Nancy!) in her home studio on the water, then going for a bike ride and a walk on the beach. My morning pages this week have turned into a repository of creative ideas instead of a bitch session! There is magic in movement, not to mention fresh air...
Some great thoughts from Cameron this week:
My art has intrinsic value apart from what the market determines.
"I need to create what wants to be created."
"Creativity is its own reward."
"Our creativity is our gift from God. Our use of it is our gift to God."
Creativity can't be perfected or finished. It is a restlessness, an appetite for exploration, an invitation to expand in order that we don't contract.
"The stringent requirement of a sustained creative life is the humility to start again, to begin anew."
"Those who attempt too long to work with formula, even their own formula, eventually leach themselves of their creative truths."
Exercise--movement--puts us in the "now," helps us focus on what's most important, and gives us an opportunity to celebrate our capacity to feel. Wow!
"Walking offers the benefit of sensory saturation. Things do not whiz by. We really see them. Insight follows from sight. We fill the well and later tap into it more easily."
"The goal is to connect to a world outside of us. To [forget self-obsessive self-exploration and] simply explore. One quickly notes that when the mind is focused on other, the self often comes into a far more accurate focus." [emphasis mine]
"The artist child speaks the language of the soul: music, dance, scent, shells..."
Did anyone create an artist's altar this week? I didn't, but it's something I'd like to do moving forward. Would love to hear your ideas!
"We learn by going where we have to go."
'Nuff said. How did your week go? Can't wait to hear!
Next week: Recovering a Sense of Faith
