The Importance of Creative Endeavors

 As life in our society becomes more and more stressful these days, the human body becomes an anxious being. I have seem countless acquaintances and loved ones slip into an anxious disfunction and lose themselves in the process by being overwhelmed with stress. I have seen myself do this many times, and find myself focusing on the wrong things in life and procrastinating what really needs my attention. I lose myself in obsessive compulsions and begin organizing a cabinet, when I really should be making phone calls for work or obsessing about minor details in mundane things that consume me. This anxious energy comes from my creative process being stifled and becomes a viscous cycle that stifles my creative process even further.

    With the recent opposition of planetary influences, I have seen many people I know get caught up in this cycle too. I see bright, creative individuals stop creating, and get stuck, as they anxiously over-analyze their relationships and destroy them, or form new OCDs like hoarding, nervous ticks, extreme dieting, and compulsive-exercising.

     What I notice in all of us when this happens, is that we are all going through something huge in our lives, and to divert our attention from what is really stressful to deal with, we develop these compulsions to feel as if we are accomplishing something more. It gives us a false sense of control and security when we focus on these attainable and self-fulfilling goals. We might be accomplished, as we end up with really clean houses or super skinny, or with really cluttered spaces full of too much stuff.  What we are doing though, is avoiding, and are creating this cycle of procrastination fueled by and fueling anxiety.

Keeping myself solvent and sane by creating art.

     However, when we put this energy towards creative tasks or creative lifestyles, this anxiety is not fed, but is energy converted. This energy becomes something that is put into form that has purpose and not wasted on vain pursuits. Not everyone has this creative flow, as some people are good in non-creative environments and can thrive sorting mail daily or cutting lawns, but for those of us who love to create, it is essential to utilize this energy that we are blessed with and not waste it.

     What I have discovered about myself is that I have to prioritize creativity in my life. If I find myself devoting my time to something that requires no creativity, I get anxious. I need to create all of the time. Whether I am creating wonderful dishes to feed my family, writing poetry and fiction, or having the creative career that I have, I need that to keep solvent and sane! If I don't, I end up an anxious mess!

A Patient Science in Every Process

      The biggest reason I have chosen a creative path in my life is that I love the science that is involved in every process and toll that I take on. When I work with learning something requiring the scientific method and difficult, like metal, for instance, I challenge myself to learn more than the actual process. With many conversions and chemical reactions to practice and learn and I learn to approach each artwork with care and serious patience.   Not only is a new challenge rewarded, but patience is perfected. I also reach a meditative state when entering my zone where I perfect my medium and become part of the piece when in that place of peace.

     To learn any creative process takes time; that applies to anything in life. A baby isn't just born, it gestates and with that gestation, comes a perfectly formed creation. A person doesn't just grow up, they take years to learn a grow and find themselves. Nothing worthwhile is instant. You can't just decide you are proficient at any medium, there is a long process of development involved.

     Lately, I have become very impatient with my own creative process, my art and my hands, especially. My entire body has been going through a rebuilding process and work has been turtle slow. Everything takes me longer now and I have to patiently work my way back to where I was. I want to just be able to walk into my studio, work a few hours, and have a piece done and ready for sale. NOPE! My works take many days, weeks and even months to complete and I just want to skip the whole testing part altogether and get to the end....but again, nothing comes easy. I have to be even more tolerant than usual and rebuild my patience.

     The only way I am going to overcome that impatience is to challenge it. So, I entered myself into a contest recently. What better way is there to challenge myself than with a little healthy competition, eh??? I chose for this competition, a very difficult process; one that will instill in me the renewed patience that I so need. In the past few weeks, I have been toiling away, testing and re-testing, sampling each variety of medium and found the perfect ones with which to work. I chose batik on china silk...seriously challenging!

Color testing with dyes.

     Once the science part started, I was immediately excited, and fervor re-entered my space. I bought all new dyes, fabrics and waxes and did several dozen tests to be sure I had the right combination of those to get the perfect texture, colour, pattern, and transparency. The results were fun, I learned new techniques, and I re-charged my patience.

6 of 24 wax and dye samples

           After weeks of patiently practicing, I set myself up with the super nice silk to finally do my final work for the contest. After choosing the right fabric, wax and color combination, and patterns, I spent another week on the final piece. I got a little frustrated towards the end of the process, as the deadline encroached and I was often interrupted with friends stopping by or kidnapping me to go to rock concerts, but after a difficult last minute push and an over-nighter post Elton John, I made the submission deadline within minutes! I also submitted a pretty cool piece. (Now, if I can just win that $5000!)

When looking at the results of my persistence, I come to a place of serenity within my art. Although, not my usual medium of metal, and certainly not my typical design work, as I had to conform to contest design guidelines, I am rather pleased with what I learned from this project.

Jordan Winery Contest piece "Hibiscus and Citrus Notes" 

     Anyone can say that they can do something, but to practice and be persistent with something to perfection just confirms that the journey is more valuable than the destination and better results are obtained when one takes the time to learn all there is to learn about something before diving in.