Begin Again Before You Feel Empty
How it can be so difficult to put words, or brush strokes, or pencil marks, onto a blank page is a mystery to me. Taking the action to start any activity of relevance in one’s life is one thing that does not seem to get easier with practice.
It is certainly true for me that the hardest thing to do is put the first words down, or lay the first fibres out, or make the first pencil mark on that too-clean, pristine white page. Doesn’t matter what activity it is, the starting point is a hangup. Even though I’ve conquered thousands of previous starts this is still the case. And the level of difficulty with starting looms ever larger whenever I leave a significant gap between writing one article, or making one piece of art, and the next. Left in the gap, the resistance grows thicker and heavier until the idea of making anything at all is shrouded in doubt and purposeful forgetting. Even if I manage to do other writing, starting the project that has been lying in wait is a near impossibility.
Starts are so obscure. They are indistinct and vague and they are subject to certain deletion or remaking. They mirror real life a little too much, and like life, they require courageous rising up every single time in every single day.
This brief reflecting brings me around to sheep of all creatures, and to a solution that sounds a little like heaven to me. I know it works for them… when you do get going, just go ahead and graze, do not stop until satiated, and always begin again well before you feel empty. I believe the last part is key. If life would cooperate with such a schedule I’d be a happy camper indeed.
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The Felted Flock is a collection of needle felted sheep and other animals who hang around them and/or are needed by them. The general intention behind creating was to share the voluminous story of growing wool and to highlight where fibre comes from. It was a two year art project that I finished December 2022.
Upon hearing the news friends have asked if it was hard to sell and the answer is yes and no. It was exciting to make the sale; a sale such as this is an amazing opportunity and nearly every artist’s dream. What was hard was letting go of my vision for the felted flock and allowing a new vision to reside in someone else’s hands. Because from here on, where and how the collection is set up and shown is in someone else hands. That is still hard and may always be hard, I don’t know. But I am eased with having the felted sheep that did not go with the collection to now do with as I please. And since these are no longer part of the felted flock I feel free to give them a new creative outlook. And so that is what I am doing. I am giving them a new look and making them into the prairie sheep collective. A couple of these are already on display at the Watrous Art Gallery and more will most likely head off to an art boutique in Saskatoon. I’ll share their makeover here on the blog as well so stay tuned.