Step by Step

Illustration Friday:  Fresh

I am at a loss as to what the best metaphor is for what the past few days have been like for me.  Have I turned a corner?  Am I diving deeper?  Have I taken a wild leap forward?  Am I blossoming?  I actually believe it is a much simpler experience.  It is just me continuing to move forward and stay true to my priorities, my vision, my goals and my heart.  It is just me doing whatever I can to make each step count.

I tend to falter the most when I am not focused.  Without specific direction and tools to get there, I float here and there, perhaps having fun and getting a few things done, but hardly living up to my potential.  It is becoming apparent to me that I have been in denial about the difficulties of working at home alone, thinking that because I have been doing it for a decade now, all must be well.  In facing the negative cycles I have been repeating this past year and finally deciding to take action to deal with them, I see certain patterns.  I see issues that I have ignored, or perhaps wasn't even aware of.  Either way, I am beginning to solve certain puzzles.

Beyond the details lies the most important clue:  that I am an artist.  Sounds obvious, but for various reasons I find myself trying to run away from this at times out of guilt, fear or feeling like I need to live up to someone else's expectations or definitions of success.  How powerful voices and beliefs other than our own can be sometimes.  Actually, how powerful we often allow those other voices and beliefs to be.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous. Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small does not serve the world." -Nelson Mandela

Comments

[Swirly]

This is a woman from a book I have called "Japanese Beauties", and the stamps are from Japan. I collected stamps as a kid and somehow the collection managed to stay with me all these years, so now I use them in my collages.

[oinker's art]

Is she japanese?
these Stamps are seem to be old japanese stamps which I rememmber.

[kelly]

morning girly...
hope all is well on the west coast.
middle indiana is quickly turning to
fall. the night moon has been just
brilliant. this is my favorite time
of year. thanks for mandela quote. i
am going to print it off and put it up
all over my house. the kids love it when
mommy trys to be inspirational. we have a
family here who went on sabatical and are on
a cruise to clean up different areas in the
carribean. they got to meet desmond tutu and
his wife at a reception. how exciting....
have a great week

[Marilyn]

Years ago, someone gave me that Mandela quote on a large, bright piece of paper. I loved it...and posted it up in the cubicle where I was temping at the time. Years later I learned that Mandela didn't say it...Marianne Williamson did. She even addresses it on the front page of her site at www.marianne.com. They are powerful words indeed, and she's written many...I truly love her books. And it's so true--it's not only that others have voices they try to impose on us--it's that we ALLOW those other voices to have power over us. I was already in my mid-30's before I realized that one 'loop' I had running through my head wasn't even my voice...it was someone else's! Sounds like you're doing deep and meaningful work.

[Holly]

This is a great piece that shouts fresh renewal. You are talented and this is fabulous!

[anj]

There is a sense of happy renewal in this piece. The colors, pink and green, are fresh / refreshing. Lovely.

[Anontmous]

Genius - your image is brilliant, gorgeous and talented :)This very fresh - we should all try to hold onto that freshness.