The Artists Life - The Dream Is In The Details

You are what your deep, driving desire is.

As your desire is, so is your will.

As your will, so is your deed.

As your deed is, so is your destiny.

 - The Upandshads

   Seems pretty heavy, doesn't it? But bear with me for a minute here, and I'll get to the main gist of this as well as the relation to art. First, let's dig a little deeper and clarify a bit;

"If you become crystal clear on how you would love your life, to such a degree that you can't see anything but that, it's almost impossible for you not to get it. Absolute clarity adds vitality and enthusiasm to your actions. You won't rise above and beyond anything you're charged and emotional about, so the best way to do what you love is to love what you are doing right now. State your dream clearly, and then ask yourself how what you're doing right now is preparing you for your dreams. When you love and are grateful for what is, you get the power to turn it into what you love. If you know that no matter what happens, your life is serving your dreams, then nothing can stop you."
 - from the book, The Breakthrough Experience; A New Approach to Personal Transformation, by Dr. John F. Demartini.

   So - what are we saying here? If you are sick and tired of the way your life has been going lately, or over the past decade or two, this book may shed light on your inner challenges as it did for me. Life follows certain principles and when we don't adhere to them, our lives can become a shamble. This book was a combination of three others I've read before. Only one concept was new to me. And while I can't explain it all here, I am still in the process of working the experience.

   However, I am grateful to have read the book, and to be grateful for where I live. Even though our current residence is tiny, I still have studio space where I've been able to paint almost daily for the past two weeks. Currently, I am only using a palette knife on 8x10 inch canvases and hoping I'm creating art that is worthwhile. I sold one work last week, and I've been showing the other works that have garnered positive reviews. I had two or three works that received mixed to colder reviews, but that's to be expected.

   With my somewhat new-found style, I have approached a few galleries over the past three days. While I have to submit images and follow some industry procedures, the meet-and-greet as well as the conversations went very well. One positive aspect is that all these galleries do not have spaces for large works, so the owners were pleased they were smaller in scale.

   Every day I do what I love and work towards my goal - to get more of my art out into the world; to spread the love. This week, I was challenged by too much detail for too small a space in one painting. In another, mixing the colors on the canvas had become tedious. Finally, on the third painting, creativity in creating a floral pleased me immensely.

   I know this a loaded question, but I'm putting it out to the blogging world and the internet void; which painting works the best for you? You don't have to explain yourself in great detail, but what draws you to a particular work? What do you like about one or more of the paintings, even though the style may not be the status quo? It's okay - let yourself go.

   Until next time,
   Jill