I was asked the other day how I know when a piece is finished? Head? Intuition? I’m not really sure – but I get to a point where I just know. Maybe at the point where I’m willing to show it to someone else? I think sculptures are easier to know when they are finished. Paintings / mixed media – I can see how it would be easy to slip into overdoing it.
Overall, I think it’s very intuitive. A feeling- peace or contentment in relation to the piece. Of readiness.
The creative joy of knowing that nothing can be said to be ‘wrong’ because you are just ‘seeing what happens if…’
As much as my work is tied to and expresses feelings, a lot of it is also the joy of trying something new just to see what happens and how it feels. I don’t really know what I am or am not supposed to do with materials, or technique, so I just try. It isn’t always good – sometimes I think it would be nice to know how to do some things without needing to experiment at every step, but mostly there’s a sense of mystery and surprise, an excitement / expectation about what might be discovered and what the result might be. It doesn’t always work – ‘work’ as defined by my gut instinct of what I deem to be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ art. But even ‘bad’ art often offers another idea to follow. Or sometimes, like this week, it simply feels good not worrying about how the end product looks. Rather it is the feeling of moving the pastel around the page, the swiftness, the change of colours, the randomness, the childlike joy of it, and of not assessing my actions every step of the way. Perhaps this says more about my personality than anything else – my ability to actively and constantly review and critic everything I do before I do the thing, as I do the thing, and after I’ve done the thing is very well developed. Maybe it is simply that break that my brain / soul needs, even momentarily. Maybe that is why I often try new things because it’s a choice to not assess what has come before but just to see what happens.
And yet there are both themes and materials I return to again and again – so there is obviously a familiarity. I thought this might be for different reasons but maybe it too is for a similar one, just at the opposite end of the scale. These too are things I can do without much inner critique because I do have some idea of the end result and something about the process and end result resonate within me.
Two opposing ideas, perhaps two sides of the same desire? A process I’ve managed to separate from the judgmental side of myself, and instead I simply engage in it.
This is a beautiful psalm.
This is the Psalm to read when we forget who God is.
When we put God in a small God-box
When we forget God’s impact on the world. When we feel unsafe and unsure.
But the last two verses are difficult.
V10 – God’s majesty and then
V11 – God’s ability to influence us.
But we don’t always feel it, know him, experience this.
Why is peace so hard to come by? Do we stop ourselves ‘knowing’ (feeling / living?) God’s peace? How do I do this?
