CHEERS to change
I seem to always anticipate being done with the year, exhausted & ready for the idea of a fresh start do-over. This year I feel a subtle, but significant change. I am excited for the new year. 2018 has been hard and uncomfortable and has brought anxiety and fear and embarrassment AND GROWTH. My work has grown by leaps and bounds. Where are you? I fell into a rut and found my work technically more proficient, but I was creating without joy.
I languished. I talked with my friends & peers. Everyone had a story, but no one had a solution. I finally realized that it was fear that was holding me back. There is safety in the clear, known action. After 20 years, I changed media. I’ve coached a lot of artists on how to do it. Easy, right? Yeah, not. It feels like artistic, metaphorical puberty. Painful. The difference is that I now know there is something on the other side puberty. And, I can’t wait.
So, cheers to the new year. Raise a glass of whatever you crave, my current obsession is Prosecco, and let’s celebrate possibility. I’m scared but willing to gamble. How about you? That isn’t a rhetorical question. AAAD is about to change…
Have you noticed the lack of posts? I am busy. You are too. And, I’m not trying to sell the cult of busy. I am creating and screwing up and scheduling and dreaming. There hasn’t been use value in my posts FOR ME, so I have been avoiding them doing them at all, despite knowing that they ARE useful to some of you. Self-absorbed, but honest. How do we resolve this problem? My solution is to make these posts a part of my practice and process. Change is necessary but still scary.
So… food segues remain, calls remain, subscriptions remain free. Content will be less formal, more personal. Visuals will be simpler, colors softer. Some sharing of my own work (oh, the scandal) and some of yours too. ♥ I want to weigh the pros & cons of calls and opportunities for me, personally, in the hopes that my painful transparency makes you think about some portion of your own journey differently. We can’t all be on the same journey, but we all have the same issues with different food and geography and destination.
I don’t know exactly how all of this is going to look; be prepared for some trial and error. Tell me what works and what doesn’t. Tell me your stories and how your experience applies. Want to help? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Insta, wherever you are. Give us a thumbs up, like or re-post. Interact. We don’t need the social media boost, just YOU.
Rachel!
This is fantastic news! I can’t wait to see how all this develops. Step into the abyss, I have, it’s sometimes pokey but mostly pretty warm and fuzzy.
Hey Rachel,
This year challenged me a lot too. I was in a full steam ahead art track, creating a new series of paintings, curating shows, approaching galleries for solo shows, and seeking out ambitious new projects, when I was abruptly brought to a full stop by a major health problem that required immediate attention. The quiet that followed brought about a re-evaluation of goals, values, trajectories, timelines, relationships, what is working and what is totally not working, and imagining alternative paths. I am still in treatment, but am creating a new map of the future populated by fewer toxic people, less obsession about things over which I have no control, and a lot less holding on to ‘stuff’- both physical and metaphysical. More art is on the way, too, but smaller, more intimate and slowly evolving. Thanks for your blog, I look forward to reading more as you refine what it is and where you are heading.