As I settle into a new way of approaching my work I ran across this quote:
…your task is just to put your hands in the clay and keep them there watchfully, trusting not only that something beautiful will come, but also that, however far you get, the distance will have been enough.
To live in alignment with the heart, not to justify it with works and results — that is the best that can be expected of a human being. So make that thought a temple into which you let no worry, worldly or spiritual, ever enter. -Paul Weinfield
My days have become easier, more open and fluid, since I let go of striving and hoping and inevitably feeling not good enough or like I am not where I should be. As the above quote says, I have stopped looking for results. The journey is enough.
And the journey for me right now is going to the studio (or not, as I feel) and working on whatever I am drawn to. One day it might be my large scale works on paper such as the one below.
Small Surprises, mixed media, 44” x 30”
Another day it might be an exploration of landscape in encaustic such as the one below.
River Full of Stars, encaustic, 24’ x 18”
Still other days it could be playing around with collage using cut up bits of old monoprints.
untitled collage, 15” x 11”
So somehow I am learning to live in alignment with my heart, which some days even means not entering the studio at all but making bread or spending the day walking and talking with a friend. I am putting no pressure on myself to produce or even be consistent or original. I am learning to just be and it feels mighty good!