since then, i've been taking time to consider what comes next...listening to my heart, allowing the ideas to flow around me, trusting that i will be able to discern the right direction. i've been looking through the quilts that still live with me, honoring them as i reflect on all they've taught me. and now...
i'm letting go.
it's exhilarating and frightening at the same time. much like jumping off a cliff i suppose. the committee is back in action, questioning my desire for change just when i'm realizing a modicum of "success". oh the ego..."how can you do that now???" it sputters...
because i have to. i do the work for me.
perhaps people will be interested and keep following me, but perhaps they won't. i'm okay with that. i love praise and accolades as much as anyone, and i hope there will be folks who appreciate it and maybe even buy it, but all that has nothing to do with why i do the work.
nothing.
anyway, i'm taking things slowly, and, since i knew i wanted to change it, designed the new banner for my etsy shop last night:
the little line below the banner that had read "small art quilts : : made fresh daily" has been changed to "small works of art : : small leaps of faith".
this banner more accurately reflects my process, as i work in silence most days. the change to "small leaps of faith" acknowledges the trust that is required of me each day as i climb the 35 stairs to my studio.
part of me wants to dive head into some new work, but i don't feel ready. it's more a need to busy than creative i think.
outside my window it is snowing, but there are the teensiest of buds appearing on the trees.
the landscape reflects how i'm feeling. as the earth warms and quickens, i want to savor this time of gestating. i want to breathe in the possibilities, confident that wonderful things will come if i just give them the space they need until they are ready to be born...
: : karen anne
I understand...I think. Don't want to assume too much. The challenge you set has been met and it is time to move on to the next.
ReplyDeleteI am so amazed by the commitment it took to make a small quilt a day for a year...not a week or a month, but a whole year. Not sure I could do that. What I can and will do is continue to stop by to see what you're up to. See what small works of art are created next. Good luck!
Oh, do keep popping in, please! Any encouragement is soooo welcomed!
DeleteI know this place....I'm there too. It's a place that requires trust in yourself and in the slow unfolding. I so recognize that inner conversation that questions your desire to let go now, just when there is affirmation coming more steadily from outside. But, in a way, that really changes nothing....or it changes everything. You make the work, as I do, for yourself ultimately. Once you stop that process....it's not the same work anymore. Every day we must trust....and give ourselves permission. I so admire your dedication to the process! Cheers, Patti
ReplyDeleteIt's a challenge to keep The Committee at bay...
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