So
here we are. Another year has come and
gone. We’re well into the end of January
and I have not posted for quite some time.
My new year’s resolution was to cultivate joy.
I
have been reading Julia Cameron’s The
Complete Artist Way (2007) and have found certain gems that have helped me
through my times of blocked creativity. Although
I have written and drawn my thoughts since I was about six or seven years old, my
hopes and dreams of publishing remain unfulfilled at this point, but as Betsy Lerner
has said in her book, The Forest for the
Trees (2000) there’s hope for us “late bloomers”. One beautiful phrase that I read this morning
went like this: “It is very important not to become hard. The artist must always have one skin too few in
comparison to other people, so you feel the slightest wind”. Susha Guppy (Cameron, The Complete Artist Way (2007), pg. 635).
Well,
no worries there. That describes me to a
tee! Cameron talks about the grey days. The days where one must keep keeping on. I know too well days like
that; when my fears and doubts creep in like dampness that chills to the bone
creating aches and pains. I need to do
just that. Hang on and stay the course.
Sometimes I’m able to overcome days that discourage or fans one’s fears
by taking pencil in hand and draw my way out of the darkness. Other days I read and escape, or busy myself
in the day-to-day tasks: laundry, bookkeeping, something tangible and practical
to keep me grounded. Being thin-skinned
can be very difficult at times.
Sometimes the best thing I can do is surround myself with my books and
heated oat bags, huddle under soft quilts and blankets and write like my life
depended on it, until I find a way back to the positive and find the strength
to keep going.
One
of the projects I worked on recently was a contest that I entered for a book
cover. I didn’t win, however I learned a
lot and enjoyed the process immensely. Featured
below was my submission.
Posts
