A Glimmer of Light

 Donna Watson, Glimpse of Light, acrylic, collage, 20"x20"

NOTE:  There are a few openings left in my upcoming 4 day workshop in Coupeville, WA.

May 20-23.  PERSONAL EXPRESSION:  A Design Approach.  Coupeville is a small, beautiful town on the Puget Sound on Whidbey Island.  The workshop is for all mediums and styles of painting as the focus is on composition, design elements and principles and personal content and expression.

You will begin your search for your true self.  Go here for more information and to register.   

I am starting to see a glimmer of light in my studio.  I decided that the work BLOCK is such a negative word.  I am trying to look at what I am going through as a rebirth, a new opening, a

different new exciting path.

I want to unfold.

I don't want to stay folded

Anywhere, because where I am folded,

There I am a lie.

And I want my grasp of things 

True before you.  I want to

Describe myself 

Like a painting that I

Looked at closely for a 

Long time, like a saying that 

I finally understood,

Like the pitcher I use every day,

Like the face of my mother

Like a ship

That took me safely through

The wildest storm of all.

-- Rainer Maria Wilke

   

The Dark Side of Light

Donna Watson, SILENCE, 10"x10", collage

I have taken a longer than usual hiatus from my blog.  I have been dealing with a larger art issue.

I have been coming to terms with the truth that I am deep in what is called artist's BLOCK.  I have been in this dark place for over a year.  Until recently,  I always denied that piece of reality and I think overcoming denial is the first step forward.

I have been struggling with health issues for 2 years.  I have gone from doctor to doctor, many blood tests, MRIs, bone scans, x-rays.  The chronic pain and chronic fatigue almost defeated me and took over my life style and art.  During this period, I became bored with my art work.  I wanted to search for a new series, a new content... something deeper and more meaningful.  But my brain was busy firing off pain pulses and I could not focus or concentrate on anything else.  Black. dark, empty.

 2 months ago I went to a new doctor.  I finally got a diagnosis and I decided to do everything I could to get my life and health back.  I went on a strict diet eliminating all white and processed foods, alcohol and chocolate.  I started a daily regimen of meditation, tai chi and yoga.

I am feeling so much better.  It turns out diet, exercise and meditation can have a huge impact on your health.  But I am still facing the devastating and all-consuming thing called BLOCK.  I thought that once I felt better my art would come back to me like magic.  Not so.

"Your creativity is folded into your life in a way that can not be quantified or qualified.  It is a simple premise, yet profound."  Susanne Carmack.  She wrote an inspirational essay on artist's block you can find here.     Her website is here.

Inside each of us

there awaits a wonder

full

spirit of freedom

she waits

to dance 

in the rooms

of our heart

that are closed

dark and cluttered

she waits

to dance

in the spaces

where negative feelings

have build barricades

and stock-piled weapons

she waits 

to dance 

in the corners

where we still

do not believe in our goodness

inside each of us

there awaits

a wonder

full

spirit of freedom

she will lift light feet

and make glad songs

within us

on the day we open our door of ego

and let the enemies stomp out

Joyce Rupp,  The Stair in my heart