I don’t know… sometimes making work is really hard and sometimes it’s really easy.  I mean- as an artist, our job is to communicate visually whether it’s an event in time, a concept we care about, or to stretch one’s imagination.  As artists we develop and essentially invent a language unique to us and we figure out a way for someone else to understand what we are saying.  We are visual linguists, inventors even.

So in my current “invention”, I am going out of my mind trying to figure out how I will be understood.  I have been (non-visually) whining all weekend because really- creating new “words” or “visual concepts” is incredibly trying.  But I remind myself that people are smart when they want to be and if I rely on their humanity, they will get it.  Me on the other hand, well, I need a little inspiration just to get there.

So yesterday, inspiration came in the form of a gorgeous little meal at Thai Thai and the sun setting over good ol’ BF (Banana Factory).  It’s funny how inspiration hits us however in this little piece I have been struggling with- I’m thinking about how hope is epitomized and essentially I have concluded it is a type of metaphorical movement, an ascension, which indicates momentum for change.  I find hope to be positive and something we can get a little “hot and bothered” over.  I watched Adriano eat a ridiculous amount of hot pepper on his food yesterday at Thai Thai for the simple reason that he loves the hotness but also wasn’t feeling so hot himself (sorry to talk about you here, A)… so he induced a momentum to change.  It’s a simple change but yet that small shift can affect the rest of one’s day.  I love that “ripple in the pond” thing and it’s one thing to remember as each moment is embraced throughout a day.  This one little thing is all part of the larger picture- even if it’s just pepper.  Isn’t that great!

The next thing I saw as I grudgingly left the studio, disappointed in my progress, is the sky.  It was absolute divinity.  And thinking about how such beauty can arrive from virtually anywhere I really begin to think about divinity within us.  Hope (or any emotion for that matter) is really is something that we create ourselves.  It comes from our needs, thoughts emotions feelings and it’s incredible how that wells up within us and can change as often as we can change our perspective.  I have been obsessed with weather and my schedule lately because I want to go to the beach before the end of the season.  It doesn’t seem to be cooperating however the cool thing is that weather changes so frequently and all it needs is a temperature shift, a jet stream, an influx of moisture etc to morph into a brand new thing.  When we look at the sky, it seems like it is the home of divinity however when thinking about it, really we are so similar.  Our moods change, our physical being shifts, which all impacts what we think or even do… see the theme- ripple in the pond!  I love thinking that we all are, in fact, divine creatures. 

So I’m not sure where I’m really at in the studio.  But I’m trying to remind myself of the little- “non art but all about art” lessons I realized for myself yesterday.  Sometimes really it does require not being around art to understand what, why and how to make something.  Yes, inspiration comes in weird ways…

(this one’s for you, superstar.  thank you for letting me whine.)