I can feel myself entering yet another arty low
(a recurring period I call 'de funk')
when this happens I spend even more time in my garden....
just looking at the blooming clematis makes me feel better
and watching little seeds push out of the soil gives me hope
and pulling out weeds makes my muscles ache in a good way
I don't like to think what I'd do without my garden and forest and creek (and family)
....
Hey Ronnie, I hope you feel better soon... it's probably a reaction to having been so DARNED BUSY for ages and ages and then getting back to your farm again! Or at least, that's what I hope it is. Keep looking at the flowers! Sara x
ReplyDeletethe funk is probably an edginess, a snarliness, perfect for transition time. you'll be ok, give it a bit, but be easy on yourself, do little mundane tasks and enjoy them...it will return. you're coming off a pretty big high there!
ReplyDeleteI hope you are starting to feel a little better ronnie. I'm sure TWO overnight bus trips have not been helpful!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do think that engaging with certain aspects of the art world (like we did at Impact) can be incredibly deflating and leave a girl seriously questioning the point of all that hard work.
I ALWAYS feel like that when confronted with big name/commercially successful art. It has helped me quite a bit to be really clear about what I personally do regard as success, and quite specifically what my goals are in that regard. I also make sure I engage with people who are on a similar path. This has given me more resilience in the face of "the highly & visibly successful".
I think it's a really valuable area to put out there for discussion and it helps everyone to be clear what "bits" of being an artist are helpful and which bits are part of the machine of capitalism. (Woops, did I say that out loud or just think it?) If you're up for it, I'd encourage you to put your concerns and thoughts into a post and see what other people think - I, for one, am dieing to know!
Meanwhile, be gentle with yourself - you deserve it! xox
thanks for the lovely posts guys....
ReplyDeletethere's a kernel of truth in all your observations.... and my current funk has appeared perhaps as much as a result of the changing seasons as anything else (we modern folk don't pay enough attention to the affects of the solstices/ equinoxes/phases of the moon and such)....
I WILL try to articulate a few things that concern me about the art world's wormy actions amanda.... (I have put a few of my opinions out there previously - and noticed that mostly people stand back mute.... but strangely the posts seem to gather a lot of visits.... go figure!) Perhaps when I emerge from the current funky period.... (the funk is more than just an arty funk.... but I've been here before... no doubt will visit this land again..... and even if I can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel, past experience tells me it's there.... it's there)
I don't want to be a drama queen!