Both pics taken with the iphone.
A friend of mine, who is the exhibit designer for a Very Groovy art museum, tells me that in the world of high-profile art these days, artists value their PROCESS above and beyond the fruits of their labors. He is also a painter who, by his own admission, never finishes a painting. He'll start one, put it aside and somehow never get back to it. That process of half-painted paintings is what is interesting to him, not the paintings themselves.
Hmm.
I have the opposite problem. Every now and then I get in a mood to paint. Once I start, it's rather hard to know when to call it a day. Usually I don't stop until I run out of paint, not a great way to decide when the painting is complete. I overpaint, almost always. Yeah.
My profession is process oriented, though somehow when I'm working I don't overdo it. I wonder why. I enjoy labor intensive cooking - probably because of the process, though I admit the meal itself is equally important to me. I bought a crock pot a few years ago that I left at the house on Tennessee Avenue when I moved. Throwing everything in a pot and flipping a switch is no fun at all, no matter how savory and delicious the result.
Here on the blog I am inclined to take my time figuring out what to do. I'm definitely not inclined to dump this thing all at once, leaving without explanation. So I guess the dead tree isn't the best symbol of what's going on here (I mean, the fact that the tree died and they cut it down straightaway.)
I still don't know what's happening here, why I feel differently about it, or what to do. One thing I wish is that the process of discovery was more interesting or at least more fun. It's quite tedious - just like my posts of late. Sincere apologies for that!
Shalom.
11 comments:
I haven't found your posts tedious at all, even if they may feel that way to you. You have a way of helping me to understand what's happening in my life by the parallels of what you are talking about.
This has been a Summer of Discontent for me also, and I remind myself that there are energy patterns at work, and that something good and new can come from all this aggravation and confusion - Yes? I sure hope so!
Maybe it's just time for your writing to evolve, to find a new voice...maybe do more art with your photographs...whatever you decide, know that what you do here means so much to me, and to all your readers, and we hope to follow you on your journey wherever it leads.
I don't find these posts tedious either. I tend to run the other direction when anything close to introspection is happening in my life - so it's been really helpful to watch you go through this process yourself. Kind of a self-help manual for the "wary of self" crowd. :)
Shelley thanks!
One of my great teachers said that he first step in healing involves the disorganization of the pattern of disease, aka chaos and confusion. Evolution, too, involves a lot of chaos in the beginning.
Also, it seems, this summer is kind of a bitch for a bunch of us. Yeah.
Wary of self crowd - ha!
No, not tedious. And I would miss you if you decided to call it quits.
I usually figure I'm through with a piece when I'm tired of working on it, in the model making part of it anyway. I do enjoy the process of making so I understand what your friend means. I like looking at a finished piece, am proud that I made it but the fun is always in the making.
it is definitely "the journey",,type thingy,,mine to here is a fun one...
Never tedious. And I love your new hour glass figure, hahaha!
I'm always trying to figure out ways to make some of the tedious things that I'm stuck doing more fun. I always assume that everything can be enjoyed on some level with the right attitude.
Unfortunately I have not ever been able to figure out how to enjoy getting dusty and dirty and having to smell bad smells, so sometimes the pleasure simply won't be there until I've met my goal and arrived at my destination. And besides - it's good to have something to complain about once in a while along the way - at least for me!
Shelley expresses my thoughts too. You have a remarkable way of talking about feelings and ideas without ever sounding cranky or whine-y, and without giving Too Much Information. You make it look easy, but I think it must be hard work, which, of course, makes one tired.
I'm tangled up in a "What's Next?" state of mind these days, finishing projects on my "To Do Someday" list, and waiting (hoping) for inspiration. I think it must be in the air.
reya - the process . . . i love the process of welcoming the flow of creative energy no matter what i'm doing or what's up.
i'm realizing this summer how much i've cut myself off from and devalued the simple act of living which is entirely unique to each of us and all on its own is a wonderful story that for the intended listener or reader, carries as much weight as some of the "clever" things that come my way and which i up to my blog. not that sharing insight and revelation isn't useful or even necessary but there are little pieces of life that i shrug off as just too simple or mundane or comonplace and they really aren't. i'm looking to that understanding as a way to continue the slow turning around of this elephantine summer of discontent!
steven
Steven I agree. I love reading about the goings on in my blogfellows' lives - Ellen's bike ride with her grandkids, for instance.
I always want to be so fancy. Silly silly silly me.
I would be sad without my daily check in on REYA and a good cuppa- Don't stop playing! You are FUN! And always give me something to mull over during the day- sort of like the lingering bits of an early morning dream that add dimension to the ordinary.
Reya- I caint quit you!
Post a Comment