Okay, I admit it, I am stuck. Teetering on a really wobbly plank and I cannot make that plank balance any more than I can tip it in the direction of success. I can at any moment very unglamorously fall off.
Creativity:
I always believed I just had it.
No matter what.
Now I realize, a bit too late that I too, like every other normal person out there can lose it. I have lost it.
Trouble is I need it now and no matter what I do to coax it from its shell, it is eluding me.
I can paint pretty well. No, I’m not Degas, Van Gogh, Matisse, Chagall, Leonardo, Warhol, or any of the other great geniuses, not even a modern day undiscovered one, but I can usually paint something that impresses someone. Not so much, not right now.
My genius (as classified by Elizabeth Gilbert in a TED presentation on creativity http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html) must be lost under the dust bunnies in some corner of my world. I keep showing up to paint and my genius is not following. Maybe it went on a trip…wish it took me with it, I could use a break. Maybe it decided to find someone more worthy to attach itself to?
Whatever.
All I know is panic is beginning to set in.
And we are suffering. Not the deep down true suffering that appears in so many people’s lives in death, in sickness, in war, in chaos, in violence. But I am slowly going mental. My kids look at me like I’ve grown 3 heads, My house is getting grimy, the laundry is overwhelming me. My husband has this look of sympathy and I have developed a habit of screaming out loud (not really loud...not quite there yet!) for no apparent reason when what I am trying to coax out of my paintbrush repeatedly fails to transpire upon my canvas. I 've also hit up a friend or two about my dilemma and if I keep this up eventually I'll become their plague.
I have a goal and I am starting to believe I will not achieve it.
I need to paint. I want to paint WELL. I don’t want to blow this and I’m afraid I’m going to.
Meanwhile…my posts will become even more infrequent. I cannot help this because I’m stubborn enough to keep trying. I will paint every opportunity I get and I will either waste a pile of art supplies or I will eventually pull off a successful first ever studio tour. Time will tell. Pray for me…I need it!
1 comment:
I can't wait to read your post the day the studio tour ends and you've managed to collect little sold stickers on the paintings covering your walls.
That is not pressure. That is just how this is going to end. Your trick is to do the part in the middle that gets to that point.
You can worry or you can breath through it. A smart friend once told me to choose breathing.
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