So many things to say! But I'm having anxiety today so I'm gonna try to be brief. (lol we'll see how that goes 😅)
1st - congratulations on your art cover! So cool!
2nd when you explained how you saw "Tohu and Bohu, two mischievous pointy-eared hobgoblins" and what those words mean, I recognized them IMMEDIATELY as my childhood, imaginary friend/s, Dubba and Durr. They were really one being who could split into 2 smaller beings. That way they could sit on my shoulders if they wanted to. So, they were invisible (to everyone but me of course), shape-shifting, mischievous, pointy-eared, hobgoblins. And the fact that the words mean 'formless' and 'chaos' only confirms that they were the same entity/ies. So, that's exciting for me because you just validated their existence in my childhood. How many adult children get to experience that??
3rd - the Void you mentioned reminded me of my favorite quote, which I usually reserve for times when I see others becoming so obsessed with fighting others or a cause, that they fail to see they're behaving in the exact same manners they're trying to stop others from doing.
HOWEVER, the same idea can be applied to "obsessing" (more like focusing on, surrounding yourself with) what you DO want to do/be.
“Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” ~ Nietzsche
You become what you feed your attention to.
Who we hang out with, we begin to mirror... and/or influence or inspire.
4. There's a place I know of that somewhat resembles the Void, or at least a space created specifically where you can interact with it. Maybe you've heard of it — it's called, 'The Open Room - Making Art Together'. Let me know if you're interested, I'll send you the link. 😜😄🥰
5. I think I just realized, maybe the numbering of points helps to keep things more brief. I hope I can remember that! lol
Your writing is wonderful and thought provoking and memory stirring. Thank you!
I’m in a Void now and struggling as to whether I can paint at all. My mother died in mid-May. I had left my home and gone her side in another state and stayed there for over five months. Two weeks after she passed, I hung a solo show, then another the following month at a different gallery and then began the complex and sometimes overwhelming process of curating a large works show in another city. I have two exhibitions set for next Spring and I cannot make work!! I’m burnt out, sick of myself and my inability to paint anything of quality. I do feel like a fraud. My current efforts have wormy noodles all over them; cartoonish and nothing like what I typically paint. They are childish, simple, and they embarrass me and yet, that’s all I can do at this time. I’m leaving one gallery at the end of the year so I will have no obligation to produce. The idea hurts my ego but I need the mental and emotional space. This blog article has given me some hope that I’ll get there. Thank you so much, Helen.
Well first I am so very sorry for your recent loss. That’s a lot right there all by itself. But add to that a move of home and three shows successfully navigated one after the other in the teeth of caring/bereavement- let’s just pause there and give you a massive round of applause! There’s no fraud going on there. Nor is there now. There is humanity, a recognition that we all have a certain capacity and that all the scraping of the barrel we like will not produce more than human amounts of physical and emotional energy. It’s not that you can’t paint just that your resources to do so got spent elsewhere a d you need to put some deposits back in your energy bank account. You need to replenish and there is zero to be embarrassed about in that. I love that even in the face of all this you are actually still expressing yourself and letting those worms come. I’m imagining the visual equivalent for you of those massive loud, detoxing open mouth sighs yoga teachers have you do. Nothing pretty about the sound of those but so necessary and healing. And the start of building a new capacity for a different pose. Your art will come back. For now, rest, replenish. That’s your work. And know your art community is along side you x
I appreciate your continuing exploration of keeping empty space, leaving empty space, and trusting the empty space. Far better to have faith that good things will arise from the mysterious emptiness than to wander for 40 years in the desert of unbelief.
So beautifully expressed! I'm in a void myself right now, though I've thought of them more as "rest phases" of my larger creative cycles. I love your imagery for this creative state, it makes it feel more expansive and generative.
That’s interesting Monette as I have been thinking about all the stages in the cycle and particularly how rest plays in. In the creation myth rest is actually the perfection at the end of the creative phase but of course if you repeat the cycle it gives direct way to the void at the beginning! I suspect very hard to see where one ends the other beginnings but as I observe myself I think I sense that change as a restlessness and growing desire to make again.
I really love your description of the void. I am just learning to be in it instead of filling it with activities. It used to make me uncomfortable, I was impatient to move on. I am now in my fifties and feel the need to be alone at times, to slow down, let the world speak to me. I discovered painting, but often feel uninspired and try to hurry it along which only leads to frustration. Because I resist what is. I am learning to enjoy it 🙂. Thank you again.
So many things to say! But I'm having anxiety today so I'm gonna try to be brief. (lol we'll see how that goes 😅)
1st - congratulations on your art cover! So cool!
2nd when you explained how you saw "Tohu and Bohu, two mischievous pointy-eared hobgoblins" and what those words mean, I recognized them IMMEDIATELY as my childhood, imaginary friend/s, Dubba and Durr. They were really one being who could split into 2 smaller beings. That way they could sit on my shoulders if they wanted to. So, they were invisible (to everyone but me of course), shape-shifting, mischievous, pointy-eared, hobgoblins. And the fact that the words mean 'formless' and 'chaos' only confirms that they were the same entity/ies. So, that's exciting for me because you just validated their existence in my childhood. How many adult children get to experience that??
3rd - the Void you mentioned reminded me of my favorite quote, which I usually reserve for times when I see others becoming so obsessed with fighting others or a cause, that they fail to see they're behaving in the exact same manners they're trying to stop others from doing.
HOWEVER, the same idea can be applied to "obsessing" (more like focusing on, surrounding yourself with) what you DO want to do/be.
“Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” ~ Nietzsche
You become what you feed your attention to.
Who we hang out with, we begin to mirror... and/or influence or inspire.
4. There's a place I know of that somewhat resembles the Void, or at least a space created specifically where you can interact with it. Maybe you've heard of it — it's called, 'The Open Room - Making Art Together'. Let me know if you're interested, I'll send you the link. 😜😄🥰
5. I think I just realized, maybe the numbering of points helps to keep things more brief. I hope I can remember that! lol
Your writing is wonderful and thought provoking and memory stirring. Thank you!
1. Thank you
2. Yes. They sit there and drum their feet on your chest and whisper into your ear!!
3. Great quote.
4. lol. Cheeky!
5. You seem to be right 😜 and thank you again!
lol I feel like I unlocked a life cheat code 😅
I’m in a Void now and struggling as to whether I can paint at all. My mother died in mid-May. I had left my home and gone her side in another state and stayed there for over five months. Two weeks after she passed, I hung a solo show, then another the following month at a different gallery and then began the complex and sometimes overwhelming process of curating a large works show in another city. I have two exhibitions set for next Spring and I cannot make work!! I’m burnt out, sick of myself and my inability to paint anything of quality. I do feel like a fraud. My current efforts have wormy noodles all over them; cartoonish and nothing like what I typically paint. They are childish, simple, and they embarrass me and yet, that’s all I can do at this time. I’m leaving one gallery at the end of the year so I will have no obligation to produce. The idea hurts my ego but I need the mental and emotional space. This blog article has given me some hope that I’ll get there. Thank you so much, Helen.
Well first I am so very sorry for your recent loss. That’s a lot right there all by itself. But add to that a move of home and three shows successfully navigated one after the other in the teeth of caring/bereavement- let’s just pause there and give you a massive round of applause! There’s no fraud going on there. Nor is there now. There is humanity, a recognition that we all have a certain capacity and that all the scraping of the barrel we like will not produce more than human amounts of physical and emotional energy. It’s not that you can’t paint just that your resources to do so got spent elsewhere a d you need to put some deposits back in your energy bank account. You need to replenish and there is zero to be embarrassed about in that. I love that even in the face of all this you are actually still expressing yourself and letting those worms come. I’m imagining the visual equivalent for you of those massive loud, detoxing open mouth sighs yoga teachers have you do. Nothing pretty about the sound of those but so necessary and healing. And the start of building a new capacity for a different pose. Your art will come back. For now, rest, replenish. That’s your work. And know your art community is along side you x
I appreciate your continuing exploration of keeping empty space, leaving empty space, and trusting the empty space. Far better to have faith that good things will arise from the mysterious emptiness than to wander for 40 years in the desert of unbelief.
So beautifully expressed! I'm in a void myself right now, though I've thought of them more as "rest phases" of my larger creative cycles. I love your imagery for this creative state, it makes it feel more expansive and generative.
That’s interesting Monette as I have been thinking about all the stages in the cycle and particularly how rest plays in. In the creation myth rest is actually the perfection at the end of the creative phase but of course if you repeat the cycle it gives direct way to the void at the beginning! I suspect very hard to see where one ends the other beginnings but as I observe myself I think I sense that change as a restlessness and growing desire to make again.
I really love your description of the void. I am just learning to be in it instead of filling it with activities. It used to make me uncomfortable, I was impatient to move on. I am now in my fifties and feel the need to be alone at times, to slow down, let the world speak to me. I discovered painting, but often feel uninspired and try to hurry it along which only leads to frustration. Because I resist what is. I am learning to enjoy it 🙂. Thank you again.