Showing Up
Lately I’ve been on a search for quotables, since one of my painting teachers has us start our weekly class by going around the room and saying an inspirational quote. My quote from the other week came from a yoga workshop that I had done earlier in the month. The teachers from this workshop suggested incorporating yoga, meditation and writing or making art in some sort of ritual or practice to get the creative juices flowing and to give yourself the time and space to create.
At one point in the class, one of the teachers, named Nick Krieger said, “It’s easy to show up when we are at our best, but what a practice asks of us is to show up when we are at our worst. Eventually the distinction between the two fades away and all that remains is showing up. This is where art lives.”
I felt like I had a day like that today in the studio. I started with a bunch of sketches that I wasn’t that into, but then when I got back into the subject matter I was excited about (painting the Oakland Ports) things just started flowing.
