The second issue of my newsletter is out. See link above to see it in browser with pics. Has this last week been stressful for you? Insert crazy face here.#2 October 5, 2020Hello everybody I keep trying to remember to take the time to breathe – in and out, in and out… I’ve heard somewhere that the actual reason people find smoking relaxing is the breath pattern. Basically just hold your breath a sec, then a long slow exhale. That out-breath really empties the lungs, and that's what is relaxing. Now is probably a good time to test it out. Besides all the national news – which I can’t even begin to digest much less cope with – my life has been filled with so many and diverse demands that I haven’t been in the studio for a week! Of course one can step back and wonder about how time is actually consumed – kind of a weird idea - time getting eaten up. I get an image of a giant space cornucopia from an early Star Trek episode that cruises though the galaxy sucking up all the matter and energy in its path. Well, that’s what it's felt like lately ... How has the week been for you? I was trying to focus on my intentions and make choices so that events would lead neatly towards making and sharing art but then actual life barges in and other stuff happens.Things break down and need to be fixed, there are appointments to be made and then met, and I find just taking care of the process of living is a lot of work! Suddenly my time-space-experience seems to be cluttered with debris both real and physic and then standing in the kitchen making tea, I look down and I wonder - how did l let my cabinets get so dirty? Hang on - I'm gonna take a knight's move though diversion here. I had a student in tears one day some years ago – I asked her friend what happened. “Her rat died” I kind of did a double take, thinking “A rat?” – Then I realized a pet is a pet and death is death. I got it. Today, amid all the undone tasks that seem to consume my life, and feeling the weight of my years, it occurred to me that the corollary of certain death is current life. And, instead of it being a bummer I was struck by the miracle of being alive! Wow. By definition this moment, right now, is the best moment of my life. Now is the best time to make art, I thought. But, wait, then I had to wonder, is it also the best time to clean those icky drips off the surface of the cabinet. Does it make a difference which task I perform? I dunno. Right now I think I’ll just take some cleansing breaths. Right now I am aware that the dahlias are blooming by the studios. Spiders are spinning webs all over the place and there is a baby fish in the pond. ---- Update - I got the Etsy listings ready to drop - I'll let everyone know so you can have first access to the 'fun-sized' collection. Look for a discount coupon code as well. ;) Pictures below - Dahlias in front of 20 & 49 Newton st Studios and some of the fun sized work about to appear on Etsy.
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Personal Blogthis section is devoted to what's on my mind - and reflections of the process of being an artist and blogging about it. - Ann Heideman Archives
October 2021
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