I once had an 8 year long break between artworks. I've also had stretches of sporadic art production, grinding out stuff as I've been able to cram it into spare time, doing maybe a dozen measly, incoherent pieces in a year; year after year.
But that really is life...we're not art making machines, we're people; and we make art. Sometimes there are more important things than doing our artwork. We are multi-faceted beings, and our artwork is only one facet. Our other aspects must develop.
It had been 8 freakin' years...my first wife had died of breast cancer. I was sitting on the sofa maybe a month after she'd passed. Watching "Roseanne"...
I said to myself, "If I were an artist I'd be upstairs (in my wife's dormant studio) making artwork." I turned off the television, went upstairs and got to work.
We return to our art with a deeper experience to draw from; a greater awareness of love, of responsibility, and commitment; and making a more excellent product.
Have a little faith, gird up your loins, and believe. Do you feel that life is crowding art right out? This is going in a dynamic and profound direction for you. You will do great and powerful things. It will work. You will not fail if you do not quit. Having responsibilities is not quitting, it is being admirably strong.
You are admirable. You are strong. It will show.
I love the line from Chariots of Fire, where the guy says (to best of my recall), "God has given me this gift, and I feel his pleasure in it". If you are an artist, art IS life.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment MT. We're expressing ourselves out of the abundance of our hearts, whether we believe that or not, whether we try to or not.
DeleteI like the quote from "Finding Nemo", "Just keep swimming, and swimming, and swimming...."
Life indeed can make us lose ourselves, but it is when we create that we get to be who we really are.....a beautiful post.
DeleteThanks for taking time to comment, Lilith.
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