Friday in the Studio

Wedding Cross Detail

Friday ended up being one of those days where nothing worked. I think I learned a lot but, at the end of the day certainly I did not have much to show for all my hours. I told David when I picked him up from school: "Making art is hard!" The myth of the artist who, sized by inspiration, creates something amazing in a flurry of subconsciously fueled activity, is pretty damaging. It is especially offensive to those of us slogging through the hard work of trying to pull something interesting, beautiful, meaningful, AND unique from our minds and hearts.

I ended up working quite a bit on Saturday and Sunday, trying to recover something worth showing. Here are four pieces that came out of my little Friday of Frustration, and one quote that is perfectly encouraging for times like these.

The final version of the wedding cross

First Lenten piece - "My Child"

Sketchbook pages for "My Child"

Second Lenten Cross

Lenten Cross Inscribing Detail

Third Lenten Cross

Third Lenten Cross Detail

"On a final note, for any of you pursuing something that you feel deeply, something you know you need to do in order to be truly alive, something that requires every iota of courage you can muster, something that makes you at times forget there is a clock meticulously ticking, something that requires you to risk losing everything familiar, something that excites you so thoroughly that is sometimes becomes impossible to sleep, know that it will make perfect sense to quit hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times along the way and get on with something else. Know that you will certain days be numb and exhausted and joyless. Know that perseverance is infinitely greater than talent. Refine the work. Hone the work. Mercilessly cut away the parts that are not vital. Then  let your growing body of work speak for itself. And hang on for dear life."

- Linford Detweiler, Over the Rhine

Amen to that!