On the Journey

One year after I made the conscious effort to “clean house” and make room for new work, I’m pleased with the journey. I’m appreciative of the friends and fans of my work snapped up the nine pieces I offered on the post in just two days! It did energize me and give me confidence to move forward.

I’m learning some valuable lessons, an important one being patience. Letting ideas percolate, grow and distill. This is not a trait that is fostered earlier in life, when one is immersed in career, family, making a living, etc. etc. When one moves into the phase where you’re “retired”, that is not needing to make a living, time opens up. The idea that you have all this time for yourself, to do “whatever you want” can be daunting, even paralyzing. Artists never retire, but the lack of external deadlines to create work can be a barrier rather than an open door for some. It was for me. Especially during the pandemic. That isolating period was fertile for some artists. For me it was a jolt to any routine and previous creative ideas I thought I had.

This is where practicing patience came in. Slowly I began doing different things. Slow stitching. Knitting. Mixed media collage. Looking around more. Reading. Just letting things percolate.

And then, things started to flow. With no exact end goal. The door began to crack open, and now I‘ve got several projects in process at once! This is a new concept for me in making art. During this time I’ve come to embrace another concept: making art to please yourself, first and foremost. If others like it, great. If not, I’m not bothered.

There’s an aspect of my life that I don’t take for granted: I don’t have to make art to make money. If that happens, it’s nice, but it’s not the #1 reason to do it.

Here are some new pieces I’ve added to my Peaceful Calm Series. I’m still digging this earthy palette, so I’ll keep making work with these colors, until another palette begins to speak to me. Playing, experimenting. Not worrying about creating masterpieces, but going until I’m happy with the composition, the feeling of the piece.

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A New Chapter, One Year On

On the Journey