108/365: The Art of Getting Lost

experiments with acrylic paint application: brayer roller,
hardware store bristle brush, foam brush, palette knife

Today I made:

peace with the lost feeling...

"To be creative is to become more familiar with the sense of being a little LOST. If we are always full of what we want to do, there is no room for the new."
                                  ~Michell Cassou

This quote found me tonight, probably because I so badly needed it. I had some uninterrupted time in my art space and I was determined to make progress on my calendar pages. No such luck. Sometimes I find my way early on in a piece of art. Other times (today!) I move paint around for ages and nothing comes of it. I have to remind myself that moving paint around is proving to be very therapeutic during stressful times and, if anything, I create a background for layering mixed media. But it's still frustrating. I just have to let go of the idea that I will produce a brilliant piece of art in each session. That's not how it works. Darn!

I have days in my art space when I am full of what I want to do. My muse is cooperating and things are flowing smoothly. These moments are amazing and often keep me afloat for a while. But the days of feeling lost and uninspired are inevitable. It's an ebb and flow. As a blossoming artist, I'm struggling to learn not to let those "lost" days squash my excitement for art making. I'm beginning to accept them as part of the process.

Being lost is necessary at times. It forces us to push ourselves to try new things and to seek out new inspirations. Creativity is innovation. In order to innovate, we sometimes need to step off the obvious path and lose ourselves to wild winding roads of possibility. Being lost motivates us to find a way through! It is this way in life as well. We sometimes have to lose our way (in a relationship, on our career path, in our beliefs) to spark a need to reflect, reassess, ask questions, revise our methods, make changes and GROW.

I am becoming a firm believer that one of the best ways to find yourself is to get lost. Honor your wrong turns in art and in life. They will lead you to new discoveries.