I’ve been busy the past few months, which is a good thing. However what I’ve been doing is not my art.
I needed a decided effort to make any art at all. Creating has become a chore, but I don’t stare at a blank page or canvas. I look at my demanding schedule and ask where, when and how can I create? Pondering my plight a couple of abstract images bubbled up.
I imagined I was sitting in my car deciding where to drive next and this voice said, “Steer the car, or stir the direction towards what you want.” What grabbed me was the action of stirring towards something. I don’t often think of my daily work routine as stirring by most definitions of the word. I’m not inspired by the ho-hum duties I perform or the listed items that just need to be done – I simply march on, so the concept of stirring sounded unique. It felt like a new way to move through my hectic schedule and it held an intention to blend random actions into something.
Then I thought that the words “stir the direction” could be about fanning the flames of the activities that do inspire me.
That sounds like fun! Last, the words “towards what you want” really made this picture open up. If I can mix together all the directions I move in and aim them at what I want, I’m back in the business of making my art!
Another image: Imagine you have cracked eggs in a bowl and you have to decide what to do with them. Are you going to toss them? At what? You could egg someone’s car or dump them into the garbage, either way they’ll smell rotten, and you’ll still have to deal with them. You could just scramble them, but then you’d still have eggs, just scrambled. Or, with sugar and a bit of effort, you could mix them into fancy custard, like sweet crème brulee; or you could add more ingredients and stir up a savory quiche.
The way you live can be like stirring a bunch of cracked eggs because life will steer you, but you can stir the direction of where you want to go next.
