Our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to, whether by choice or default.
ā William James
I finished "The Art of Noticing" by Rob Walker. I listened to the audio version while painting. I immediately turned it in on my Libby app as soon as I finished. Turns out that was too soon! I've already found that I want to refer back to portions within it. I can see that a physical book would be a great resource to keep on a coffee table and pick up on a whim for inspiration. It's perfect for reminders and ideas to keep our eyes open and seeing.
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
- Annie Dillard
Yesterday, I started Jerry Saltz's "How to Be an Artist." I don't remember where I got the recommendation for this book. It's not a long or difficult book. I've already made it halfway. I'm certain I will read it at least twice. There is a lot in it that I've heard before, but it is hitting my sensibilities in all the right ways.
You are always learning. At the end of each day, you know something you didn't know at the beginning. We're all learning on the job. This is true even when the thing you've learned is that you know less than you thought.
- Jerry Saltz
I have been filling my mind with words and wisdom for artists. As I'm finding and filling out the contours of who I am as an artist, it helps to have these conversations be my ecosphere. Up 'til now, I spent a decade in what Dr. Pauline Boss coined "ambiguous loss" or grief without closure. My artwork was the end result of my stream-of-consciousness conversations with myself - processing my dad's gradual loss of complexity, strength, and self to Parkinson's and dementia.
I know that conversation still lives in me, but now I feel an openness, an expanse. When I sit down to paint, the conversation isn't immediately apparent to my mind. I can feel the need to try this and that. Mark-making for the sake of finding out what feels pleasing to my hand, my mind, and my voice.
Anne Lamott wrote:
How to write: Butt in chair. Start each day anywhere. Let yourself do it badly. Just take one passage at a time. Get butt back in chair.
Same is true, of course, for anything we want to do, right? How do you write, how do you create art, how do you become physically fit, how do you create new habits, how do you grow personally? It's all the same. Show up. Butt in chair.
It's gonna be messy. All over the place! I'm going to allow it, both in myself and my art. I'm going to choose to be comfortable wherever I go. I won't force myself into something that's not meant or ready to be. What is there for me to do is work.
With creativity and hope - here we go. ā¤ļø
Janece
