How to Become Real

 

 

 

Imagine, if you will--a lonely piece of blue pastel. It's brand new and virgin. No paper has it kissed. How melancholy.

Now, look at these six boxes--nubs of colored pastels that have been used and pressed to paper, blended and used again. They are rich with the oil that comes from the artist's hands. They carry with them history and emotion--the time the plein air artist brought them out in the field and then suddenly it began to rain. The day she forgot them in a cafe. The night she realized she was out of blue.

There's something dreamy and beautiful about this collection of well worn pastels. They're broken and beloved--a little like The Velveteen Rabbit from the beloved children's book by Marjory Williams.

Creative friends--you are the Velveteen Rabbit. You are the pastels. Know this--there will be days of struggle and there will be days when you feel unloved and alone. There will be days when you feel you are not real, when you have been abandoned in the rain and left behind. Nonetheless, I implore you to take a step back, breathe, and then open your heart. Feel the fullness of your own loss or confusion or anger or regret. Now, release these feelings into your dance, your music, your writing, your art.

Press the pastel onto the paper and press it again and again and again until it becomes nothing but a nub.

Yes, this might hurt a little, but this is how you become real.

Love,

Jamie

P.S. Be sure to have fun.