Seeing the Crumbs and Being Grateful
I have been thinking about how I often turn my paintings in a million different directions to see how they appear from different angles. I am sure I am not any different from any other artist, and also like other artists, I think about how the work I do is also a metaphor for life – at least my life.
You see, typically, I work best silently and in solitude. I often find I like to work when not another person is about or I have to create that environment with headphones and soft music. This doesn’t mean, however, that I never work with other people or enjoy conversations about my work, their work or art in general. Quite the contrary, I find those conversations invaluable. Once I learned I absolutely HAD to live a creative life, a stream of precious and delightful souls have stepped in to show me (and challenge me with) a variety of ways to find myself and my work. Once I found the true me, the creative types presented themselves in abundance – many just left a few crumbs and exited. The really strong, supportive ones who had also come into their own have stayed. Now, I am better able to leave crumbs for those who are willing to see them. Without these beautiful people appearing in my life, I could not have found myself and would be wandering around completely confused.
It takes looking at life from every direction to be able to find the simple crumbs as well as entire sweet cakes in life, just the way I look at my paintings to understand them better. The artist and writer, Cathleen Roundtree said, “The creative process gives back tenfold. It is by definition abundant and unending.” I also will add, it is very sweet.
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There are 8 Comments to "Seeing the Crumbs and Being Grateful"
Hi!
I am like you, once I stepped into my true creative self, the people I needed to meet started coming to me! Thanks for the post! Betsy Lewis
Thank you for stopping by, Betsy! I think, when we stop to think about it, most of us can find these very special people who come in to help out in some way. I look forward to talking with you further.
I really liked this post. It reminds me that we all have the ability to drop seeds into people’s life as part of our giving back to the creative world. Sometime we do not know how that will inspire and motivate another person. It is just part of our process.
You are so right. When we are aware of this happening all of the time, we are reminded of the importance of maintaining grace and kindness to those we meet as well as those are on the edges.
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your views.
remember that crumbs led Hansel and Gretel home. a humble crumb is equal to a gem of great worth. and sometimes those crumbs expand and grow into a new cake. What is all this coming out of me? I sound like a little buddha or something.
Love the painting. Be well Kim.
Suki, you are a little buddha! You are wise and thoughtful – to me that is what it takes to be a little buddha. I love your analogy to Hansel and Gretel, because it is so true when you know where and when to look every crumb can lead you right to that cake! Wise words from a wise woman!
Thank you so much for all you give!
I love your image of the crumbs and the entire sweet cake:) Thanks for reminding us that we need to look at things, people, our artwork from every possible angle. Change perspectives, exchange views, too. Sometimes I forget that! So this is where those wonderful other creative people step in, whom we find when we go on this journey….they take us by the hand and help us to take the next step.
I love the surfaces you create. They have so much depth and width, it’s like this fairytale where you can step through the doors of an old cupboard and step out into another part of the world…
A bientôt
Andrea
Hi Andrea, it is like the people in the Metro are some of the crumbs in your life which come together to make these lovely sweet cakes for you, too! I love the image of them taking us by the hand and showing us the next steps, then maybe they hand us off to the next little crumb or speck or even to some pastry chef! We just never know and have to be open to the positive possibilities and know when to also walk away from them.
Thanks dear friend for the lovely comments about my work!