Being Is Not a Luxury

"Being is not a luxury, it is a discipline".
 I read this today, and it really made an impression on me.

Most of us are caught up in doing, more, faster, better, and acquisition of position. This is what our culture supports.

I am grateful to be an artist because I think we tend to be introspective and we can have a sense of being in the moment. Our creative process can be meditative and methodical and slow. Being in a hurry doesn't always lend itself to the creative process, and sometimes less is more when it comes to creating art., and I'm not certain being a prolific artist necessarily makes us a better artist or a better human being.

As a women I have made a conscious effort not to be defined by what it is a do, and have taken steps to be in my own body, mind and soul to be a creative human being.

My freedom and my discipline doesn't depend on something or someone outside myself. In the past I didn't comprehended  or make a connection between these two words, or see that were directly related proportionally to my daily maintenance of my own discipline. I could have ever imagined that within discipline I would find freedom, not did I believe that real freedom meant the ability to be disciplined. Art and life taught me this lesson.

Defined by the historical male model and male defined patriarchal work world, that is production orientated, power-over and dominating, reinforces the myth that if we are not busy doing important work accordingly, society perceives those who are not "doing" that something, are individuals often seen as not measuring up, not outwardly validated and valueless. Feminine values of caring and relationship took second place to achievement of goals, but this model doesn't work well for women.

Perhaps it is thought that these individuals are just hangin' around doing nothing; being families, mothers, fathers, being poor, unemployed, marginalized, uneducated, being addicted, and being mentally and/or physically ill. I say this because I see how many women and people are undervalued for what they do. Monetarily they are not remunerated with equal pay, for work of equal value. Instead, they are discriminated against simply for being who they are. Those who are stigmatized and marginalized are not given nearly enough help, with a woeful lack of support and assistance within our institutions and services that are supposed to be available to help, by extending a hand up.

Learning to be, truly is not a luxury, but a discipline. 

Rise Up Singing

I woke up close to six a.m. this morning to glorious special program of all Gospel music, called, Rise Up Singing. I would have loved to have posted it for you to listen to, but I couldn't find it.

What a grand program to hear on this Good Friday. The first song I heard was the beautiful late Eva Cassidy sing an old hymn by Robert Wadsworth called, How Can I keep From Singing. Wow! I'd never hear it before. Here are the lyrics, and I've posted the video below.

My life goes on in endless song
above earth's lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
that hails a new creation.

Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear it's music ringing,
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?

While though the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
And though the darkness 'round me close,
songs in the night it giveth.

No storm can shake my inmost calm,
while to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of heaven and earth
how can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble sick with fear
and hear their death knell ringing,
when friends rejoice both far and near
how can I keep from singing?

No storm can shake my inmost calm,
while to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of heaven and earth
how can I keep from singing?

My life goes on in endless song
above earth's lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
How can I keep from singing?

How can I keep from singing?

In my morning fog I hoped to remember this song and all the other artists I heard, so I could do a search and share them with you. There were two other artists that stood out for me, that I'd not heard before. The first one was Sister Gertrude Morgan, a preacher and a folk artist from New Orleans who died in 1980. The video I have posted is a compilation of her songs and her art work. She would sing and perform on the streets of New Orleans and accompany herself on nothing but her tambourine. Interestingly a recording artist King Britt remixed her songs and music, producing a record, called Lets Make a Record, which I really like.
Sister Gertrude was what is known as a Prayer Warrior.



  



I love the Easter season and everything about it, both sorrow and happiness. Spring and Easter are early this year which works out just fine, being that there is still snow on the ground, and some nasty weather about. Easter and Spring always lift the spirit, after the long Winter and lack of light.

Solomon Burke has been called the best male gospel singer ever. His song, None of Us are Free is powerfully moving, and relevant to the world we live in today, because there are so many still not free and we need to raise our voice and keep on singing this message of hope until we are all free.

Anna Deavere Smith - " Be More Than Ready "

 

Anna Deavere Smith 

" Be more than ready. Be present in your discipline. Remember your gift. Be grateful for your gift and treat it like a gift. Cherish it, take care of it, and pass it on. Use your time to bathe yourself in that gift. Move your hand across the canvas. Go to museums. Make this into an obsession…
What you are will show, ultimately. Start now, every day, becoming, in your actions, your regular actions, what you would like to become in the bigger scheme of things. "

I learned about Anna Deavere Smith today, from a site I subscribe to called, Brain Pickings. I love this site because I always learn something about artists, people, psychology, and human behaviour etc.
Everyday we learn, whether we want to or not. It is especially wonderful and joyous to learn if you want to. Perhaps there are some who are unaware that they want to learn. Teaching ourselves, or being taught is discipline. There is no shame in admitting we don't know something, but it is vital that we have a desire and willingness to learn and not be fearful of what others will think of us. I believe it is false pride to not admit that we don't know about something.

Remembering my early life as a young girl, I am so grateful to my mother for the opportunity to study piano,  accordion and art. The fact I don't recall wanting to take piano, or accordion lessons isn't relevant, more important, is that the regular practice of lessons, and playing, helped immeasurably, because it gave me a discipline and later assisted me to apply it to many creative pursuits I wanted to immerse myself in, primarily in art, music, and writing.

Piano was a great foundation to start and to build from. This was not an easy endeavor, as other personal issues and concerns interrupted my ability to be disciplined. I began to think of discipline as a dirty word, and associated it with something I had to do, and it was going to be an unpleasant experience, because I didn't want to do it.

 Thankfully, I always returned to creativity, where I would tap into that discipline, and it eventually enabled me to understand freedom, through discipline. I began to really connect with what makes me happy, what my gifts were,  immersing myself in creative activity and practicing my art in a disciplined way.
 It's a great feeling to know and understand discipline, having learned this without my knowledge at an early age. Grateful thanks to my mother for helping me to understand the importance of discipline in creativity, helping me to find my way, and letting me be who I am, an artist.


 “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
― Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island

Is Discipline A Dirty Word?

I had a lovely lunch with my, kind, creative, friend yesterday and we had a great discussion about creativity. We talked about staying on task, allowing ourselves enough time and discipline to be creative and to actively produce art work.

Growing up, discipline for me was a rather dirty word, in that I thought, surely in order to be really disciplined you couldn't possible equate this with having fun or enjoyment. Oh how wrong I was, and fortunately I don't think this way anymore and after many years, I have come  know that within discipline there is much freedom to be found. Not that I still don't struggle with daily habitual discipline, believe me I do. Yes, sometimes I entertain thoughts of sitting with my thumb up my arse! My apologies to those not used to my Maritime use of the word arse...it's just a word we like to use!

The relationship, ideas of and between discipline and freedom is different for each individual I'm sure. Personally, discipline enables me to achieve my goals, to become a happier, healthier and better human being and to begin to really understand the meaning of freedom, and who I am as an individual, which I believe is a life long learning process, because we are always trying to improve our skills and grow as creative people.
It's difficult to articulate and I'm certain there are many folks who can do a far better job at articulating, and I would love to hear from any of you who are inclined to do so.
I intend to do some further in depth reading on this subject as it has come up a number of times in my conversations with others.


 Lori Woodward Simon had some very helpful and relevant points to make in her blog article, Freedom VS. Self Discipline: The Professional Artist Struggle.

Free Wheeling - Sue Austin

Many years ago I had the opportunity to acquire my SCUBA certification. Initially when the idea was presented to me, I was far from enthusiastic and made excuses why I couldn't possibly undertake such a thing. Basically, I was afraid of the unknown. However reticent, I agreed to enroll in this intensive course through the Canadian Military. I was rigorously challenged to face and overcome my fears both  physically and mentally, upgrading my swimming skills and performing numerous exercises and drills in the pool.

When it came time to do our open water dive and ocean dive I was absolutely amazed and taken back by the beauty and feeling of freedom I suddenly found myself in, and an otherworldly environment. I was completely enraptured with this underwater world and it changed me in many ways for the better.

My brother suffered most of his life with multiple sclerosis. In spite of his illness he had the ability to live life with courage, compassion and love, thriving in the face of fear and difficulty. He was my mentor and example. Most of all he was my hero. I strive to live my life with such strength of character and grace.

In this video you will see an incredible person and artist, Sue Austin whom I believe exhibits the same strength of character that my brother had. I know you will be as spellbound and moved as I was when I first saw it. 

Just Continue to Create and Out of This Comes More Creativity

I didn't get one bit of drawing or painting done yesterday. I just concentrated on getting those letters out to the Herald and the Ombudsman and got my dishes washed. I did finish the rest of the chapter in my book Woman That Run With The Wolves, about Manawee and so I am completely ready to start my painting. I have no more excuses. 

I have done three paintings in four days, so I am not going to be too hard on myself. I think in the back and even in the forefront of my mind, I am always trying to push myself with my painting. I have learned that it is important to just continue to create. Out of this comes more creativity. I've struggled over the years with discipline in different areas of life. I always associated it with being forced to do something I didn't want to do, and if I didn't want to do it, I wasn't going to do it.  No body was going to make me do something I didn't want to do, not even myself! I was stubborn, pig headed and out of control, now I'm just stubborn, as hard as that is to admit.

Over the years of hard lessons learned, I came to realize being an artist means you must have discipline, not necessarily because you have to, but because you want to, and through discipline comes freedom. I never equated or related discipline and freedom with one another, but I certainly do now. It's a fabulous feeling of freedom when I am painting, and especially when I complete a painting, and am satisfied with the outcome. I think I am addicted to this feeling. There are far worse addictions I know being in recovery myself for 17 years, and for this I am grateful.

Growing up in a single parent family after the age of 13, I was not one to understand the meaning of the word discipline. It might as well have been a dirty word to me. I really did not think of it as being something you chose because you wanted to, but rather it was imposed and forced upon you out of fear, or obligation, because you had to.

I was an out of control teenager that was not about to do what I was told, nor was I interested in doing any thing that did not resemble fun. Pretty typical you might say, but I was very troubled emotionally and looking to escape reality which was any thing but fun.

Fortunately I had the opportunity to be exposed to the discipline of learning to play the piano and the accordion, practiced yoga and weight training which I certainly am grateful for today, as it gave me a good foundation of social skills and a glimpse into the satisfaction that comes from working toward a completed accomplishment of some kind, and to find out what it was I really wanted to learn and do.

Yesterday I finished up my last remaining University project and handed it in. This also marked the completion of my third year, as a mature Fine Art student. It was hard work psychologically, more than any thing I'd say. I had to have a determined attitude in order to complete this project and my third year because I had a number of potentially serious obstacles to over come and deal with. It wasn't really any thing to overcome when I think about the kind of struggles and hurdles so many others have to deal with on a daily basis, regardless it was my own personal struggle and I learned another worthwhile lesson about discipline and the rewarding freedom and satisfaction that accompanies it.

I am very grateful to my wonderful Professors, my peers, fellow students and cubby buddies. I want to say a big thank you to you all! They have supported, encouraged, challenged and guided me, made me laugh when I felt like crying, and gave me a hand up.

I am so looking forward to my final and fourth year!

Discipline is Freedom

"The undisciplined man doesn't wrong himself alone
he sets fire to the whole world."

Rumi

Thoughts On Drawing

Canadian Artist, Alison Norlen is, I think addicted to drawing. This is not a bad addiction to have, in my opinion. The foundation of a good painting, it is said, and I do believe, is a good drawing. The scale of Alison Norlen's monumental drawings are inspiring, remarkable and staggering to me. She is fearless, in that she is not intimidated by size, challenging herself in the task of creating huge detailed renderings. She freely and easily moves into sculptural and architectural like constructions which are just as impressive if not more so considering what the three dimensional sculpture entails, when it comes to large scale art work. Her passion for drawing extends beyond the two dimensional and is transformed into sculpture and can be seen as a continuum of the drawn line.

Drawing for me has always been is a foundational corner stone of the creative process and the benefits of it transcends, extends into greatly informing other art disciplines and practices. Drawing is a natural and inherent expression to create that we are all born with, and I believe as an artist I need to stay grounded in, in order to thrive creatively regardless of what medium I choose to express myself in.

As an artist and a musician, I would compare drawing to learning to play the piano. Learning the piano is a foundational instrument that gives you the ability to apply practical, theoretical and musical skills, to make it easier to learn and enable one to become accomplished at playing other instruments.

Like the piano, drawing is a discipline that helped me learn that discipline is not something that can be imposed and done through force or obligation and cannot be the reason for the practice. At some point, one has to decide the reason you do it. It must be because you want to do it, and the result is a freedom, to create and accomplish more, and not being afraid to make mistakes.

Preoccupation or being precious about what we create is constricting and limits us as artists and people. Involving ourselves in the free creative process is where we find the creativity to create and change.

“Like Vegas; you tear it down, you rebuild it, and it still has some of the grime. That ever-changing element is how we live; it’s how we conduct ourselves in our environment. We have to constantly compromise and change and, perhaps, be disappointed.”

- Alison Norlen