Doing the New

Posted on | December 3, 2009 |

Ah, the artist’s life—so many challenges and uncertainties!  I had a wonderful chat this morning with two artist friends about just that.  We work away and art always presents us with the brilliant challenge of going where no one else has gone. That’s thrilling but we never know what will happen later. Will we sell our work or not? Will it mean anything to anyone but us?  Were we right in our perceptions or so far out in left field that no-one can make any sense of what we’ve done? We have to ask these hard questions.

One woman this morning told the story of how her mother had written a brilliant book and several publishers had rejected it.  Not right, they said, and each had a different reason why. Her mother gave up.  So sad. Artists aren’t here to defer to authority—we are the authority, at least for the authenticity of our own work. We need to know that and carry on even in the face of discouragement.  All artists encounter obstacles—everyone does. But what do we do in the face of discouragement?  Our decision determines whether we will live fully or recline on the couch for the rest of our days.

I remember being discouraged at various points in my career. I had thoughts like “This doesn’t matter to anyone” or “I’ll never get to where I want to go” or “I do all this work and it just goes nowhere.”  None of these thoughts was accurate. The first one because the work did matter, to me, at least—I loved doing it and it gave me energy and insight.  The second is a little ill-conceived because we might well not conceive the perfect scenario for our lives and might better trust in and yield to the synergy of life to determine where we might go.  What if where we are is perfect?  I think it might be! And, finally, like Winston Churchill, I do believe that if we persevere with whatever we are called to do it will take us where we are meant to be.

Later this morning, I had another conversation.  Someone said to me that we can’t succeed because we haven’t done this already and therefore we really ought to play it safe. In other words—let’s not take any chances!  The artist’s job is to go where we haven’t gone before—that’s what it is to be creative.  So, onwards, dear artists.  And take heart!

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