I’d love it if you would join me. For those of you on Facebook, I have started a private group called “QuARTantine”. This group is a place to share your art, craft, music, essays, poems, monologs, skits, etc. while we're under quarantine. It looks like we're going to be inside for a while. The good news is art is NOT cancelled. Let's inspire each other during this time and stay in touch with our creative nature.
I was having tea with a friend today who believes that we call in every experience in our lives. Every single one. Even the traumatic and horrible ones that may involve other people’s hurtful actions. I was skeptical and wanted to know more.
Ever since the holidays, I have not been able to gain any traction in my work. Like one of those dreams when I’m trying to running but I can’t seem to build up any speed at all. At least I can say that it’s not for no reason. The past five months have been intense, and until about two weeks ago, I had not been feeling so great. Then I received a Shockabuku.
In 2017, The Washington Post brought the Lily back as an online publication with the two-fold mission to, "Empower with news and information and promote inclusivity by exposing diverse voices." I am ecstatic that I have been selected to be one of those voices.
Today I long to keep things simple. Simple mind and simple actions. Slow and simple, I say. The idea of getting into a long blog post about how I’m feeling seems a sad prospect. So, here I am, attempting a simple poem. I don’t write poems that often, but today, poetry seems to fit. So here you go.
I had been working on a painting that wasn’t coming along well. I was attempting to create the first in the series of “breathe paintings” that I told you about last week. What was coming out was the prickliest looking “breath” I have ever seen. It was pointy, sharp, not at all the feeling of inhale and exhale that I had hoped to create. I realized that my state of mind at the time was abrupt, self-critical, and racing like it was running around on fire.