Saturday, January 28, 2023

Art as a Balancing Act

 

In yoga, there's this idea of focusing on a drishti.

A drishti is an unmoving object that you focus on when you are in a balance pose--such as tree pose or dancer pose.

A drishti is not only helpful in yoga and dance, but it's something we can use when making art. When we feel a little off-balance, it's a good idea to look at something in front of us--literally or metaphorically speaking. This thing might be the tree out the window, but it could also be the memory of your Aunt Edna. The point is you have something that takes you away from the struggles of the paper, the pen, the piano. 

Yes, you will still find moments where you lose your balance, where you are in danger of falling and where you actually fall. And this is a good thing. Losing your balance is a way to learn how to get up to fail and fall again, but more importantly, losing your balance opens the door to the possibility of finding something new. After all, if you are always perfectly balanced and completely confident, it's over. The fire in the belly, the unfinished business, the mysterious thing that keeps you making art is gone.

Creative Friends, strive to achieve balance, and then allow yourself to lose your balance. Again and again. To be a little cliché, it's about the journey, not the destination.

Your creativity assignment for this week is to find your very own drishti. It could be a real thing that you look at in your studio or it could be something you hold in your mind's eye. Focus on your drishti. Keep your balance. Allow yourself to fall. And then, get up and do it again.

And as always, have fun.

Love,

Jamie



 


 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.