monday musings…An Artist’s Work

“seeking the light”
© 2007 kelly angard

Almost every Monday, I leave my studio at some point during the day and head to Starbucks where I write my “Monday Musings” post. I do this because my mind seems to clear of it’s usual thought processes the minute I change environments; ideas/topics somehow find their way to the surface with ease.

But today, it just didn’t happen. I went to Starbucks…and goodness knows, I wrote (pages and pages!)…but a viable idea/topic just didn’t surface. Sure, I filled pages with words…but in my mind, there’s “reporting” and then there’s “writing”, i.e., having something to say. And I prefer to post the latter…

I’d like to believe that the absence of brilliant content (ha!) in today’s post is because I ran into a few familiar faces; it’s always easy to blame lack of focus on distractions…but the fact of the matter is that today, I couldn’t put together a cohesive paragraph for the life of me!!!

Sure, I could go back in my journal and transcribe something I wrote last week or even last month…but why? What value would that be to anyone…especially myself? (Because here in my crafty little world, I am the queen of my own kingdom which means it’s all about me!) Seriously though, looking to the past for today’s post just doesn’t seem right or real…so I’d rather just be honest and tell those of you who do read my blog posts that today, I just don’t have “it”…but I am still putting pen to paper (and fingers to keyboard).

There’s a great quote on the wall of my studio which I believe speaks specifically to days like today:

Work…one of my favorite four-letter words. I think that our “work’ is not necessarily what we do on our good days…rather I think the “work” is what we do on the days when we feel like we just don’t have “it”; when ideas aren’t flowing and all we see around us are too many pieces of art that still need to be finished.

I believe that these are the days we need to give ourselves an extra serving of patience and have faith that somehow, we will find our way through the creative wasteland…and instead of giving in to frustration and apathy, we face the challenge head on, and sit down and write or paint or whatever we do when we create. Who knows what might happen? Maybe we’ll sit down without a thought of what to say or do and something good will come out of it…because whenever we embark on a creative journey, we rarely end up in the same place that we started.

monday musings…One for the Road

© 2006 kelly angard

My monday musing is being posted on Tuesday this week because of a sick child at home yesterday…such is life sometimes! :)

When was the last time you said to yourself, “Some day I’d really like to…(fill in the blank)”? How long ago did you state your dream? Have you done the thing you’ve dreamed of doing? Whether you have or not, we all have dreams; things we think about, long for and dream about doing…
if only we had the time.
if only we were good enough.
if only we had enough money.
if only we were younger…blah, blah, blah.

Tell those things to Burt Munro, and he’d probably pat you on the back, look up at the sky and give a quiet, little chuckle. And then, with his utterly engaging yet humble personality, he’d ask you, “What were those reasons again?”

I rented the movie The World’s Fastest Indian which stars Anthony Hopkins this past weekend. To be honest, I wasn’t all that excited to see it; the title didn’t really speak to me and I hadn’t seen the trailer, but I love Sir Anthony. He always brings so much depth to the characters he plays, so I thought I’d give it a chance…and I am so glad that I did.

This small independent film is one of those cinematic treasures…one of those true stories which stays with you for days, sitting at the edge of your consciousness, reminding you of the dreams you have yet to fulfill..

The basic premise of the film is about a real-life New Zealander named Burt Munro, who spent 25 years fine tuning a 1920 Indian motorcycle with hopes of setting a land speed record on it. In 1967, at 68 years old, he risks everything…including his life…to achieve his dream. But this movie is so much more than that…it’s so much more than a man who is driven by a passion for speed or about following his dream.

It is about believing in oneself, no matter what others say…
…it’s about knowing one’s truth and only having to look inside one’s self to believe it
…it’s about not knowing the outcome, but enjoying every step of the journey
…it’s about inspiring others without any intent of being an inspiration
…it’s about the difference of living a life and being truly alive
…it’s about being fearless

Utterly fearless. Burt explains the reasons behind his fearless nature in an exchange with a young neighbor boy:

Tom: Aren’t you scared you’ll kill yourself if you crash?
Burt Munro: No… You live more in five minutes on a bike like this going flat out than some people live in a lifetime.

Sounds like the power of now to me; a deep understanding of what it means to truly live in the moment. So now you can probably understand why I love and am recommending this movie…I mean, how could one not love watching a true story about a person who openly embraced and experienced the power of now?

Oh…and here’s one more for the road…for your week…enjoy it. Live it.