My turn this time, just in case you were getting tired of messages from Maureen.

Actually, she loves to write and she loves to hear about people's journeys.  That was one thing that I loved about her when I met her.  So I'm sure you will be hearing more from her in the near future. 

 

But for now, she has been over working on a sculpture that she will have done for the Synergy2 Conference in February.  She needed to get photos done weeks ago. You know how it goes!  Artists need to do their best and never have enough time to make it just right.  It's not just her problem.  I have been getting more and more stepping stones and plaque orders and I really don't classify myself as an artist, but maybe I am after all.  I find myself going through the same feelings that Maureen has when she creates.  That ugly word "perfection" creeps in and prevents me, sometimes, from creating the piece that I originally saw in my mind.  Are the results better or worse?  By the way, both Maureen and I try not to use that word anymore!  That's the artist's fussingly, agitatingly, excessingly, excitingly, overindulgingly way ........and at the same time .......important forte.

 

So why do we make such a big deal of it?  Putting our thoughts and energy of our art on the line just makes us think about what is important in our own little world.  Can you fill up a page with all the really important things in your life?  I can't!  I've tried and maybe 1 or 2 short lines come out.  That's it!

 

So I invite you all, in this time of reflection, to not worry too much about how others will respond to your art, or for that matter, about anything else.  Be truthful to ourselves.  We each have our own burdens to carry and no one gets out of it.  For that reason alone, may we all have more compassion for each other.  Then we'll see the "poor me" attitude dissipate before our eyes.