Tag Archives: letting go

Letting Go

Letting Go

HibiscusI let go of this baby today. This is the commission I have been working on. Another hibiscus, 16 X 20 Acrylic on Canvas. It has gone to the same home as the Purple Iris, which it will hang beside. This is also the location of the mural I did a while back.

I am getting better at letting go of the paintings. It is possible that I get in my own way when it comes to selling my art. Hoarding them is no solution.

Emily Carr mentions in her autobiography, how hoarding simply stagnates all you have. I believe this to be true. In order to keep the flow going, there has to be constant movement. Art must be shared. That is part of the process. To see the beauty in things, we must honour the space around them I have decided.

Pieces go out, and new pieces are created. Leaving a muddle of paintings all around, is like a palette grown too messy to distinguish the individual colours, with no room to mix. Painting with that will give you mostly mud. All that, while clarity is really what we are after. Time to clean the palette and start fresh.

Forgot to mention, these lucky paintings are going to the Caribbean to live early in the New Year. Perhaps I will have the chance to visit them, preferably when the weather is cold here. Ooh to feel that hot sand underfoot right about now would be so fine. Meanwhile, I am running out of wall space here, so it is time to let go of a few more to make room for what is to come.

Flying Solo

Flying Solo

poppy soloMy ‘solo’ poppy is coming along.
Still a few more touches to do.
Lightness of being, has entered
into the picture for me. Flying solo, I
feel as if I am getting ready to soar.
I am learning ever so much these days,
yet it feels like only the beginning.
After selling the Purple Iris painting,
as well as a miniature piece last week,
I experienced emotional stress,
which I realized was a sort of grieving, which meant letting go of my art was a bigger problem than I thought.
 
My next art read is going to be “Art & Fear”, as I do believe fear to be at the root of this issue. During the reading of “The Mystery of Making IT, I read the following quote, which caused me to break into laughter.”

“Love what you do, but do not fall in love with the pieces. These are not your offspring. They are the product you have chosen to earn your living with.” Jack White

Since reading that quote two days ago,
I have now stopped thinking
of my paintings as offspring.
Even the painting seems to be
going faster. Could this be why
it has taken me so long to finish
a piece, up until now?
Once unattainable hurdles
do not look like roadblocks anymore.
Destination in sight,
free of excess baggage,
which could once ground me,
I am getting ready to fly solo.