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| Waiting for the gesso eraser :-) |
I know for myself in the past, art was key in walking me through a very painful & sad time, as it has for many others.
I also know that, a few years later when another devastating blow came calling, creativity shut down. I could not find release through paint and canvass, everything came up ugly, muddy and I had not a desire or a clue how to get past that place. Perhaps that was the point of it all, life was dishing up some ugly things and mud was its colour. If only life came with the big brush of white out gesso as it did and does with paintings that need a fresh start.
Work on current commissions is grindingly slow. It's check in time on one, another is problem solving in the planning stages (finding the elements I need for what I want to do). On the side, I'm slapping paint around on an abstract piece simply for my own stress reliever, with it seems to be coming a lot of gessoing :-)
"Trusting the process is based on a belief that something valuable will emerge when we step into the unknown. There are elements of surrender and letting go which have more to do with flexibility and the ability to change direction, than with defeat and annihilation...Experienced creators are able to step aside and relax in order to advance. They work with the process, stimulating it with a forceful initiative or a subtle nudge, but always respectful of what takes shape outside the sphere of a person's control.
The humblest expressions can be sources of insight and wonder. In art therapy, healing often occurs when we begin to make paintings that engage the sources of our discontents. When I enact my angst and fears in an artwork they become my partners in creation, and my relationship to them is transformed." Trust The Process by Shaun McNiff
