"If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;"
This is an exerpt from "If". I used to read it on my grandma's fridge all the time, over and over. The words mezmerized me. They still do.
In painting, I meet with triumph and disaster daily. The creative process and the business of painting can be extreme experiences at times. The goal for me is just to stay steadfast.
Some days, getting out of bed is like being Wile E. Coyote falling from a mountaintop, smacking into a puff of dust on the ground.
But I get up, I thank God for the day, then curse as I walk to the bathroom, scratching myself. The dayjob is menial, but I'm thankful for it. All the crap going on around me takes it's toll, but whatever. I plod through. But when I walk into that studio, click on the lights and put on some Erik Satie, or Miles Davis, or pop music, or Elvis and start to work on a painting, I get lost. Art is like that sometimes for me: the focus is bliss. Thankfully, painting isn't just escapism; each successful painting is an arrow in the heart of my medioctrity. Each sale takes me one step closer to fulfilling goals. It's a big middle finger to the world that says "Artists never make money". Mwahahahahaaaa!
That poem on my gramma's fridge haunts my mind. Character is my greatest battle. (obviously.) Art and life are nothing in comparison. What really matters is being a man in the best sense of the word and being steadfast. Well, even if I never get there, (as though anyone really could!) Take what life dishes out and keep going.
Not triumphs nor disasters, ups nor downs, nor dreams, none of these are masters. Thinking is not an end unto itself, intelligence means very little... how much wisdom can be packed into one poem anyway? I'll have to thank my gramma when I see her next, on the other side. I bet she has a fridge there, too.
Liam
My eBay store
www.liamjonesfineart.com
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