Delightful guests! How can one resist those chattering, provocative individuals who spark a room with their wit and knowledge? So what is the problem? They bring the pleasure of new information, company, and good cheer. Yet as they wave goodby the energy consumed keeping up with them is the exact same energy which would have been spent on a painting or other creative endeavor. Balance is needed but how to achieve it? Social obligations suck up the time available for thinking and the day is fractured. Now comes the effort to get back in the creative groove. I loved the visit, and the fresh berry pie and the smiles and hugs. Yes, they were a huge reward. Yet now I cannot find the thread leading to a resolution of the color dilemma this set of dried palm fans poses as they sit in the corner of my studio. Is this the “right” blue for that yellow? Perhaps I should change the yellow? Add a bit of orange or a piercing yellow-green? Does it really matter so much which blue goes with which yellow? YES! YES! The two together will either sparkle or thud and I am the one responsible for picking the one which will sparkle. If I hit the magic combination there will be exhilaration and a pleasant feeling of “rightness.” If I miss that combination there will be deflation and grim determination to try again … and again … and again. Another chance to get it right. Thanks the Gods there are always chances. There is randomness and there is serendipity and we need a fine mixture of the two. Now here is an interesting thing … some artists like to flit between this and that … each project adds something to the other. If you persist in doing a project when the time is not right it is like walking across a muddy clay field … every step adds a bit of clay to the soles of your feet until you have a heavy platform shoe and you cannot go forward. The lesson the artist learns, over time and trial, is to let it flow and to lessen the tight control which is so tempting. Serendipity is splendid … let it roll over us in productive waves.
Mary P Williams 
Leave a Reply